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Childlike, Not Childish

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Orphans, Priorities, Responsibility, Service, Vision, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 31, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 19; Mark 10

Today’s reading takes us to Matthew 19 and Mark 10. They seem to tell the same events from two different perspectives. One comes from Matthew, the tax collector turned disciple of Jesus. The other comes from Peter, the impetuous follower who passed his memories along to his young protégé, John Mark.

I find it interesting that these passages met me after a particularly demanding and stressful week. My wife had one too. It was my first week working from home in eleven weeks. I’d been on the road ten straight weeks, and that wears you out in one way. Then a huge amount of work in a short window wears you out in another.

Yesterday I walked across the backyard just to clear my head for a moment. My mind ran to being a child in God’s kingdom. I thought about heaven, and how there are probably no deadlines there. There’s definitely no overbearing boss demanding hurry, hurry, hurry, and no unrealistic deadlines or expectations. I don’t think those things happen in heaven. Then I thought about being a child, whose main thoughts for the day were probably: Who am I going to play with today? What kind of adventure and fun am I going to get into? And I wonder what’s for supper? That’s the stress-free life that’s so hard to find here on earth.

Becoming Like a Child

When the disciples tried to turn the children away, Jesus was indignant. He said, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:14–15).

That’s hard for an adult to wrap our heads around: responsible, hardworking, with a to-do list a mile long. I’ll admit it. I’m action-oriented to a fault. I’m almost always looking for what needs to be done and how I can stay busy, until stress pushes me into that overwhelmed state.

Jesus doesn’t want us to get to that overwhelmed state. He wants us to get with Him:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

Jesus is saying, I’ve got a life for you that isn’t the stress monster you deal with all the time. I’ve got a life that’s rich and full. How do we come to Him? We come as children, without a lot of preconceived ideas and without a lot of demands.

Childish Demands

Speaking of demands, consider James and John. They came to Jesus and said, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mark 10:37). In Matthew’s telling, their mother makes the request for them (Matthew 20:20–21). They wanted to be the top dudes in Jesus’ kingdom.

My guess is they weren’t thinking about heaven. They still expected Jesus to launch a campaign and set up His kingdom on earth, and they wanted to be right there with Him at His right and left hand. That’s a childish request more than a childlike one.

I see it in Scripture: childlike faith is good. Childish faith, I believe, the Lord puts up with for a while. But He really wants us to grow. He wants us to become more like Him, and that means servant leadership.

Growing Up into Servant Leadership

Jesus dives right into it with all the disciples:

“You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42–45)

We may have roles out front, roles that are more leadership in nature. But we’re never to forget that Jesus came to serve, and as His disciples and followers, we’re called to serve too. We’re to love with His love and serve with His heart.

So the childlike heart grows into a responsible adult who serves and loves well. We do that by keeping our eyes on Jesus and letting His Holy Spirit help us, guide us, and change us.

Today’s Thought

Childlike faith, not remaining childish in our faith, growing to lead as servants. Whether at home, in the workplace, at school, or among our friends, it’s what Jesus did, and it’s what He’s calling us to.

Where in your life right now are you living childish instead of childlike, and who is one person you can serve today?

Be blessed today, and be a blessing wherever God takes you.

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A Glimpse Behind the Curtain

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, God, heaven, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Prayers, The Father, Vision, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , on October 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 17 & Mark 9 · Oct 21, 2026 · @Daniel

For the first nine months of the year, my reading plan takes me chronologically through the Old Testament. It has its highlights, moments of hope and joy and places where God moves in mighty ways. But it is always looking forward, leaning toward the One who is coming.

Then you reach the Gospels, and everything changes. They’re packed with grace and with truth for living. As we watch Jesus, listen to Jesus, and see Him act on behalf of people, God is clearly signaling that something new has arrived. What was foretold for centuries is coming to pass. The kingdom of God is here, and Jesus demonstrates it again and again.

Three Witnesses on the Mountain

At the end of Matthew 16 and the start of Mark 9, Jesus makes a striking promise: some standing there “will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power” (Mark 9:1). People have read that as pointing to the resurrection, or to Pentecost. I lean toward the Transfiguration, which comes six days later. The way the Gospel writers set it up, that statement seems to lead right into it.

