Saturday 21 Jan 2023

January 21: Mark 3:20-21

Key Verse: Mark 3:20
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.

Devotion:
How far do you go to allow people to commune with God? How far are you willing to change so that the people around you can be closer to God?

When we go through the New Testament, especially the Gospels, we find a whole new way of allowing people to meet with God. Jesus allowed people to get closer to God even when the authorities would frown at what He was doing. The teachers of the law would get very upset with Him because He was allowing some very strange people to get close to God; they, on the other hand, ran a very closed society in which they did not want anyone who did not fit in their description to get close to God! How are we supposed to get people to know God unless we open our doors to them!

In this passage, the crowd was essentially trapping them in the house they entered. They could not get out and did not even have enough room to have a meal. I don’t like crowds at the best of time nowadays – I didn’t mind them in my university days, but not now. I prefer to have some room to do my own thing… but in doing that I will inadvertently exclude some people from getting to know God, so I have to continually think about what I am doing…

The more we act like a disciple, the more we are going to face the wrath of the world! There are people out there who will be upset because we dare to tell them God exists. There are people out there who will be upset because we dare to invite sinners into our lives. We will not be able to please man and God at the same time – so stick with trying to please God and allow Him to work things out for you in other ways!

Points to Ponder:
Do you aim to please others?

Do you aim to please God?