The Rich Young Ruler- Mark 10:17-31

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me not to just read these words,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

Over the past 18 days of this journey with Jesus I have really been challenged and have really made a conscience effort to change some things in my life. But by far this has been one of the hardest days of reading. It is always a gut check and I could not imagine what it was like for this young man. Obviously this man recognized Jesus as being special and as being the Son of God (as many of us claim the same thing). Then Jesus gives him the honor in front of everyone of being able to keep the ten commandments to the best of his ability and of course the young man graciously receives that honor. He says of course I have (as many of us claim the same thing). Here comes the hard part. Jesus goes right after this man's priorities. He says, and I'm paraphrasing, "Give up what is important to you and follow me." And the scripture says, "At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth."

This man recognized the power and majesty of God, just like most of us. This man knew that he was capable of being good, just like many of us. But when given the chance to be great the young man decided it was not worth the cost, just like many of us, myself very much included. There are times when I know what I should do but just like Paul at the end of Romans 7, I just don't do them and the things I don't want to do, those are the things I do.


Father I ask you to give me strength and courage to follow you with my whole heart. I pray that nothing gets in the way of my devotion to you and that I can seek you with no distractions. I love you and I know you want what is best for me. Thank you for Jesus.

RB

Day 18

Update on the bloggin project.

For those of you following the 30 days with Jesus, keep it up. I am going to keep going as well. However, I am not going to blog about it everyday. It is a combination of a few things. One, I have gotten a little bit behind with the weekend and with me getting sick these past few days. Also, I feel like a few of these readings are self explanatory and all I am doing is retelling the story. I am going to continue to blog whenever the passage is hard to understand and also when the passage really touched me.

RB

Jesus Calms the Storm and Later Walks on Water--Luke 8:22-25; Mark 6:45-56

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me not to just read these words,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

Well, there is a gut check. "Where is your faith?" He looked at them and said, "Where is your faith?" Woo! I would be blown away. The Son of God just asked me where my faith is. Dude, how often do we forget this question? Instead we say things like, "Ah, I need money," "God, save my grandpa, he doesn't deserve to suffer like this," or "God, please just get me through this rough patch of life." Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I forget this many times in life and often times my first reaction is to question God. Where is my faith?

Time and time again he continues to show the disciples his great power and even better his tremendous and unnatural grace. How much in your own life do you take these two things for granted. Ashamedly I can admit that I take advantage of these characteristics far too many times a day. Notice, I included everyday. Not a day goes by that I do not mess up and just assume that it is taken care of. I mean it is, but instead of thanking the one who made it possible, I just give it a little thought and then continue on in my day. For the rest of the day be more cognoscente of the fact that there was a price paid for all of the many blessings we receive.

RB

Day 11

Parable of the Sower, Weeds and Seeds- Matthew 13:1-43

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me not to just read these words,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

This is always a very interesting passage of scripture to read. It can be difficult sometimes to read and understand the parables that Jesus was teaching so it is nice when he explains them. In this section are a few parables that have to do with the kingdom of heaven. In order to full grasp the entirety of this scene you have to put yourself in the shoes of the ones listening to Jesus. If they hadn't heard anything about the "Kingdom of Heaven," then they must have thought he was crazy. He was talking about weeds being thrown where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, and talking about plants sprouting up with bad soil. They had to be severely confused.

In Day 10's scripture it is very important to ask God to reveal to you what it is you must learn today. It is important to know and apply all of these parables to life but which one specifically applies to you? Ask your self that question and once you have answered that question, read through that specific parable again.

RB

Day Ten

Encounters With the Pharisees Matthew 12:1-13; 22-45

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me not to just read these words,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

Whoa! Jesus is the boss. He in this passage he is giving the Pharisees a good talking to. I would imagine that they did not like it too much that Jesus was questioning everything they stood for. For instance, the held the Sabbath in the highest regard. When Jesus was "doing work" on the Sabbath, Jesus simply said, "Wouldn't you if your sheep got stuck? Well this man's hand is stuck." This is why it is important for us to not get caught up in Religion and instead get caught up in God. When we get bogged down in tradition we miss the point of church all together.