My thoughts went in a slightly odd direction today. Why did Jesus choose just three, Peter, James, and John, to see it?

Elsewhere in the Gospels we see Jesus as a gifted healer and a truth-teller. On that mountain the disciples saw something more: His glory as God the Son. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Years later Peter would write, “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).

At that point the disciples’ understanding was muddled. They were grasping that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, but they didn’t yet understand what that meant. So Jesus took three and pulled back the curtain. They saw who He was before He came to earth, who He truly was even though it was hidden from almost everyone else, and who He will be at the end of time, when He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16) and “every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10–11).

So why just three? The only reason I can point to is God’s sovereign choice. These three were there to see it, record it, and tell the others. Beyond that, I can’t say, and maybe that’s the point. That is God’s business. That is how God works. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

There are things we don’t know, and we won’t know them until He reveals them. Some we may never fully understand this side of eternity. Even then, the God who is doing them is good, faithful, true, and loving. He knows best, so we can rest in it.

Back Down in the Valley

Then they came down the mountain into a mess: a desperate father, a demon-possessed son, arguing scribes, and nine disciples who couldn’t help.

These were the same men Jesus had sent out with authority only weeks before (Mark 6:7, 12–13). They had seen it work. So why not now?

Some suggest, and I lean this way too, that God’s gifting for healing and miracles comes for specific occasions, needs, and seasons. There is also a danger here. We can become enamored with the gift. We can grow proud of what God does through us and lose sight of the fact that it’s Jesus who works. It’s His Holy Spirit doing the work, and He gets the glory.

I have to admit that I’ve seen God do some amazing things, and it’s easy to slip into complacency. I start thinking it’s my prayer, or that God is using me. Well, yes, He does use us. But God does the work and God gets the glory. We are His children and His servants. Even as His followers, it’s easy to think of ourselves “more highly than [we] ought to think” (Romans 12:3).

Stripped Down to Bare Bones

Matthew and Mark record Jesus’ explanation a little differently. In Matthew, it’s “because of your little faith” (Matthew 17:20). Perhaps their trust wasn’t fully resting on God’s ability. In Mark, Jesus says, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29), and some manuscripts add “and fasting.”

That addition is helpful to me. Fasting is a spiritual discipline I’ve experienced, and it strips me down to bare bones. I quickly realize how much I like food, how much I need it, and how early I get hungry. I also don’t particularly like the person I become when I’ve gone a while without eating. Yet in that place, God sustains me. “Man does not live by bread alone” (Deuteronomy 8:3). He is the One who provides.

I think Jesus is pointing His disciples, and us, to that same bare-bones reality. God provides the healing. God provides the deliverance. God answers the prayers of a humbled and obedient heart.

Where have I started trusting in what God has done through me, instead of in God Himself?

Be blessed today, and be a blessing.

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Bridges, Dead Ends, and a Woman Worth the Trip

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, God, healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Priorities, Salvation, Service, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , on October 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 15 and Mark 7

Today we see a familiar theme, along with a story that often confused me before I became a student of the Bible. Let’s dive in and see what Jesus has to teach us.

The familiar theme is Jesus confronting the hypocrisy and religiosity of the Jewish leaders. We also see two different long-distance trips in today’s passages. The first is the religious leaders traveling all the way from Jerusalem to chastise Jesus because His followers weren’t keeping their traditions. The text doesn’t tell us, but I wonder whether they came on a fact-finding mission to “check out this new teacher,” or whether they came specifically to get Jesus and His growing following to behave and follow their rules. Either way, what they got was not what they hoped for. Instead, Jesus clearly articulated God’s perspective on man-made religious rules being wedged between God and man.

Jesus came as the ultimate bridge between fallen humanity and God. Even as He taught about the Kingdom of God (also called the Kingdom of Heaven), He was setting the stage for His own sacrifice, the means by which every person could be made right with God. The religious leaders were building a path that ultimately led to a dead end. There might be some self-satisfaction in following all the rules, but the sin debt we all owe could only be satisfied by a sacrifice… a sacrifice Jesus would soon accomplish.

