Mark 10 – what is your soul worth?

Mar20

Good Afternoon y’all. Today we are studying Mark chapter 10.

I am focusing the blog on verses 17 – 30

Be blessed 🙂

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The rich man comes to Jesus to ask what he needs to do in order to inherit eternal life. I believe this man genuinely wanted to know but he didn’t realize the price he would have to pay for it.

Jesus responds in v19 – “But as for your question—you know the commandments: don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, respect your father and mother.”

The rich man was getting excited..lol..because he already fulfills all the laws Jesus mentioned. He responds by saying, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young”

Then Jesus decided to burst his bubble just a lil bit by his next response…lol. Jesus replied him:  “You lack only one thing,” he told him; “go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor—and you shall have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.”

“Oh dear! Not my possessions? Come on, Jesus, what’s this about? Why did you have to even go there? Come on, man!”… these are my own interpretation of what would have been going on in the rich man’s mind…Oh the man was so sad. Verse 22 says: “Then the man’s face fell, and he went sadly away, for he was very rich”.

Notice the contrast between the rich man’s response to Jesus’ invitation and that of the disciples in the earlier chapters when Jesus called them to follow Him?

The disciples were busy earning a living; they were fishing, which happens to be their source of livelihood, when Jesus walked by and asked them to follow him and immediately they left all to follow him. I think one of them even left the father in the boat and ran after Jesus! Whereas this rich man just couldnt imagine parting with his possessions and following Jesus. The rich man valued his riches more than having a relationship with Jesus and having eternal life.

It’s a tough call, but he couldn’t pay the price. Remember Jesus said in chapter 8:34 that if any will follow him you will have to first of all deny yourself.

“Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. “If any of you wants to be my follower,” he told them, “you must put aside your own pleasures and shoulder your cross, and follow me closely.”(Mark 8:34 TLB)

Well this man sort of missed that memo. Jesus gave him another opportunity but he chose what was more important to him: his riches.

Truth is all these material things we are chasing won’t go anywhere with us when we die or the end comes. That’s just the plain truth. So, are they worth loosing our souls for?

Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not saying we shouldn’t desire to be rich or have good things. What I’m saying is that when those material things become idols and take God’s place in our lives then we have an issue.

Money was made to serve man and not man to serve money. We should learn to master our riches and not them master us.

Scripture says, “Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well. (1 Tim 6: 17-19 TLB)

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” (Matt 6:19 -21 MSG)

Let’s check ourselves today: myself included.  What are those idols that are stopping us from serving God as fully as we ought to. I know we often say this phrase “Jesus, You are Lord of my life” but is He truly?  Have we truly surrendered all that we are to Him or is He only Lord in certain parts of our lives? Like the rich man, he carried out all the commandments diligently but when it came to letting Jesus be Lord over his possessions, he couldn’t do it.

Remember this verse; “And how does a man benefit if he gains the whole world and loses his soul in the process? For is anything worth more than his soul?” (Mark 8: 36 -37)

Heaven is real….. Hell is real…. choose wisely.

Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Today I have set before you life and death: choose life….

Apostle Paul said “But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile—now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone”.(Phil 3:7-9 TLB)

Verse 29 -31 gives a great promise that those who sacrifice and give up things for God will not go unrewarded. So be rest assured there is a crown and reward waiting for you at the end of this. Your sacrifices are not in vain. God sees and He is taking notes 🙂

I pray the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to see the things that represent idols in our lives and give us the grace to make the changes needed. That our love for God will be genuine and nothing will be too much for us to sacrifice for Him. Amen.

Thanks for joining today. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter.

Have a blessed weekend 🙂

I am blogging through the book of mark with Good Morning Girls. Pls check us out at www.goodmorninggirls.org

***With God all things are possible***

Mark 9 – Do you believe ?

Mar17

Good evening y’all. Today we are studying mark 9.

I am focusing today’s blog on  verses 17 – 27.

Be blessed 🙂

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“One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” Jesus said to them,  “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up”.
(Mark 9:17-27 NLT)

For the disciples this must have been shocking and at the same time humbling for them. Considering in the earlier chapters Jesus sent them out and gave them authority over unclean spirits and they came back with reports on how they casted out demons. Now they seem to have met with one demon who seems to be too much for them to handle.

I found a commentary online from Grace Gems about this which brought things home for me….

“Let us learn from these verses, how dependent Christ’s disciples are on the company and help of their Master.
We see this truth brought out in a striking manner in the scene which meets our Lord’s eyes, when He came down from the mount. Like Moses, when he came down from Mount Sinai, He finds his little flock in confusion. He sees His nine apostles beset by a party of malicious Scribes, and baffled in an attempt to heal one who had been brought to them possessed with a devil. The very same disciples who a short time before had done many miracles and “cast out many devils,” had now met with a case too hard for them. They were learning by humbling experience the great lesson, “without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5.)–It was a useful lesson, no doubt, and over-ruled to their spiritual good. It would probably be remembered all the days of their lives. The things that we learn by smarting experience, abide in our memories, while truths heard with the ear are often forgotten. But we may be sure it was a bitter lesson at the time. We do not like to learn that we can do nothing without Christ.
Let us learn a lesson of humility from the failure of the disciples. Let us strive to realize every day our need of the grace and presence of Christ. With Him we may do all things. Without Him we can do nothing at all. With Him we may overcome the greatest temptations. Without Him the least may overcome us. Let our cry be every morning, “leave us not to ourselves–we know not what a day may bring forth–if your presence does not go with us we cannot go up.” (http://gracegems.org/Ryle/mark09.htm)

In verse 23 Jesus said to the father all things are possible to him that believes. The father replied in verse 24 I believe but help my unbelief.

I can so relate with the fathers response in v24. Sometimes the situation is overwhelming that we can’t truly see a way out, even though we are praying and believing God for a miracle. There is a part of us that thinks: can this really be fixed? I believe that’s were the father was at that moment, especially after the disciples had tried and couldn’t cast out the demon in the boy.

Jesus didn’t condemn the man for asking him to help his unbelief. Instead Jesus went ahead and healed the boy.

Today be real with God and sincerely tell him how you feel and invite him to help you. I believe he won’t cast you away or condemn you rather he will draw you nigh and step in like he did for the father who cried out to him on behalf of His son. Have faith that He is able and willing to help you.

Remember all things are possible to him that believes.

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter.

Have a blessed evening 🙂

***With God all things are possible***