storiesofvalue

Dear Morning Devotion Group:  I arrived from Haiti yesterday and it might take a day or two to get back in the groove of preparing my devotions.  Thanks to Seth Caddell for being my guest writer while I was gone.  Blessings,  Larry Jones

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell (Mark 9:43-47 NIV)

A couple months ago I was working on renovating my bathroom.  I wasn’t planning anything major, just replacing the vanity and the toilet and pulling out the wainscoting (wood paneling that ran along the bottom 4 feet of the wall).  Nothing major; just a few updates to make it look better.  But when I started to take out the wainscoting I realized why they put it there in the first place.  It was hiding a bunch of old, broken tiles, and the grout was used to stick them in place.  I instantly realized I was in for a lot more work.

But I eventually finished it all.  I ended up covering it with sheetrock mud and smoothing it out so it looked like any other wall.  However, next time I consider working on a bathroom, I’ll remember the amount of work it took to get that stuff taken care of.  I had to go to great lengths to get rid of it.

In this passage Jesus tells us to do the same thing with sin in our lives.  To go to whatever lengths it takes to get rid of it.  Now, do I recommend going out and cutting your hand off?  No.  But if you’re struggling with something, I recommend doing whatever it takes to avoid that temptation.  Don’t handle the money at your work, get an Internet filter for your computer, and find someone to hold you accountable whatever it takes.

Jesus wants us to deepen our relationship with Him so much, that He doesn’t want anything to get in the way.  Sin gets in the way of that relationship.  Don’t let it.  Flee from it.  Get some close friends to help encourage you.

Father, if there’s anything in my life that’s keeping me from You, I pray that you would help me get it out of my life.  Help me take sin as seriously as You do, and give me the strength and the wisdom to resist it.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 -Seth Caddell is the guest devotion writer for this week.  He is the Associate Minister of Adult Ministries at Northside, and blogs over at www.LifeAsExperienced.com

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35 NIV)

Bookstores are full of self-help books, shelves and shelves of books telling you how to be the greatest.  How you can accomplish what you want to accomplish, how to be your own boss, how to make a million dollars, how to do just about everything.  They hit on just about any topic that people want to improve on.

Yet, here we see Jesus’ version of a self-help book.  When telling his disciples how they can be great.  How they can be first.  And it looks really strange at first.  Most self-help books would tell you to visualize what you want, or to reach out and take it.  But not Jesus.  He tells us that to be first, we must be the very last.  We must live a life of service.

I’ve met some incredible men and women of God in my life.  I’ve worked under some incredible leaders.  The ones I most look up to are the ones who have learned this principle well.  A boss who is willing to serve those under him, a leader who sacrifices for her team, those are the people I want to be like.

Jesus is the perfect example.  Though he was God, he humbled himself and came to earth.  He stepped down out of heaven, and came to this messed up planet we call home, not for his own good, but for ours.  Think about that for a minute.  I don’t even like to leave my comfortable couch, and he left heaven.

Today, we have an incredible opportunity to serve those around us.  Whether holding a door open, or taking out someone’s trash, or mowing a neighbors yard, or volunteering to clean out the office fridge.  We have an opportunity to not only make a difference, but to live like Christ.

Father, open up an opportunity for me to serve someone today, not for a pat on the back, but so that You would get the credit and the glory.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

-Seth Caddell is the guest devotion writer for this week.  He is the Associate Minister of Adult Ministries at Northside, and blogs over at www.LifeAsExperienced.com

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NIV)

Jesus is in miracle mode again.  He’s traveling around, and this man whose son is possessed by a demon approaches him.  The boy has had this demon since he was a child, and the demon has a habit of trying to kill the boy by throwing him into fires and into water.  The man is at the end of his rope, no other options.  He’s desperate for Jesus to heal his son.

When Jesus tells the man that anything is possible for those who believe; the man responds in the verse above.

I don’t know about you, but there are times where those same words come out of my mouth.  I’m frustrated and not sure what else to do.  I want to believe that God is in control, but my faith just isn’t strong enough.  My doubts and questions overwhelm my belief.  I’ve felt that desperation. I’ve never had a child be tormented by a demon, but I know where this guy is coming from.

“Help me overcome my unbelief!”