I want to circle back for a moment to the trip these leaders made. The 80 or so miles from Jerusalem to Galilee was not the simple hour-and-a-half drive we might make today. It was a multi-day journey through areas known for bandits and other ne’er-do-wells, and traveling as a group may have been partly for safety. This mattered to them. Their reputation seemed to be at stake. They were likely also worried about stirring up the Romans. In John, which we read yesterday, a populist movement was already forming that wanted to make Jesus, the powerful, miracle-working rabbi, into the military messiah they had been hoping for.

But Jesus was having none of it, neither from the crowds who wanted to make Him an earthly king nor from the religious leaders who wanted Him to conform to their rule book. What He did do was speak clearly to the leaders, then to the people, and then in more detail to His disciples about the Kingdom of God. And then He set out on a multi-day journey of His own.

The story of the Syrophoenician woman always struck me as a little odd. But learning the context, and especially digging into the meaning of the original words, turned odd into beautiful. Here’s what changed and why it matters.

First, notice the similarity, and then the contrast, between the two trips. The religious leaders were likely already irritated at this rogue teacher upstaging them before they ever arrived. They came to correct, and possibly rebuke, Jesus. They left chastised and rebuked themselves. It was NOT a pleasant experience for them. Jesus then promptly left the Jewish region of Galilee and headed north into Gentile territory.

During this period of His ministry, the text frequently mentions Jesus teaching crowds and healing. We don’t see that here. We read about only one encounter: a Gentile woman begging Jesus to deliver her daughter. Jesus traveled into Gentile territory, a place “proper” Jews avoided at all costs, and He engaged with someone who was 1) a Gentile, 2) a woman, and 3) pushy enough to break past the disciples’ protective wall. That sounds like three strikes against her. But Jesus engaged her anyway.

Now comes the part that always made me uncomfortable. He refers to her as a dog. Wow. That seems out of character for the Jesus I know from the rest of the Gospels. The religious leaders wouldn’t have engaged her at all, but where’s the compassionate Jesus? This is where understanding the original language matters. The word Jesus uses refers to a little dog, a household pet, the kind of beloved puppy that lives under the family table. It is NOT the harsh insult it can sound like in English. And don’t forget, Jesus knew exactly what He was going to do. It is very likely that this woman was THE reason Jesus marched His disciples into foreign territory so far from home. This exchange, and the deliverance He gave, had to be critically important, or the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have prompted both Matthew and Mark to record it.

When I read this story and noticed that Jesus promptly left the area, I couldn’t help but think of the demoniac on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus delivered that man and then promptly turned around and headed back to Jewish territory. All the Old Testament prophecies pointed to a Jewish Messiah who would set His people free. In a few places we see that promise expanded to the Gentiles, but the primary audience was the Jews. And that’s exactly what Jesus did. His initial outreach was in Israel, but He also “seeded” His message into the lives of Gentiles, in at least these two places, through deliverance and healing. I can just picture this woman telling her friends about her encounter with Jesus as she points to her now healthy, whole daughter.

Today I am struck by how good the LORD is to reach out to us, no matter how far we might stray. He walks near enough to respond the moment we decide to seek Him. After the resurrection, we’ll see this intimacy with God go to a whole new level, as the Father places His Holy Spirit within each person who repents and surrenders their life to Him. But even before that, He is near… He pursues… He loves… and He gives us every opportunity to turn and become His child. That is a beautiful truth to rest in.

Where in your life might God be making a long trip just to meet you?

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Eyes Above the Waves

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, God, God Stories, healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Priorities, Responsibility, Service, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Trials, Vision, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , on October 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9

Reading today’s Gospel passages, I felt almost tired. The action is relentless, and the emotional weight comes early. John the Baptist, guilty of nothing but speaking truth to power, loses his life to a scheme hatched by Herodias and carried out through her daughter (Mark 6:17–29).

