January 18: Mark 3:7-12
Key Verse: Mark 3:12
But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.
Devotion:
One of the things which still gets me worried about people is when they start to brag about what they are doing, what they have done and the monetary value of their achievements! I gave up on doing that as much as I could when I saw how it affected other people – we don’t often stop to think how others would feel when we tell them about everything we have achieved!
When Jesus was at the lake He told the disciples to get a boat ready so He would be able to separate Himself from the crowd when things got too much. The more people were healed, the more people came. They were not just local people now but people from surrounding areas; the news of what He was doing got around quickly.
Now imagine, someone gets healed of some terrible illness and another person cannot get close enough to ask Jesus for healing… how are those two people going to feel. The person who gets healed sees the other person not being able to get healed – do they feel terrible for the person who cannot get healed? The person who cannot get healed – do they feel jealous about the person who is healed?
Jesus did not want the people around Him to start fighting because of what was happening. He wanted to be able to do as much good as possible in the time He had. Sometimes we get carried away and start publicising what we do – how do the people around us feel about this happening to us and not them? We really do need to stop and consider the people around us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get carried away with telling people what you can do?
How do you feel when you hear others telling what they can do?