August 4: Mark 1:1-8
Key Verse: Mark 1:8
I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Devotion:
I love looking back at words like this which link together Christian events in my mind and allow me to understand a little bit more about how early Christians were bucking the trend and listening to what God had to say rather than blindly going on what the 'teachers' had to say back then.
If we blindly follow what a person says rather than gethering evedence and following the evidence, we are just followers of a person and not really followers of God. I know, what about the preacher up fron in church? Well, any good preacher is going to tell you to go and find out more rather than just believing them!
Many popular preachers will tell you to listen to them, obey them and do something for the 'church.' If they are doing this to promote the local church where they preach at instead of promoting God through his word, then I would like you to start questioning what they are doing.
God wants us to seek the truth, something he tries to teach us all the time. If we are willing to discern what we hear and compare it against all the evidence we have through the bible, then we are on the right track. If we are just following one person, we are on their track only.
Points to ponder:
How often do you seek God's word?
Will you take what you last heard in church and try to find out a little bit more about it for yourself...