As I drove through the ruins of Joplin, Missouri last year just weeks after the tornado, I wondered how God could heal these people.  How could He possibly repair the damage done to these lives?  I distinctly remember uttering the words of this father.  “Help me overcome my unbelief!”

When I struggled through the death of my father I wondered where God was in the midst of my hurt.  I knew He was there, I just wasn’t sure if I believed it.  “Help me overcome my unbelief!”

I’ve prayed with hurting friends and grieving families wondering when God would heal their hearts, when He would bring them peace.  “Help me overcome my unbelief!”

Today, if you’re struggling, if you’re doubting, if you don’t know what’s around the next corner, take comfort in this man’s words.  Jesus healed his son, and He can heal your situation.  He is all powerful, all knowing, and cares about each and every one of us.  Even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Father, when I doubt and struggle with understanding your plan help me overcome my unbelief.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

-Seth Caddell is the guest devotion writer for this week.  He is the Associate Minister of Adult Ministries at Northside, and blogs over at www.LifeAsExperienced.com

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) (Mark 9:2-6, NIV)

Every time I read this passage I think, “What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall for that event.”  Imagine it.  Jesus begins to shine, and suddenly Elijah and Moses are there, chatting with Him.  I bet the experience was incredible.

But what intrigues me about the passage is Peter’s response.  He immediately talks about how good it is to be there, which is pretty obvious.  But then he talks about staying.  He mentions building shelters for Jesus and his Old Testament buddies.  Peter tries desperately to hold onto the moment.  And I don’t blame him.  I would too.

I’ve had several encounters with God where I’ve wanted to hang onto that feeling.  I wanted to cling to the mountaintop experience, even wondering if I could stay there; getting ready to head home from a missions trip and not wanting to leave.  I want to build a shelter and stay there in that mountaintop experience, just like Peter.

But it doesn’t work that way.  We go home, go back to our normal lives.  We come down from the mountain, and move on.  The challenge is to be changed in a way that when we return to normal life we aren’t the same.  We act differently, we think differently, we spend our time differently.

The goal of those experiences with God is to change us not so we want to live in that moment, but so that experience fuels our passion for others.  Imagine what would have happened if Peter would have built those shelters.  What would have happened had he decided to live there on that mountain for the rest of his life?  Who would have preached on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-36)?

When God gives you a powerful experience, allow that experience to fuel your ministry, your love for others.

Dear God, remind me to take my mountaintop experiences to the people in the valley.  Give me a passion to make your name famous in my life.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

-Seth Caddell is the guest devotion writer for this week.  He is the Associate Minister of Adult Ministries at Northside, and blogs over at www.LifeAsExperienced.com

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  (Mark 8:36 NIV)

I love stuff.  There, I said it.  It might not be too spiritual to say it out loud, but I’m willing to bet I’m not the only person who struggles with the materialism monster.  I see cool cars and look at my beat up pickup truck.  I have friends with huge impressive houses, and I remember my little place down in Hampton.  I see photos on Facebook of elaborate vacations or hear about amazing new five star restaurants, and the monster rears its ugly head. 

It’s something I believe most of us struggle with.  If you don’t believe me, try selling your house and moving.  You’ll realize just how much stuff you really have.

But what can we do about it?  Why do we spend so much time wanting things we do not have?

I think it’s because humans can be extremely selfish.  We want to take, take, take.  We want to buy, buy, buy.  Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with having nice things.  There’s nothing wrong with having a beautiful home.  There’s nothing wrong with going to the mall.  It’s when it becomes an idol that it’s a problem:  When we shop to de-stress rather than turn to God.  When we buy to feel happy instead of seeking out our Father.

I’ve learned the best way for me to battle the greed giant, is to always have a box of stuff to give away.  I have more books that I’ll ever have time to read, so every few months I sift through them and donate a handful to a local Goodwill store.  I am always getting new clothing, so I search my closet a couple times a year and give away stuff I’m not using. 

By default I want to gain the whole world.  Through God’s help and learning to let go of things, I fight off my materialistic desires.

Dear God, help me learn satisfaction in only you.  Help me find peace and comfort in your arms, not more stuff.  In Jesus name, Amen.

