There To Be Found

Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God,
you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

     I have ADHD! I forget things all the time. I am working on a project, realize I need something to complete the project, go to get that something and before I can retrieve it I have forgotten what I was going to retrieve. Or along the way I get distracted and forget about the project altogether! This drives me nuts! It also drives my wife of almost 40 years nuts as well.
     I have come to realize that I really don't forget those things. They just drop to the bottom of the thought queue. They will pop up and briefly pass through my mind days or weeks later. But before I can write them down, they are gone again, only to resurface and drop off at another random time.
     I am glad the LORD is not ADHD! He is always ready for us to return. He has open arms for us. Even when we have purposely walked away, He is there waiting for our return.
    This was really good news for the Israelites. It was news they would hear now, but not put into action for years to come. But the seed was planted. When they had wandered away and suffered the consequences of their separation from the LORD's blessing, they could know that they could return and be accepted.
     The one condition that continues, before the walk away and after the return, is that we come with all that we are. The LORD wants us to completely yield to Him. He doesn't want part of us. He knows that yielding 100% is what is best for us. It is the way we were designed to exist.
     And yet we often think we can give part of ourselves to something/someone other than the LORD. We cordon off parts of our lives in hopes that they won't affect our relationships with others. He have places that we don't yield to His intervention.
    When we do that we limit His ability to transform us and redeem us. Do we really want to limit our Creator from forming and making us into the best version of ourselves?

Return Trips

Mark 11:12-25

      Have you ever gone back to a place and found it very different from what it was before? You have memories of the place, but when you arrive, it is nothing like your memory. You wonder if your mind could have been playing games with you. Or maybe you have the wrong place. Or maybe your mind attached the wrong images to the right location. Puzzling!

      Sometimes we remember a person a certain way, and then when we see them again, they seem totally different: different personality, looks, and attitude. And you wonder what happened to that other person. You wonder how they could have changed that much in such a short time.

      Jesus is on His final visit to Jerusalem, at least His final visit for a few thousand years. He has been welcomed by a very large crowd, proclaiming Him the promised deliverer, the Messiah. But His initial foray into the city is late in the day, so He returns to His lodging for the night. The city and its surrounding towns are filled with Passover Festival visitors, pilgrims, if you will. They will all travel into Jerusalem each day and then out after the day’s activities. Jesus does the same.

      Our text tells us of three of these journeys, two into the city and one out of the city. Morning, evening, morning. And during that day Jesus declares with His actions that Jerusalem has lost its ability to be fruitful. The Temple area is so filled with commercial enterprises that the sacred activity of prayer can’t happen. The central activity the Temple was designed to protect is the very thing it can no longer practice. Prayer, and the resultant repentance and sacrifices, was the activity of the Temple. Without prayer, the Temple might as well cease to exist.

      Jesus engages in some activity that flies in the face of the “meek and mild” image so many have of Jesus. He is downright violent. He could be charged with destruction of personal property, disturbing the peace. His anger rages. Sounds like He is starting a riot.

      But He is not out of control. His actions match His words. His actions raise the volume on His concern for the spiritual state of the Jews, and of the world. Something must be done. Complacency can’t continue. There has to be a change.

      I wonder if Jesus were to wander through our days, would He see our activities and declare us unfruitful? Would He notify us that our lives have lost their purpose, their eternal direction? Would He knock the activities and turn over our tables?

Course Correction

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.

Silence Isn’t Always Golden

Mark 3:4

      Silence. Sometimes it is the perfect antidote for the busyness of life. Sometimes it is the worst of indictments. There are times we need to speak up. There are times when we need to stay silent. It can be difficult in those moments of decision to know when and how to speak up. At least it is for me!

      Jesus confronts some religious leaders of His day. He does it in a synagogue on the Sabbath. They are there to try to catch Him in the act of doing a miracle in order to bring charges against Him. To them, Jesus is a threat. He has power and authority which they want. And from their perspective, the only way they can get it is to kill Jesus, eliminating the competition. Sounds like our political environment, doesn’t it! Lies and deception. Not much has changed.

      Jesus invites the man with the shriveled hand to stand before them and then He asks them what appears to be a simple question. But the question is anything but simple. Jesus puts their interpretation of the Law on trial. They believed that the Law, and keeping of every minute detail of their prescriptive code drawn from the Law made a person right with God. If they kept all the rules, they would end up on God’s “Nice” list, rather than the “Naughty” list.

