Author Archives: Steve

When Faith Doesn’t Heal – Mark 10:52

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mountain-moving-faith“‘Go your way,’ Jesus told him. ‘Your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he could see and began to follow Him on the road” (Mark 10:52, HCSB).

This verse is the conclusion to the familiar story of blind Bartimaeus. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem accompanied by a large entourage of people. He had just left Jericho when He passed by Bartimaeus, a blind beggar sitting by the road.

When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was passing by, he began to cry out: “Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!”

Bartimaeus was pleading so loudly that people told him to keep quiet, but he just cried out for Jesus all the more.

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Taking Matters Into Your Own Hands – Leviticus 24:12

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MattersInOwnHands“They kept the man in custody until the Lord’s will in the matter should become clear to them.” (Leviticus 24:12, NLT).

During their wilderness wandering, the Israelites took a man into custody who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father. He had been in a fight with an Israelite man and during the fight, the man with the Egyptian father blasphemed God.

When this happened, the Israelites took him into custody and brought him to Moses for judgment. While Moses was waiting to hear from the Lord about the matter, they held him in custody without harming him, not taking matters into their own hands.

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Irreverent Faith – Mark 10:46-52

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“Jesus_Looking_BackAnd Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.’ And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus” (Mark 10:49-50, ESV).

Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease!” This story from the gospel of Mark is a case in point for that saying.

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large entourage, blind Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was approaching, he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47).

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Harmony’s Blessing – Psalm 133

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christian-unity“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard onto his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has appointed the blessing—life forevermore” (Psalm 133, HCSB).

While it may be the gathering of God’s people at Jerusalem during one of the annual festivals that inspired the Psalmist to write this brief reflection, he assures us that God’s blessing abounds wherever brotherly love among God’s people abounds.

And what is the blessing that emanates from living in harmony with one another?

Eternal life!

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The Unbelieving Believer – Mark 9:14-29

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prayer2“And he answered them, ‘O faithless generations, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” (Mark 9:20, ESV)

The story of Jesus healing a boy with an unclean spirit demonstrates the dilemma many Christians face when trying to live out their faith. They may find themselves become unbelieving believers!

Jesus finds some of his disciples arguing with some Jewish religious leaders and a crowd had gathered around them. A man in the crowd explains to Jesus that since childhood his son has been possessed by a demon that causes the boy to have seizures, convulsions, and not be able to talk.

Jesus’s disciples were unable to cast out the demon, so the father pleaded with Jesus to help the boy if He could.

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Bad Weather Farmers – Psalm 126:5-6

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badweatherfarmer“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest” (Psalm 126:5-6, NLT).

Do you sometimes seem to be doing everything right and everything goes wrong?

You are faithful to God, planting seed for His Kingdom by serving and obeying Him in every way. Then, in the middle of your faithfulness and obedience, first one problem or tragedy strikes, then another, and then another.

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More – Leviticus 19:23-25

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moneyfromheaven“When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden. It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you; I am Yahweh your God” (Leviticus 19:23-25, HCSB).

The prohibition from eating the fruit of a newly planted fruit tree may have had to do with the fact that the fruit of a young tree was not well formed and did not taste good in the early stages of its life.

Since the firstfruits belonged to God (see Numbers 18:12-17), the fruit of the fourth year was consecrated to God as a praise offering to indicate that the Israelites recognized that God was the One who gave them the good things the earth produced and blessed them with increased production.

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Life Blood – Leviticus 17:10-11

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blood_splatter“And if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you eats or drinks blood in any form, I will turn against that person and cut him off from the community of your people, for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”

These verses explain the theology of substitutionary atonement.

Israel was forbidden to consume blood because blood was symbolic of the life given by God and was reserved as God’s portion of each animal sacrifice.

God had also designated the sacrificial blood as the means of atonement. In other words, God’s grace permitted the life of the animal to be a substitute in exchange for the life of the human sinner.

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross follows this same pattern for substitutionary atonement as described in Leviticus with the exception that Christ’s sacrifice, because He was God Incarnate, was once and for all while the sacrifice of bulls and goats had to be made repeatedly.

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The Terrified Disciple – Mark 6:49-52

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terrified“When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke with them and said, ‘Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.” (Mark 6:49-52, HCSB).

Have you ever read a familiar passage in the Bible and found something new in it? That’s what happened to me as I read again this familiar story of Jesus walking on the water.

Admittedly, Mark’s version of this story does not include an important element described in Matthew’s account (Matthew 14:22-33). In Matthew’s version, Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk on the water toward Jesus until he notices the wind and the waves, and consequently, begins to sink. So Peter’s faith (or lack of it) is usually the focus of this story for us.

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Opportunity Knocks – Mark 6:37

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opportunity-knocks“But Jesus said, You feed them. With what? they asked. We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” (Mark 6:37, NLT).

Before Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand (or ten or fifteen thousand, actually), He first commanded the disciples to feed them!

Now His command could be interpreted in two ways. Either Jesus was commanding the disciples to let Him empower them to perform the miracle or He was trying to teach them a lesson about God’s miraculous provisioning.

We usually interpret His command to the disciples in terms of the latter, but let’s take the perspective that He was actually commanding them to feed the five or ten or fifteen thousand.

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