Thursday
Today, we begin the second of four Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus.
Mark is most likely the first of the gospel accounts written and it was written by someone who was not one of the twelve, but probably had some first-hand experience of the events taking place. History tells us that Mark or also known as John Mark was the companion of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. Mark leaves out the events of the Christ’s birth and goes directly to the preaching of John the Baptist. Mark’s opening chapter takes us directly into Jesus’ Ministry. After Jesus’ baptism and the temptation of Satan in the wilderness, Jesus begins putting his ministry team together. Do you notice who he calls? These are not the scholars of his day, these are not the guys with the best resumés, yet Jesus saw something in them that goes beyond what is apparent to the rest of the world. He does that for us as well. Some of the best preachers and musicians are people who are extremely uncomfortable being in front of people. But isn’t it just like God to “chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)
And these guys didn’t “get it” at first either. They had a lot of growing to do. They made mistakes along the way, but in the end they became the leaders of the church. I am pretty sure they didn’t fully realize what they were getting into when they answered the call, they just knew that here was the Man they wanted to follow. And following in an action step. When we follow we must understand that it is something that we must do. Jesus can’t do it for us.
So when we hear the call for our lives, we can be sure, we will make many mistakes along the way, and that is alright. But we also know that Jesus will help to make us better as long we continue to follow Him.
Loving and following Jesus
PK