When Jesus hears the news, Matthew tells us he withdrew by boat to a desolate place by himself (Matthew 14:13). John wasn’t only his cousin. He was the forerunner who prepared the ground for Jesus’ ministry. I’m sure Jesus went to grieve and to be alone with the Father. But he didn’t get that, at least not at first. The crowds saw where he was going and followed him on foot. And when Jesus saw them, he had compassion on them (Matthew 14:14). Grieving, tired, and interrupted, he served anyway. That’s the servant leadership he still calls us to, and 2,000 years later it’s still rare.

The disciples were grieving too

I want to look at the disciples for a moment, because they had also heard the news. John was part of their story. At least a couple of them had followed John before they followed Jesus (John 1:35–40). John and Jesus preached the same message: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The handoff from John to Jesus was one of preparation and arrival, but I don’t think that was clear to them yet. Most still pictured a Messiah who would throw off the yoke of Rome. They didn’t yet see that the yoke Jesus came to break was sin, and the debt we owe for our failure to obey God, or that Jesus himself would take the death sentence in our place. What they did know was that John was dead.

And here’s something I hadn’t noticed before. This all happens right after the disciples return from the mission Jesus had sent them on, with authority to proclaim the kingdom and to heal (Mark 6:7–13, 30; Luke 9:1–10). They had seen God’s power at work through them. It must have been exhilarating. They were also exhausted. Jesus had even said, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Then the crowd showed up.

“You give them something to eat”

The teaching lasted all day. The people were hungry and had a long way home. When the disciples suggested sending them away, Jesus answered, “You give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37). They were flustered. Where would they find food, even if they had the money?

The answer was a boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fish (John 6:9). It fed 5,000 men, and with women and children, the crowd could easily have been 15,000. This is one of the few miracles recorded in all four Gospels.

Notice what the disciples’ responsibility turned out to be. They didn’t have to produce the food. They had to take what Jesus gave them and put it into the hands of the people. That’s servant leadership too. Fresh off a successful mission, they were still shocked by the scale of what Jesus asked. And he showed them that no need is too big for the power of God.

Headwinds on the lake

Then comes one of my favorite stories in the Bible. Jesus makes the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him across the lake, while he finally goes up the mountain alone to pray (Matthew 14:22–23).

I’ve been to Israel and stood on Mount Arbel, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. From the top you can see the whole lake. Just below it, a valley pass opens toward the Mediterranean, and the wind can funnel through it and whip up that part of the water. It was easy for me to picture Jesus on a mountain on a breezy, moonlit night, looking down and seeing the disciples straining at the oars against the wind (Mark 6:48).

Jesus knew what was coming. He knew they’d be rowing into headwinds, and that in their own strength they wouldn’t make it. He sent them anyway. Then, in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea.

They thought he was a ghost. Maybe that fear was tied to hearing that John had just been killed. They were terrified, and they were spent. They’d come back from a big mission, wanted rest, ministered all day to thousands, watched Jesus feed them, and were now paddling through the night and getting nowhere. And then someone was walking on the water. Jesus said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27).

Peter, and me

Then Peter, only in Matthew’s account, asks Jesus to call him out onto the water. Jesus says, “Come.” As long as Peter keeps his eyes on Jesus, he walks on the water too. But when he sees the wind, he becomes afraid, begins to sink, and cries out, “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:28–30). Jesus immediately reaches out and catches him.

Oh my goodness, do I recognize this in my own life. When trials and challenges come, or when too many things crowd in and I look at the things instead of the person of Jesus, that’s when I sink. That’s when my emotions run amok. That’s when I’m less loving to my wife, less thoughtful toward my children, and less kind to the people I meet.

But when I keep my eyes on Jesus, follow what he did and what he said, and let the Holy Spirit help me not just with the task but with my focus, the water isn’t what drowns me. That’s when I’m walking above the waves. That’s when I’m rowing into the wind and actually making headway. That’s when I’m living the servant life Jesus called me to.

And before we know it, the Lord gives us the opportunity to lead others into a relationship with him, into discipleship, and into faithful action of their own. Not because we’re strong rowers, but because we keep our eyes on Jesus, follow him, and let our lives be used as his servants.