      Because they had flipped the Law on its head, making it something to be served, rather than something that served them and their spiritual growth, they had lost all touch with the reality of the LORD’s presence and grace. Jesus pushes them to make a decision that the very crux of this dilemma. He asks them to take a stand and choose the good, even if it meant that they would break one of their superimposed regulations.

      Their silence speaks volumes. They should have answered by agreeing with Jesus, that doing good and saving lives is what is important. But instead, they recognize that Jesus has trapped them. Or perhaps that they have trapped themselves. They know they are caught, so they stay silent.

      Have there been times when you were caught, and you knew it, and you could have declared your error and come clean, but instead you remained silent or went into attack mode?

Roadblock

Mark 1:14-15

      Have you ever run into a roadblock or an accident that causes you to take a side road to continue your journey? In Florida there are two major North/South interstate highways. When an accident happens, and they happen on a regular basis, either you can sit in miles of very slow or stopped traffic, or you jump off at an exit, if you are lucky enough to catch one before being stopped, and drive on a smaller State road. Either way, you will not be arriving at your final destination at your expected time. You are going to be delayed.

      Detours happen for so many in life. The baby comes sooner than expected, and you have to delay your degree plans while you juggle diapers and degree. Layoffs at work mean a restart in your career progression, maybe even a shift in career fields. Relationship troubles signal a change in direction. A class is more difficult than you expected meaning a cut back in more pleasurable activities.

      Mark wants to prevent John the Baptist from becoming a detour for his readers. His focus is on Jesus and His ministry as the Servant of the LORD. So in Marks abrupt style he announces that John is put in prison. Chronologically this is probably not accurate. John is not put in prison immediately after he baptizes Jesus, but Mark again wants to emphasize Jesus, not John.

      John is handed over to judicial authorities. He is put in prison. No trial is mentioned. No charges detailed. I can’t imagine his trial was legitimate. This same word that Mark uses here to describe this handing over of John is use to describe Jesus being handed over to the authorities to be put to death. (Mk 14:21; Rom 4:25; 1Cor 11:23) There is a parallel between Jesus and John. Both are prophets whose life and ministry ends with a violent death. John is beheaded during a dinner party of the ruler of that region of Rome, and Jesus is crucified by the order of a political leader unwilling to stand up to political pressure.

      Mark points out the urgency of their messages. Jesus’ good news begins with a call to this present moment. Now is the time for decisions. We can’t change the past, and the future isn’t here yet. We only have the present to deal with the past and to prepare for the future. Now is an important moment.

      One other parallel is emphasized here in our passage. Both have repentance as a central theme of their ministry. We start our journey with repentance. We need to turn from in order to turn to. Sin must be in our rearview mirror before righteousness can be the focus of our lives. And at least for me, some days my rearview mirror seems to grow in size, taking up more of my gaze. Sin has that effect. It gets in the way of our believing. If we are to believe the Good News, that our sins can be forgiven and we can receive power to live a holy life, then we must repent in order to believe. Lack of repentance gets in the way of believing.

Correction

Proverbs 15:10

      Do you ever wonder why some people seem to get away with so much, that they seemingly never get caught? Again and again, they do wrong and no one seems to care. Sometimes it doesn’t help to know that someday, way out there in the future judgment will come. Sometimes you want to see judgment quickly, right away.

      That desire for judgment quickly often comes from the pain whatever the other individual has caused. We somehow think that seeing judgment executed will bring relief. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn’t. Even those who witness the death of those convicted of the most heinous crimes don’t feel relief. They are often filled with mixed emotions.

      Sometimes nothing can bring relief. When someone is killed, killing the other person does not fill the void left by the loss of the loved one who was killed. It doesn’t bring the husband, wife, brother, sister, son, daughter, mom or dad back.

      So if it doesn’t make things right again, why worry about judgment? Why not let all judgment hold on until eternity. This would probably be a good thing. Delay in judgment for the other person means delay in judgment for you, giving both of you time to repent.

      I know there are things in my life that deserve judgment. And I know I don’t repent immediately after some transgressions. So if judgment came immediately after the offense, or maybe a 24 hour cooling off period, we would all be in trouble. There is a delay in judgment for a reason. It gives time for repentance and corrective learning.

      We can all use grace. We all need correction. We all need to learn to “take our medicine.” Correction may not be pleasant, but it is necessary. Correction keeps kids safe as we teach them the dangers of this physical life. Pain can be a good teacher if the current pain isn’t fatal. You can’t get run over once in hopes that they lesson will be learned. The correction has to be strong enough to prevent that first occurrence.

      Correct will save our lives, if we heed its call.