Month: October 2024

Jesus Offends the Crowds!

Today, I read John’s account of Jesus feeding the five thousand. What stood out to me after this miraculous feeding of five loaves and two fish was what the Bible reveals about the hearts of these people. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (John 6:14–15, ESV) 

For the most part, the crowds that followed Jesus and sought Him out were motivated by the needs of their temporal lives, not by concern for eternal life. Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you…” (John 6:26–27, NLT) Jesus then explains many spiritual things to the people, but they do not understand Him. Many were offended by His teaching, so much so that they rejected Him and left. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? (John 6:66–67, KJV)

As believers, the God we love and serve—the very essence of true Christianity—is an offense to many because their greatest need is eternal life, not making this temporal life more comfortable. Jesus did not come to do the will of the people; He came to do the will of His Father. What was the will of the Father? And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40, KJV)

As Christians, may we have the discernment to embrace the spiritual work God is doing in our lives, even over our temporal comforts. May we also love those around us and boldly address their spiritual and eternal needs, even if it means rejection.

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from John 6.

Refreshing the Overwhelmed!

John the Baptist is dead. In the reading today, we see that Herod beheads John. John told Herod that his marriage to his brother’s wife was unlawful. This angered Herodias, Herod’s wife, until she finally got her chance to kill him. John’s ministry lasted about a year. He was 30 years old when he was executed. 

Immediately upon hearing of John’s execution, Jesus experienced something very human. As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. (Matthew 14:13, NLT) In fact, twice in Matthew 14, Jesus sought to be alone. However, this desire for solitude was initially interrupted, for as Jesus stepped off the boat, a crowd was waiting for Him. 

Amid Jesus’ grief over John’s death, Jesus had compassion for this crowd and healed their sick. This led to feeding them from the five loaves of bread and two fish, and finally, when it was all done, He had some time alone. In this time alone, what did Jesus do? He prayed. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. (Matthew 14:23, NLT) Amid the grief of John’s death and the likely exhaustion of healing and feeding thousands of people, Jesus refreshed Himself through prayer. 

Have you ever felt like life is coming at you from every direction? Maybe you feel tapped out, exhausted, and spent physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Perhaps you were running on empty, and now you are? Then, it is time to refresh yourself by getting alone in prayer. If Jesus, the Son of God, needed times of prayerful solitude, don’t we? This is a good pattern for us to follow–the very thing that refreshed Jesus is ours, too!

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Matthew 14; Mark 6; Luke 9:1-17.

Doing Good in a Bad World!

Today’s reading from Matthew chapter 10 highlights the world’s response, and even the religious, to Jesus and His followers. Jesus has been going about doing only good: preaching, healing, casting out demons, and raising the dead. What could be wrong with that? A lot! The pressure is starting to build to shut down Jesus. So, Jesus instructs his disciples to do what He has been doing. Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received! (Matthew 10:7–8, NLT)

As Jesus sends out His disciples, he warns that households and whole towns will refuse them. They are sheep being sent out among wolves. They will be handed over to courts, tried, and beaten—even put to death. They will be betrayed. All the nations will hate them. They will be threatened and accused of doing the devil’s work. To sum it up, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34, ESV) 

What we see here is that all of the world lies under the influence of the wicked one, Satan. What Jesus and His disciples were doing—which was doing only good—was an attack on the kingdom of darkness. What you and I do, living right in a very wrong world, loving others, preaching the good news in both our words and deeds, is a declaration of war against the god of this world. This is why Christians who go about doing good are persecuted. To Satan, there is a lot wrong with doing good in his world! 

As believers, let us not fear those who seek to persecute us, for they cannot touch our souls (Matthew 10:28). Let us be encouraged that those who acknowledge Jesus on earth, Jesus will one day acknowledge before the Father in Heaven (Matthew 10:32–33). Let us rejoice that we are no longer in darkness but have passed from death to life and that we have this victory, even the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57–58)!

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Matthew 9-10.

Scary Waves—Powerful God!

Fear! We see lots of it in the reading this morning. The disciples are in a boat, crossing the Sea of Galilee. A storm comes up, and things get scary. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. (Mark 4:37, KJV) Such is the nature of a storm, and such is the nature of man in response to a storm—fear!

Notice the disciple’s fear-driven response. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” (Mark 4:38, NLT). Fear had convinced the disciples that Jesus didn’t care about them, and they went so far as to predict their future—they were going to drown! Interestingly, none of it was true or came true. Yet fear made it all seem very real. Did Jesus really not care about His disciples? Were they going to drown? 

Looking back on the whole story, we have the advantage of knowing the end. However, the disciples lived in real time and couldn’t see the end. This is where trust comes into the picture. Notice the question Jesus asks. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40, ESV) Sure, they had seen Jesus heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, make the lame walk, and cast out demons, but now they are at the center of a miracle, and the faith they saw in others was not so easy!

God can be trusted! The wave’s height and the storm’s ferocity do not matter to God’s power. God cares! Was not Jesus in the boat with His disciples? Believers, let’s not allow the nature of a storm to inflame that nature within all of us to fear. Who is this that even the wind and sea obey—it is God! Our God!

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Matthew 8:14-34; Mark 4-5.

We are Sowers — Not Show-ers!

Today’s readings in Matthew 13 and Luke 8 contain at least seven parables about the kingdom of Heaven. One of probably the most famous is the parable of the sower. In this parable, Jesus mentions four types of soil. However, it is the sower that stood out to me. Notice a couple of things about the sower. 

He is a sower, not a “show-er.” Sowing is hard work, and at the end of the day, there is nothing obvious to show for the work. Unlike those who harvest a crop, bringing in the sheaves with great rejoicing, the sower works quietly, broadcasting the seed on the field with no immediate results. How often have you witnessed the gospel to someone, taking every opportunity to plant seed, yet there is nothing to show for the effort? Yet, how critical is the sower? There is no harvest without first having a sower sow the seed. It reminds me of what Paul said, I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:6, KJV) Paul was a sower, not a “show-er.”

The second thing I notice about the sower is that the seed is sown on all types of ground. The sower did not discriminate against any kind of ground. A field can have many soil types. In our reading, this field had four. The sower’s job was simply to sow the field and let the seed land where it landed, regardless of the soil type. It can be disheartening to have labored in sowing the gospel only to see a small part of the whole field take root and produce. As sowers, we are not “show-ers.” We must trust God with the results. Is it not God that gives the increase? 

As sowers, notice the encouragement we have from God. “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. (Isaiah 55:10–11, NLT)

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Matthew 13 and Luke 8.