A question to carry with you today: What wind or wave has your attention right now, and what would it look like to lift your eyes back to Jesus in the middle of it?

Have a blessed day.

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Sent From the Feet of Jesus

Posted in Bible Study, God, healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Mission to Kenya, Orphans, Responsibility, Service, The Father, Trials, Vision, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 10

Today’s Gospel reading in Matthew is about Jesus setting apart the twelve. They began as disciples, and in this chapter he sends them out as apostles.

A disciple is a learner, a follower of a rabbi. In his day Jesus was seen as a rabbi, and he had a lot of followers. Estimates are that around 100 to 120 people regularly traveled with him, and the number would swell as he came into different towns. At times like the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, crowds of many thousands gathered to hear him. Within that larger group were the disciples who followed him closely, and within them were the twelve, the men he chose as his closest followers.

In Matthew 10, Jesus sends those twelve out. “He called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction” (Matthew 10:1). They were to carry his message: “Proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay” (10:7–8). Jesus had the authority to give his power to his followers so they could carry out his work.

If a disciple is a learner, an apostle is one who is sent on a mission. Most of this chapter is about what would happen as these men went out: the power they would walk in and the very different responses they would get. Some of Jesus’ warnings are stern. “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (10:16). Jesus is honest about how hard it is to be his disciple and to be sent out with his message. He knows it won’t always be well received.

He also gives a very clear instruction: we are not to worry when we are sent on mission in God’s power. “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (10:19–20). Yes, people may have some power over our lives, but God is in control. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father… Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (10:29, 31). He guides our steps and our words. He is the one who heals, delivers, and works miracles. Our role is to take what we have learned as disciples and carry it wherever he sends us.

I love how Paul says that Christ gave leaders to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). Every Jesus follower is sent on mission. For some, the mission field is mostly the home. A homemaker homeschooling her children and serving on the neighborhood association is on mission. Others are sent far away, like my friends LJ and Danee, who are now in Kenya running an orphanage with some 200 children, many of them rescued from desperate situations.

I’ve had many opportunities to share the love of Jesus with people and to pray with them. What I see now is that my own experiences are part of how God has equipped me. There were times God was with me in hardship, times he rescued me from very difficult situations, and times he simply poured out his Spirit and gave me a reason to laugh. When I share those stories and acknowledge that God was behind them, that is ministry.

When we are placed in a hostile situation and questioned about our faith, telling who Jesus is and what he has done in our lives is the powerful witness God has given us. We may suffer in this life, but eternal life is bigger, greater, and grander. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Whatever we may suffer for being faithful and proclaiming the gospel is nothing compared to what God has in store for “those who love God… who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

So here is what I’m taking from today: all believers are called to be disciples. We sit at Jesus’ feet, read his Word, and let it speak to our hearts. We let it read us. Then, as God gives us opportunities, we recognize that we are on the mission field everywhere we go, carrying his message, his power through prayer, and his life and light.

Where has God already sent you? Who in your everyday path needs to hear what Jesus has done in your life?

Be blessed today.

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Today’s reading was Matthew 10, where Jesus takes the twelve who had been following him as disciples and sends them out as apostles. A disciple is a learner and follower of a rabbi. An apostle is one who is sent on a mission.

Jesus “gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction” (Matthew 10:1). He sent them to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. He had the authority to give his power to his followers.

He was also honest with them. “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” (10:16). The message would not always be welcome. But he told them not to be anxious about what to say, “for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (10:20). People may have some power over our lives, but God is in control. Not even a sparrow falls apart from our Father.

Paul says leaders were given “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). Every follower of Jesus is sent. For some the mission field is the home and the neighborhood. For my friends LJ and Danny, it’s an orphanage in Kenya caring for some 200 children. For me, it’s often sharing how God has been with me in hard times, rescued me, or simply given me a reason to laugh.

We may suffer in this life for being faithful, but those sufferings “are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

So sit at Jesus’ feet. Let his Word read you. Then recognize you’re on the mission field everywhere you go.

Where has God already sent you? Who in your everyday path needs to hear what Jesus has done in your life?

Be blessed today.

