Mark Devotions
[Please do read the passage before (or after) reading the devotion.]
Reminder: There will be NO daily devotion tomorrow, Sunday. Hopefully most of you will be in a House of Worship listening to God yourselves. Go prepared with open hearts, though!
This is a side of Jesus that people don’t usually talk about. This is a Master that doesn’t indulge his disciples’ preferences, but sets a standard for lifestyle choices and social behavior for them to live up to. A disciple’s life, especially as they live in obedience to Jesus’ calling, was to be marked by simplicity, faith, and resoluteness. They were to learn to take rejection without being unduly effected by it, and move on. Jesus wants his disciples to never let anything distract them from the main thing in their lives – his Calling. We are to fulfill God’s Mission of Love to a world that needs to hear and experience the healing of wounds and the evil has been overcome.
Prayer: Thank you Lord, that it is you that chose me, and not the other way around. You picked me up from a life of sin and “put me on a Rock to stay” (Psalm 40:2). I know that there is much pain and evil in the world – indeed that’s the kind of life you saved me from. Therefore I am grateful for the privilege of your calling me to follow and be a disciple that witnesses to your Love and Power to a world in need. Help me to make that the main thing in my life, and not be distracted by anything else. Amen.