Another point I want to draw from day nine is Matthew 12:34-36. The first part of this section is not as nearly scary as the second part. But nonetheless, it is still important. What goes in must come out. Jesus is saying that when your heart is overflowed with something your mouth is going to talk about that. What is your heart filled with? What have you invested in so much that it has overflowed your heart? Then comes verse 36. For every careless word I have ever spoken I am going to have to give an account for on the day of judgment. Ah!!!!!!

God I want to be consumed with you. I want the overflow of my heart to be a mirror reflection of You. I want to be obsessed with you. Help me have the courage to make a stand for you in difficult situations.

RB

Day Nine

A Centurion, A Widow's Son and a Sinful Woman- Matthew 8:1-13; Luke 7:11-17; 7:36-50

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me to not just read these word,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

Time and time again the stories of Jesus reminds us of who his character. Jesus extends helping hands to people that society would consider unworthy. A few times within this reading the people receiving the miracles told Jesus that they weren't worthy. So many times we expect things from God. We expect to get this or that thing from God when in all actuality we don't deserve anything. God sent His Son to die for us. How much more can you ask for? However, even though we are unworthy of the blessings of God, he still chooses to give us the gift of life. In his very last words in the book of Matthew, Jesus says, "...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." What a promise!? Jesus has promised to be with us to the end of the age. What more can we ask for?

RB

Day 8

Sermon on the Mount-Luke 6:17-46

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me to not just read these word,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

The Sermon on the Mount is always a "slap in the face." You want to talk about a long church service? This is a long sermon! But it is so good for growing as a Christian. For the fist time in His ministry Jesus has an open forum to say whatever he wants. People are there and listening and it seems to me that he is speaking with almost no fear at all. Whenever one reads this passage, it is important to examine yourself, rather than just reading the scripture again for the fortieth time even though you already know what it says. There are so many points to point out so I will allow you to find the one that speaks most directly to you. But I want you to know that these teachings and all of the teachings of Jesus are still relevant today, not just then.

RB

Day Seven

Jesus Calls his Disciples- Luke 5:1-11; Matt 9:9-13

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me to not just read these word,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

Wow! What a powerful image. Jesus the all powerful. The Savior of the universe. The Saver of my soul. He comes to Earth and instead of calling the most powerful men in the world to spread his message, instead of finding the best speakers or the most wealthy men in the world, what does he do? Jesus goes and finds a few guys that aren't even guaranteed wages everyday, he finds men that are hated, and people who are not worthy. Jesus has many titles but one that we must not forget is "leader." Jesus picked a "rag-tag" group of guys and spent time with them. He invested his teachings in them and he eventually used them. You see, I know that many of you have heard this passage teached and preached and have read many devotions on it. "Jesus doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called," is what we always here from the pulpit. We hear, "If Jesus could use these men to lead the first church imagine what he could use you for today." Well you know what? The people who preach these things are absolutely right. When we start opening up to the call of God, then we don't have to preach this message anymore. (I don't think this day is coming anytime soon.) I love this passage because it shows that God can use me, if I choose to let him. The problem is, many of us only want what is comfortable for us. "God I will lead the small group, only if it can be at my house and can be on Wednesday nights from 6:30-7:30 because my favorite show comes on at 8." Guys, if God is calling you there is no getting around it. Trust me, I know. If you don't want my word, ask Moses or Noah.


