Stepping in the Light

“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?” Mark 14:3-4

In John chapter 11, we learn that this woman was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Not long before this meal took place, Jesus had raised her brother from the dead. Mary was obviously grateful, and that alone would have been reason enough for her to want to do something special for Jesus. The Lord had already told His disciples plainly that He was going to be killed and that He would rise again from the dead. The disciples never seemed to comprehend Jesus’ words regarding His imminent death, but Mary had been listening and she wanted to do something about it. When Mary was rebuked for wasting such a valuable treasure, Jesus said that Mary was anointing Him beforehand in preparation for His death.

Often in the Bible our prayers are likened to incense, a pleasant aroma to God. He enjoys hearing us pray. But prayer requires effort. Most Christians struggle to find time to pray. Some fail to pray because they don’t believe it is worth the effort. Is prayer a waste of time? Jesus didn’t think so. He was obviously pleased with what Mary did, and He said that her deeds would always be spoken of as a testimony to her devotion.

“For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13:34-37

Jesus likened Himself to a man who was preparing to go on a long journey. The man knew he would be gone for a long period of time, so he assigned responsibilities to each of his subordinates and charged them to always be ready for his return. Jesus wanted the disciples to think about what it would be like to be left in charge of someone else’s household for an undetermined amount of time. He knew that He was going back to heaven after His death, burial, and resurrection, and they needed to take responsibility for sharing the Gospel with the world. Jesus told His disciples that they needed to watch and to always be ready for His return, and then He included everyone. “And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.” Jesus’ words to His disciples can be applied to every Christian alive today. It has been many years since Jesus gave this command to all of His followers; but, as time goes by, it becomes even more important for us to be ready for His return. We need to be working, we need to be managing our areas of responsibility, and we need to be awake. Are you ready? He may come today!

“And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.” Deuteronomy 17:18-20

God sent Moses to lead the people of Israel, and he led them by telling them what God said; but God knew that one day the Israelites would have a king. That king would be chosen by the people from among the people, or he would inherit the throne from his father who was king before him. God knew that there would be good kings and bad kings, some wise and some foolish. The Lord set forth guidelines for what a king should and should not do. God said that the king should have his own personal copy of the law and that he should read from it every day. In essence, this meant that the king would have a copy of all of the Bible that had been written up to that point, and the Lord wanted him to read from it every day. God said that it would keep him humble, keep him right, and prolong his days. We may not be kings, but we are all leaders in some way. As leaders, we need to read God’s Word each day. Reading the Bible enables us to treat people right and make good decisions.

“And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Mark 12:32-33

The Bible has a lot to say about offerings and sacrifices. When someone is willing to give to the Lord, it tells us a lot about their values and their character. If we take money or possessions that we could use to buy or trade for things that we want and give them to God, we are making a sacrifice. When we see this kind of sacrifice in others, we tend to equate it with spirituality, but the scribe in the passage above understood that there is more to evaluating our spiritual condition than what we can see on the surface. Sacrifice can certainly be an indicator of our spirituality, as we can see with the widow who gave her last two mites; but it is also something that we can do for an outward show or as a way to bargain with God. When King Saul gave the excuse for sparing the best of the animals that had belonged to the Amalekites instead of destroying them as God had commanded, the prophet Samuel answered, “To obey is better than sacrifice,” (I Samuel 15:22). It is true that the Lord loves a cheerful giver (II Corinthians 9:7), but what He wants most is our love and obedience. Do you love God with all your heart? Are you obeying His Word? These are the most important tests of our relationship with Him.

 “And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.” Mark 12:26-27

There was a huge debate between the Pharisees and Sadducees regarding life after death. The Pharisees believed that one day there would be a resurrection, but the Sadducees did not. The Sadducees decided that they would pose an impossible problem to Jesus because they felt that if He were unable to answer them, it would prove that their point of view was correct. Jesus told them that they were making a big mistake in their thinking. He called their attention to Moses as he knelt before the burning bush and heard God say to him, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Jesus pointed out that God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died hundreds of years before Moses, but when God mentioned them at the burning bush, they were very much alive.