GroupMe

Today’s reading was Matthew 10. Jesus took the twelve who had been following him as disciples, which means learners, and sent them out as apostles, which means ones sent on a mission. He gave them his authority to heal and cast out demons, and he sent them to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Jesus was honest that it would be hard: “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” (10:16). But he told them not to worry about what to say, because the Spirit of the Father would speak through them. God is in control, and not even a sparrow falls apart from him.

Every believer is sent. Your mission field might be your home and neighborhood, or it might be an orphanage in Kenya like my friends LJ and Danny. Whatever we suffer for being faithful isn’t worth comparing to the glory ahead (Romans 8:18).

Sit at Jesus’ feet, let his Word read you, and remember you’re on mission everywhere you go. Where has God already sent you? Be blessed today.

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Who Said, “Let’s Get in the Boat”? Mark 4–5

Posted in Bible Study, God, God Stories, Jesus Christ, Responsibility, Salvation, Spiritual Growth, Trials, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Today’s reading is Mark 4 and 5. First, a quick review of who wrote the four Gospels. Matthew and John were two of Jesus’ disciples. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector until he met Jesus and his life was turned upside down. John was probably the youngest disciple and was the brother of James. Luke was a physician turned historian, a Gentile convert, and a travel companion of Paul. Mark was most likely John Mark, a disciple of Peter. When I read Mark, I picture an older, wiser Peter preaching to the crowds while Mark takes notes, and then later, around a campfire, Peter telling the same stories from a more personal place.

Each Gospel shows Jesus’ life, ministry, message, and mission from a slightly different angle. For years after the resurrection, the disciples went about proclaiming the good news. Some of it may have been written down early, but the Gospels as we know them came together roughly 30 to 60 years after the resurrection, with John most likely last, written late in his life in Ephesus. I mention this because several stories appear in more than one Gospel, like the parable of the four soils, and it’s right to give extra weight to what is repeated.

I don’t have time for all the parables today, so I want to focus on a boat trip.

The storm

After a long, hard day of teaching, Jesus is the one who said, “Let us go across to the other side” (Mark 4:35). They set out across the Sea of Galilee in the evening. The first several times I read this, I wondered how anyone could sleep through that kind of rocking. But Jesus was fully God and fully human. He was tired, and he fell asleep on a cushion in the stern.

I’ve been to Israel, and while we were there a storm swept across that lake in a hurry. What amazed me was how quickly it left again. So I can picture this. But for the disciples it was nighttime, water was filling the boat, and it was about to sink. I’m sure they were bailing and rowing and getting nowhere. And Jesus was asleep.

They wake him with, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (4:38). These men had already watched him do miracle after miracle. Mature faith takes time.

Jesus knew what he was doing. All creation was made through him, and when he speaks to the wind, it obeys. He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” and there was a great calm (4:39).

This showed his power, but I think it showed something more: his compassion is real, and his compassion doesn’t keep us from every storm. Go back and ask who said, “Let’s get in the boat.” It was Jesus. He led them into the boat with a storm ahead. And the moment they turned to him, they received an immediate answer.

The other side

They left from the Jewish side of the lake and landed on the Gentile side, in the region of the Decapolis. On the Jewish side, Jesus often told people to keep his miracles quiet. He didn’t go to the Gentile side often, but when he did, it was for specific, God-ordained ministry.

This time it was a man possessed by many demons. When Jesus asked the name, the answer was “Legion, for we are many” (5:9). When the demons were sent into the herd of about 2,000 pigs, the pigs rushed down the steep bank and drowned. I don’t know whether that number says anything about how many demons there were, and Scripture doesn’t say.

What caught my attention this time was the contrast. The storm stopped at one word. Here, Mark tells us Jesus “had been saying” to the spirit, “Come out” (5:8), and there’s an exchange before the demons leave. I hold this loosely, but it makes me wonder whether active resistance to the kingdom of God calls for a different kind of perseverance from us than crying out to Jesus in a trial does. Jesus’ authority was never in question, but the encounter wasn’t a one-word moment.