-Seth Caddell is the guest devotion writer for this week.  He is the Associate Minister of Adult Ministries at Northside, and blogs over at www.LifeAsExperienced.com

Dear Devotion Group: Next week Seth Caddell, Adult Ministry Associate from Northside Christian Church, will be my guest devotion writer.  Seth will also be preaching this Sunday, July 5th.  I know you will enjoy his work.  Blessings, Larry Jones

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. (Mark 8:35 NIV)

What is wrong with saving our life?

Many years ago I started going to a dermatologist once a year.  When I was a teenager I lived on the Gulf Coast, and I took full advantage of the fun and sun.  My skin was baked and my hair was blond.  And like any responsible sun lover I used the best sun tan oil I could find.

That’s right…oil.  For those of you who may not remember, the goal of working and playing in the sun used to be to get as dark as possible.  And sun tan oil made that possible.

It also burned and damaged our skin beyond repair.  That’s why once a year I have a professional examine me.  And every now and then, he finds something.  When in doubt, I say, “Take it off!”

I want to save my life.

Is that what Jesus says we aren’t supposed to do in our passage this morning?  I don’t think so.

I believe the life we aren’t supposed to save is more about the blessings, gifts and opportunities God gives us for His glory.  It is also about the temptation we have to save our lives at the expense of giving up our deepest convictions.

Which is worse: to lose our lives in order to remain true to ourselves, or to save our lives and live the rest of our lives knowing we betrayed our very being?

And then we come to the “gospel.”  There really is no way to soften the meaning of Jesus’ words here.  I know we may struggle to think in terms of losing our very lives in order to share the gospel with others.  Certainly, we don’t have to physically die to lose our lives.  We can lose them by pouring everything into the Lord’s work.  But unless we are willing to literally die for the sake Christ, we cannot fully adopt Jesus teaching in today’s passage.

I’ll be honest.  I can’t say I am there.  I have never been tested with my very life.  My convictions and commitment have been run through the ringer.  But never all that I have…all that I am.

But I strive for this: to die daily to myself, and to prepare for the place where God might ask me to lay my life down.

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot more dying to do.

Dear God, teach me what to live for, and what to die for.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8:31-33 NIV)

This passage comes immediately following something we know as the “Good Confession.”  The “Good Confession” is where Jesus asks His disciples who they believed Him to be and Peter said, “You are the Christ.”  Matthew gives us a more complete rendering of the confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” 

One of the points people have often made regarding this passage is how we can go from bring spiritual experts in the kingdom to total goof-ups.  One moment Peter was praised by Jesus for knowing who He was and the next minute he was blasted for standing in the way of God’s plan.

Why do you suppose Peter rebuked Jesus?

Obviously, Peter (and the other disciples) didn’t understand the full nature of the kingdom.  They were still thinking in terms of an earthly reign with Jesus as the King and His subjects ruling the earth.  Certainly the kingdom did involve filling up the earth with the Lord’s glory, but it wasn’t going to be the kind of earthly kingdom people were used to seeing.  Therefore, Jesus’ suggestion He was going to be killed ran counter to Peter’s vision.

Secondly, Peter may have been convinced there was no way he and the others were going to let Jesus die.  He was living under some sort of delusion they could withstand Jesus’ enemies.  In Matthew’ record we discover Peter told Jesus, “This will never happen to you!”  But it did.

More than anything, Peter’s statement, that led Jesus to tag his words as satanic, was presumptuous.  It presumed Peter knew more than Jesus did about His Father’s plan, and that he and the others could somehow change His course of action.

Poor Peter.  He meant well, but he looked pretty bad here because he was so out of sync with God’s plan for our redemption.

“Presumption” is a problem…for all of us.  I will put myself in the hot seat and say I often presume to know more than God.  That’s why I take important steps in my life without consulting God, and ask Him what went wrong when I fail.

I presume I know then presume God should have known what I didn’t know.

Does this make sense?  Well, it might to me…but something tells me God isn’t fooled by my logic.

Presumption can get us all in a lot trouble.  It is better to do our best to learn, discern and trust.  Peter would eventually get it and God would use him in a mighty way.  God has a way of working all of the presumption out of us…if we are willing.

