February 10: Mark 7:24-30
Key Verse: Mark 7:27
‘First let the children eat all they want,’ he told her, ‘for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’
Devotion:
This sounds like a strange story when you hear it the first time, and I must admit it confused me the first time I heard it. But, if we take the time to learn what Jesus meant in the stories and parables, we get to learn about a new side of Jesus which was not ‘advertised’ too much during this time.
Jesus came to be amongst the children of Israel because God chose them as the favoured people at that time. God continued to watch over the people of Israel for many years and continues today; but He does not turn His back on anyone who is willing to have faith in Him.
This woman had a daughter who was possessed by an impure spirit – it must have been causing her a lot of anguish and torment seeing her daughter caught up by this wicked spirit. She came to Jesus and begged Him to cleanse her daughter but Jesus told her He was here to serve the people of Israel, God’s chosen race. Her response was to remind Jesus that even the dogs under the table scramble for any crumbs of food which should fall from the table.
She was saying her and her daughter may not be from the chosen people, they may even be classed as dogs in comparison, but they were faithfully sticking with the people of Israel because they knew their God was greater than anything or anyone in their own world. The Greeks, after all, had many gods who were supposed to look out for them! That faith struck a chord with Jesus and He released her daughter from the spirit there and then!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever think you are not worthy of God’s love?
Are you willing to show God your faith?
February 9: Mark 7:14-23
Key Verse: Mark 7:15
Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.
Devotion:
I wonder how many things mankind has not understood about God and how many times we have gone off and done the wrong thing because we thought it was right rather than actually hearing correctly! When Jesus was faced with people trying to tell Him what His disciples or Him could or couldn’t eat, He told them a truth...
We get annoyed when people eat things we don’t agree with, or when they drink things they should not – because we expect people to act in a certain way and when they don’t we get upset because they are different. I know there are a few foods I will not eat because I either don’t like the thought of eating them, or I don’t like the taste or smell; but I also know there are others out there who think those foods are delicacies or they actually like them… Who am I to judge!
Some people may use this verse as an excuse to drink too much or eat things they know will upset others. What Jesus is reminding us of here is we are not defiled by what we eat or drink but by what we say or do! If we drink too much we are very likely to say or do something which will upset others. If we eat certain foods on purpose in front of others, we are intentionally upsetting them by doing so!
God wants us to love our neighbours. This means watching out for other people’s likes and dislikes and not going against them on purpose; even if we only do so because we are drunk! We have gone out of our way to do so and when we upset others we have already used the drink as an excuse to do wrong to others...
Points to Ponder:
Do you eat or drink things you know others don’t like you doing?
Have you ever thought about their feelings instead of your own?
February 8: Mark 7:8-13
Key Verse: Mark 7:8
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.’
Devotion:
How many times have you gone along with what other people are doing or saying rather than sticking to the rules? I’m sure we have all done it at some stage, but how far do you go? When we read our bibles, they are not a set of suggestions you may or may not want to believe in – why would God give us His Word if it were not exactly what He wanted us to hear!
The disciples learned quite quickly how the Jewish laws had been changed over time to accommodate more modern practices; and this still goes on today. We change the laws to suit our modern world, but if we are not careful we let go of the meaning of God’s word because we are focusing too much on the wants and desires of mankind instead.
Jesus pulled up the Pharisees here because they had changed the wording of the laws. The original Torah (scriptures as given to Moses) focused on saying we should honour our parents and if we don’t we should expect bad things to happen! What they had changed it to was to say we could receive blessings if we did good things to our parents. It may not seem much when we think of what we do in our own families, but these new words could quite easily be twisted in our modern world.
Jesus gave us the bible the way it was because He wanted us to learn the truth up front and not have to try and filter out all of the modern sayings before we could get to the truth. God have us the scriptures so we could know the truth. What we do with the truth shows Him how much we love and respect Him… or not!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to take the bible the way it was written?
How many things do you change to suit yourself instead of glorifying God?
February 7: Psalm 132:2-5
Key Verse: Psalm 132:5
till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.’
Devotion:
How many temples, cathedrals, churches and other religious buildings have you been in? Have you ever wondered at what the architects, sponsors and builders thought about when they designed and built them? When you get to discover what thoughts went into these buildings, you get to see a bit of what these people thought about their gods. When you go into a church you get to see an insight into the heart of the congregation...
God does not need a grand building to live in or to visit! He wants to be able to live in your hearts and in your lives. When we build something for God, it is an outpouring of our hearts to give something worldly we think is going to please God. He does not require it, but what we do does please Him because it is a measure of our love for God which everyone can see, not just Him.
When we do things like that in our lives, we get to witness to a whole lot of people; we get to show them how much God means to us. Oh there are all sorts of reasons why we should not do things which are grand by earthly standards: we cannot take anything with us to the afterlife, they become a worldly icon which people may get more excited about than God, God does not need worldly possessions… and so on.
It is more our actions than our intentions which speak loudly to others; so we should never rush in and do things classed as rich by worldly standards when we know God is looking for faithful servants who are willing to love and obey Him. Think about what you are going to do and try to do it for the glory of God.
Points to Ponder:
What do you do for God?
Do you look for worldly recognition or God’s recognition?