Mark 6:12-13
How
do you sum up an event in your life? Many of us do so with a post to Facebook,
probably with a picture or two. We tag the photos, make the funny comments,
maybe even tell what happened. I think we often allow our life be boiled down
to a series of FB posts. What if the only things the LORD saw were your FB
posts? What kind of life do you think He would think you were having?
To
put this another way, is FB an accurate reflection of your faith in Christ? Are
the attitudes you express there attitudes that honor Christ? It is wood, hay
and stubble, or gold, silver and precious stones?
Mark
includes today’s verses as a summary statement of the disciples’ recent pairs
witnessing tour. They were given a very simple mission and they carried it out.
They kept the message simple: Repent! This was John the Baptist’s message and Jesus’
first message. A relationship with the LORD requires an honest assessment of
our lives. None of us line up with His holiness. We all need to change course.
The
recent disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
shows that a small difference in the direction of the plane can make a far
reaching impact of the location of a plane. Because there was a lag in realizing
the plane was off course, the early efforts at locating the plane were all in
the wrong place. They say it might take a year to find the wreckage.
Since all of our lives are
off course, some by a small amount and some by a large amount, all of us will
end up off course on Judgment Day. We must allow the LORD to take us off
autopilot and take over the direction of our lives.
Repentance begins with the
recognition that we are off course. If we think everything is good enough that
way it is, we will never repent. We will continue to give excuses and avoid
taking responsibility for our lives.
The disciples also did the
kind of things that Jesus did. They had authority over demonic powers and
sickness. Their lives began to look like Jesus’ life.
The disciples were not
perfect Jesus-followers at this point. They still had more of Adam’s error in
their lives. Repentance was not a onetime event. Repentance is turning away
from sin AND toward holiness. It is not shifting from drive to neutral and
staying there. It is shifting from drive, to reverse, and then into drive again
on a different, God-directed course. At that moment in time, the disciples had
done what they were supposed to be doing.