Dear God, help me presume less and trust more.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” (Mark 8:22-26 NIV)

Jesus’ miracles are an interesting study.  People often examine them closely to evaluate the difference between modern miraculous claims (in the name of Jesus) and biblical examples.  The reason is obvious: to verify whether or not modern miracle workers really can replicate the works of Jesus.

Some have suggested the following criteria should be considered:

Is the situation verifiable?  Is the miracle observable?  Is the miracle immediate? Is the miracle complete? Is the miracle lasting?

In the Bible, when Jesus healed people, their diseases were usually profound, and well-known by others in the community.  Others were present when the healings took place.  Those who were healed immediately recognized their illness was gone.  And they weren’t partially healed, or healed only to wake up the day after the healing service to discover their disease was back.

Of course, there were other kinds of miracles besides healings.  I have only chosen this genre because of the nature of this morning’s passage.

I mention these criteria because today’s miracle stands out as a bit of an exception…not a big exception…just a small one.  In this case, Jesus healed a man in phases.  They weren’t long phases.  But it does seem a little strange Jesus didn’t instantly heal him with the first touch.  Why not?

Some have suggested there was a medical reason for the sequence.  Perhaps, due to the particular eye disease this man had, it was best for his eyes to adjust slowly to avoid additional damage.  Others have thought that perhaps Jesus healed the man in two steps to test his faith in some way.  To be honest, this second theory has never made good sense to me.  And then, there are those who have said maybe the man’s disease was so entrenched it took two treatments to relieve it…like multiple applications of a procedure intended to remove lesions or scar tissue.  I also don’t see the validity of this last idea.  The Savior who raised people from the dead simply didn’t have to do anything in steps…period.  One more theory (and a popular one) is that Jesus healed this man in stages to teach the disciples their spiritual vision was being unclouded in stages.  Hmmmm.

I choose the first thought.  I think there was a practical reason for the nature of this healing.  It wasn’t necessary, but perhaps more comfortable for some unknown reason for the healing to take place in stages.  What do you think?

Dear God, your healing power is amazing!  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.'” (Mark 7:20-23)

Jesus is still addressing the subject of rules as they relate to righteousness, or self-righteousness, as the case may be.  Just to be clear, self-righteousness is what we exhibit when we believe our good works make us clean before God.  In reality, it isn’t our works, but our heart that makes us clean.

This doesn’t mean God isn’t pleased with our good works.  In fact, He commands us to do them.  James once said true religion is to care for widows and orphans in their distress.

Yet, if we hope to be spiritually clean in God’s presence, we can’t get there by doing good works.  We can only do so by having the right attitude toward Him, and allowing Him to cleanse us within with saving grace.

Unfortunately, our human tendency is to focus heavily on works, and on what others see.  What people see is tangible.

But what they don’t see is where our spiritual nature is revealed.  The things within…the things that come out of us are the things that define our righteousness, or lack thereof.

We won’t spend time explaining each of the “unclean” things.  I think they are pretty self-evident.  I should make note of one often overlooked point, however:  “slander” is in the same list as murder and adultery.  So if we think spreading stories about people (gossip) is one of those things everyone does, and is not all that serious, we should think again.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to keep our outward person clean.  As we have already said in our study, it is good to clean our hands before we eat, and carry out a number of other healthy practices.  It is also respectful to “clean-up” for worship.  But if we obsess about the outside that people see, and neglect the inside that people can’t see, we are like tombs full of dead men’s bones, or cups that are polished on the outside, but full of grime on the inside (somewhat of a paraphrase of Jesus’ words).

The truth is, sometimes the unclean things on the inside do become visible on the outside, but not because we have neglected what people see.  No, our inner thoughts have a way of sneaking out of our hearts and into the public eye.  Rarely do people commit serious sins in a vacuum.  Normally, they have been harboring and nurturing unclean things for some time inside, and they leaked out when they least expected.

Our ideal is to be the same inside and out…for us to be the people others see, for others to see who we are, and for it all to be pleasing to God.

An old children’s song says, “I’m inright, outright, upright, downright, happy all the time…since Jesus Christ came in, and cleansed my heart from sin…I’m inright, outright, upright, downright, happy all the time.”  How are your insides?

Dear God, make me the same, inside and out.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.