Father, I ask you to be a part of my everyday. Lord show me what you want me to do. I love you and I know you love me so God show me what it is you want me to do and I will do it. I know you are with me until the end of the age. God sustain me and protect me as I do what you would have me do. "...thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." I love you. Amen


RB


Day 6

Jesus Rejected in his hometown- Luke 4:14-30

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me to not just read these word,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

And here it is. The beginning of hardship from people for Jesus. As soon as he got back from the desert and being tempted by Satan he went into the synagogue. In the midst of people learning he grabbed the scroll and looked for the spot where it prophesied his coming. And he read it. At this point people probably didn't know what was going on. They may have just though that he was reading it. Whatever they thought about him at this time, their eyes were fixed on him. And here we have it, in verses 18-19, Jesus' mission statement. The reason for his coming. When we examine our lives and claim to be like Jesus, we need to come back to this passage of scripture and really examine out lives. Are we preaching good news to the poor? Are we proclaiming freedom for people who are held captive by sin? Are we giving sight to those who have never looked through the eyes that Jesus does or are we helping release people from the oppression of sin. On our own we cannot do these things, and we cannot help people do these things unless we ourselves have done them but with the power of the Holy Spirit and through the death and resurrection of Christ we can. Gut check time--are you acting as Christ?


RB


Day Five

Water to Wine and the Samaritan Woman John 2:1-11; 4:1-26

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me to not just read these word,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

For Day four of the thirty days with Jesus, John introduces us to the first miracle that Jesus performed. They were at the wedding and they ran out of wine. Jesus' mother turns to him and I imagine her having that "look." You know, that look that all mothers get when they want their kid to do something. She said, "Jesus, honey. They have run out of wine." And Jesus knew exactly what his mom was saying. Kind when your mom looks at you and says, "Honey, your room is getting a little messy." She isn't telling you too clean it. She is just pointing out the fact that it is messy. The rest is up to you whether to clean it or not. The verse I want to focus on, on day four in this first section of John is verse nine. "and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew." This "Master of the Banquet" received a gift from Jesus and had no idea. He just went on about his party. There is a lot that God blesses me with that I just blow off as an ordinary gift. He blesses me with sunshine, health and a place to serve and worship freely. And I just continue "drinking my wine" as if I didn't know where it came from.


For the second part of today's reading we read such a beautiful passage. We are truly blessed to have this in the Bible because it truly shows Jesus' interest in the salvation of everyone. In a society that looked down on Samaritans and looked down on women who have had multiple partners, Jesus throws all that to the side and gives this woman the gift of eternity. Was she worthy of this gift? Absolutely not! But neither are we. The truth is none of us are. But Jesus gives us that gift by paying the price so that we may have "a spring of water welling up to eternal life."


"God thank you for the blessings that I take for granted. Thank you for the simple things of life. I love you for the fact that you are here even when I don't notice it. Thank you for your compassion and mercy that you show to a dreadful sinner like me. God I pray that through the rest of this journey you can continue to reveal yourself to me and to whoever else may be going through this with me. Continue to challenge me everyday as I open up the Word to follow the example of Christ. It is in his name I pray these things because it is the only way I can. Amen."

RB

Day Four

JTB prepares the Way and Baptizes Jesus-Matt3:1-4:11

"God show me what you want me to know;
Let me be the wise man and not the foolish man.
Allow me to not just read these word,
But give me a chance to put them into practice. Amen"

This passage has always been one that sort of confused me until I did a little research and studying on it. It has not always been clear to me why Jesus was baptized. I mean JTB said in Matthew 3:11 that he baptizes with water for repentance. What does Jesus have to repent of? He has never sinned. Well, Jesus leads by example. Have you ever had someone give you instructions to do something but they wouldn't do it themselves. How about this, have you ever heard, "I dare you to do it?" Then in reply you say, "No. You do it first." Then what do they respond with? "No way, Dude." Jesus, as he did throughout his life, was showing his humanity. He was showing how human he really was. He was also leading by example.

Speaking on Jesus' humanity, check out chapter 4:1-11. This passage is the whole reason that we are going on this "journey" with Jesus. So that as Jesus did, we can stand on the word of God when faced with the temptation of Jesus. Jesus was tempted three times to show Satan that he was the Son of God and to show that he was God in the flesh. But he chose to "make himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." (Phil 2:7)

"God give me the power and the courage to stand on your Word as my solid foundation. Help me defend against Satan with the only way possible and that is through You and Your Word. I love you and I need you."

RB

Day Three