When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. (Mark 6:53-56)
My main focus in sharing is to encourage everyone with how God speaks to his people through his word. It is “living and active”, the Holy Spirit is always teaching us and reminding us, and living “by every word that comes from the mouth of God” should feel as real and personal as life can get.
Sometimes this means focusing on a small seed of truth that will grow in our lives if we receive it. Sometimes it is a “big picture” day where larger scenes come alive as the Holy Spirit shows how the threads of the tapestry are woven together. And other times it is like focusing on a few puzzle pieces that suddenly make more sense when they are combined to show something we have never noticed before.
This morning, things felt like a bit of everything. The smaller details were added to the bigger picture in puzzle pieces that fit together so I could see not only what God was showing me in his word, but what he was showing me in myself. I am now watching for how the disciples’ hardness of heart affected their ability to receive Jesus’ revelations of who he was as the Messiah. I have long been on guard against the blindness of the religious elite who couldn’t even see what Jesus was doing because they were consumed with envy at his influence over the people.
But the main thing I am always watching for is how people related to God in the Scriptures because I want to know how God wants me relating to him in the “obedience of faith” every day.
In all this, one thing stood out more brightly than everything else. Mark made sure to tell me that the people recognized “him”, they came where “he” was, and wherever “he” came, the people brought their sick and implored “him”.
When I combine that with the reminder of the disciples’ hardness of heart on one side and the religious elite’s blindness on the other, it tells me to come to Jesus personally no matter what hardened disciples or hypocritical blind guides have to say. Jesus is available to us by grace through faith so we can seek him right now where we are, and receive him in repentance and faith so that he will make us well in the fullness of eternal life.
© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
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