For those who put their trust in Christ, God has promised eternal life. When we exercise our faith in God, we receive life that will go on forever.  Because God gives everlasting life to all those who believe in Him, He truly is the God of the living. Are we living today as though we will live for eternity? Are we behaving in a way that makes it obvious that He is our God?

“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 7:6-8

The people of Israel were chosen by God above all of the people on earth. They were not chosen because they had more people, more money, or more power than any other nation. God gave them two reasons that He chose them: because He loved them and because He promised the land to their fathers.

As Christians, we are chosen by God. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy,” (I Peter 2:9). We were not chosen based on merit. He chose us because He loves us and because He promised to save us. Because we are chosen by God, He expects us to be holy as well.  “Be ye holy; for I am holy,” (I Peter 1:16).

“And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Mark 11:15-17

As Jesus drove the merchants and the moneychangers out of the temple, He reminded them that God said that His house should be a house of prayer. People came from great distances to make sacrifices and offerings at the temple, and these businessmen made it more convenient for them. Travelers could buy a lamb at the temple instead of bringing one from home. The chief priests justified allowing this market inside the temple because they felt that it was more important to increase the traffic in the temple than it was to bring the people closer to God in their hearts. They valued convenience over spirituality. It is likely that they personally benefitted from the trade going on inside the temple, and they were more interested in protecting their position and their pocketbook than they were in encouraging people to pray.

How careful are we to protect our prayer time from interruption? The Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that temple should be a house of prayer.

“And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.” Deuteronomy 2:14

Moses is speaking to the people of Israel and reminding them of the things that had happened since God brought them out of the land of Egypt. The Lord gave them the opportunity to enter into the land of Canaan at Kadesh-barnea, but they turned back because they were afraid of the people of the land. Their lack of faith made the Lord so angry that He told Moses that none of the men who were old enough to go to war would live to go into the land of Canaan except for Joshua and Caleb. They were the only two men of fighting age who were willing to trust God and do what He had told them to do. The people of Israel spent the next thirty-eight years waiting for those men to die. They never had the opportunity to accomplish anything or build anything of lasting significance. They never owned land or built a home. They sat around in their encampment wasting away their days.

How sad it would be for us to live this way as Christians! A life of disbelief and disobedience is a miserable life for a person who has accepted Christ. The only way to find true fulfillment is to exercise our faith in His Word and to obey the commands that He has given us.

“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15

Jesus taught that we have to become like a little child in order to be part of the kingdom of God. Let’s consider a few ways that children are good examples for grown up Christians.

First, children are prone to faith. They will believe what you tell them, even if it seems impossible.

Second, children are trusting. A father can place a small child up high on a counter and say, “Jump to daddy!” The child will jump, believing that his father will catch him.

Third, children are quick to forgive. If they begin fighting over a toy, they don’t hold a grudge forever. Soon they will be playing happily together again.

Fourth, children speak the truth. They will tell you what you need to know, even if it might hurt your feelings.

Lastly, children know how much their parents love them. They revel in the love that they sense in their mothers and fathers.

What if we applied these five examples to our Christian walk? We would have more faith in God, we would be quick to forgive, we would be ready to share the gospel, we would have confidence in our Heavenly Father’s love for us, and we would be much better examples to the people around us.

“And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them?” Numbers 32:6-7

God had promised to give the whole land of Canaan to the Israelites. In the years before they crossed the Jordan River, they conquered several lands whose kings had made war against them. The tribes of Gad and Reuben asked if these lands could be their possession. Moses assumed that they were asking permission to stay and settle their land instead of going to war with the rest of the Israelites as they conquered Canaan. Moses saw this as presumptuous, selfish, and cowardly, He cautioned them that they might cause the other Israelites to falter and consequently fail to conquer the land that God had promised them. Moses warned them that if they sinned in shirking their responsibility, their sin would surely find them out. He made them promise that they would go to battle and do their part to help subdue the whole land. The tribes of Gad and Reuben responded by solemnly promising that they would cross the Jordan, go to battle, and completely conquer the land before they returned home to their families.

This situation raises a good question for us. We sign the songs “Stand Up for Jesus” and “Onward Christian Soldiers,” but are we really willing to stand for Jesus, or would we prefer to sit by and watch others shoulder the burden themselves?