OK- on to Mark 10-12. Here we start out with divorce again. Similar to Dave, I'm going to say- wohoo. I drew the divorce card- lucky me. Well, i'll just touch on one thing I was thinking of while reading this. Vs 9- the quintessential wedding verse "What God has joined together, let man not separate." That always just goes in one ear and out the other with a, yeah yeah, that phrase has a nice ring to it. But I was thinking about this and something I read earlier this year. The one book I have read this year (yes one :)) has been Tim Keller's Meaning of Marriage. And something he said in that book just gave me a whole new perspective on how I see marriage. He said that the purpose of marriage was to be happier- and if you're not, move on to something/someone better that will give you that happiness because that's what God wants for you. EHHHHHHH. WRONG. X 10. He said the purpose of marriage was sanctification. "Huh?" Was my reaction when I first read that, but then I just kept reading and it made more sense. The purpose of marriage is to further each other to being more Christ like- holy, God-fearing, serving, etc. That is what marriage is for. It made so much more sense after reading that why a lot of marriages fail today because they are not built around that aim or the way God intended. A lot of the root of divorce today comes from things we do to serve "me"whether that be cheating, lying, addiction, idols, work, "I'm unhappy so I'm moving on bc I deserve to be happy" etc. Rather than asking is this action or thing I say going to make my husband/wife move forward in being sanctified- point them towards Christ, show them a picture of Christ, etc..?! And If not, maybe I need to re-think and take the road that may be harder, but the road that is in God's plan when he first made man/woman and marriage. I hope that someday when the time is right I can learn to filter the things I do and say through that lens. Easier said than done- Jeremy and Liz you probably have way more insight into this than I, but those are just my thoughts.
Second thing I want to highlight is also in chapter 10 when James and John ask Jesus to do whatever they want him to do (when I read this today I was like...wow that is BOLD. Yikes) Then the other ten disciples got riled up and Jesus gives them the speech that I think is so applicable to our real life everyday. Jesus said in vs 42-45 "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Am I mad at someone? Serve them. Am I thinking I was treated unfairly at work? Serve my coworkers, serve my boss. Do I think I am just so high and mighty above someone else because I have a decent job and make some money? Worthless. Don't ignore- serve them. The Son of GOD served. Served sinners like you and me, and did the ultimate servant act ever when he took our sin and died on the cross. We see this commandment again in ch 12 when Jesus gives the two most important commandments of 1) love the Lord with all your heart, strength, soul, mind and 2) love your neighbor as yourself.
Third, just as a tidbit, my favorite book ever as a little kid was on Bartimaeus. I would ask my mom to read it over and over again. I loved that book to death. So I was surprised when Jesus healed him so quickly and gave him his sight in about a paragraph in Mark. I was like....where are the illustrations....only one paragraph? I remember it being pages and pages and on the last page when his eyes were huge and he could see everything :)
Alright- that's it for tonight. I can't wait to go to bed because I know I will wake up to a winter wonderland.
Kari
If there was a "like" button, I would have hit it.
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