Tuesday 11 Jan 2022

January 11: Mark 1:21-28

Key Verse: Mark 1:27
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.’

Devotion:
When Jesus started to teach others on this Sabbath, people were amazed at how much He knew, but also how He spoke with uttermost authority. What made it sound like He was speaking with authority? When we go to school and learn from our teachers, they need to speak with authority for you to believe them and trust in them. Teachers have spent a long time learning and now they are sharing what they have learned with others… but still there can be doubt sometimes.

When there is doubt in a teachers voice, we hear it and we find it hard to come to terms with what they are saying. This is not just something we learn from hearing lots of teachers, but something God has made us with from the beginning. When we hear the truth spoken with authority, we believe it and we know it is true.

Jesus knew exactly what was meant by the scriptures because He got it straight from God the Father. He listened obediently to His Father and spoke what He knew to be the truth. This is why the people around Him knew it was the truth – not because they had heard it all before, but because this man spoke in such a way they were convinced by the words.

If we put our faith and trust in Christ, He will allow us to speak to others with authority. I was never good at getting up and speaking to others in class or in University. It was something I had to get used to – even then I had doubts and those doubts could be heard by others when I spoke. When I accepted Christ as my Saviour and teacher, I began to understand things from the scripture in ways I had never known before. This gives me the authority to tell others what I hear through the Bible.

Points to Ponder:
When do you learn from the scriptures?

Do you obey God and allow Him to teach you thoroughly?