Encounters with the evil one will come. A large part of Jesus’ ministry was rebuking and casting out demons. He rebuked the Pharisees too, but they didn’t recognize their need and didn’t want deliverance. This man did. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran to him and fell on his knees (5:6). Whatever had a hold on him, part of him wanted to be free of it, and it took an encounter with Jesus for that to happen.

Sent instead of kept

When the man begged to go with Jesus, Jesus said no. Instead he told him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you” (5:19). I can see a couple of reasons. On the Jewish side, Jesus knew the resistance building against him would lead to the cross, so he kept things quiet there. That resistance wasn’t present on the Gentile side yet, so he sent this man out as a witness. And though the first disciples all came from Jewish heritage, the kingdom message was for all people. When persecution came, it went out to the whole world, and this man was an early sign of that.

In two chapters, Jesus shows his power over the forces of nature, his power over the forces of the evil one, and his compassion for his frightened disciples and for one tormented man in the Decapolis.

Question for today: Is there a storm in your life right now that you got into by following Jesus, and have you turned to him in it, or are you still bailing and rowing on your own?

Have a blessed day.

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Amending the Soil Matthew 13 & Luke 8

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, Bible Study, God, God Stories, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Parables, Priorities, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Trials, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

One of Jesus’ favorite ways to teach was through parables, and Matthew 13 gives us a whole collection of them. The one shared by both Matthew 13 and Luke 8 is the parable of the sower. Having read through the Bible many times, I’ve come to see this as one of those parables we need to step into, ponder, and let roll around for a while.

Jesus first told the parable on its own. His disciples didn’t really get it, so they came and asked Him what it meant (Luke 8:9). And Jesus went deep. Both Matthew and Luke thought it was important enough to give us not just the story, but the explanation too.

What strikes me is how easy it is to sit back, look around, and sort other people into one of the four soils. And it’s telling that of the four places the seed lands, only one produces fruit. Three of them never get there.

But if all we do is evaluate everyone else’s soil, we’ve missed the point. The soil is the condition of the heart, its receptivity to God’s Word being planted. So the real question is about my own heart.

As someone who has surrendered my life to Jesus, I would love to say my heart is always soft and supple. The truth is, as I’ve grown and matured, I’ve realized my heart has shown every one of these soil conditions at different times. There are seasons when the Word lands and I’m simply not open to it. There are times when my soil is shallow.

But the most common one for me is the thorns: “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22, ESV). Luke adds that they are choked “by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).

We live in a busy world, and I’m inclined to be a busy person. The result is that God’s Word, and His purpose for my life, can get overlooked or minimized. It becomes one of many things I’m taking in and trying to act on. That’s exactly what Jesus is getting at. Good things can crowd out the best thing, the one thing of ultimate importance: allowing His Word to take root in my heart, to change me from the inside, and to accomplish what He wants through a life surrendered to Him.

I love that the good soil produces “in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:23). What I read in that is that fruitfulness can grow. When I deal with the bad soil conditions, when I’m quicker to pull up the thorns and briars before they choke things out, and when I do the things that amend the soil and make it deeper and richer, the yield increases.

What are those things? A daily quiet time. Consistent Bible study. Gathering regularly with other believers for fellowship and encouragement. Even writing these devotionals. Each one is a way of amending the soil.

And the hard path? Luke says the seed that fell there “was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it” (Luke 8:5). The answer is not to walk the well-worn way of the world, where the seed gets stepped on and the enemy snatches it away. Instead, be open to the Holy Spirit leading you off the path: to places of quiet, to people in need, and into the seasons of trial, suffering, and challenge, trusting the Lord to be with you through them.

All three unproductive soils can be transformed as we develop the daily habits that draw us closer to the Lord. The work God wants to do in us is a partnership where the Holy Spirit takes the lead. As I release control and give Him room to work in my heart, He transforms me to be more and more like Jesus, my Lord and Savior.

And the more I do, the more fruitful my life becomes. Thirty can become sixty, sixty can become a hundredfold, and the kingdom of God advances. That’s what I’m here for. That’s what you’re here for.

Which soil best describes your heart this season, and what is one habit you could start or recommit to this week to amend it?

Have a blessed day.

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From Outcast to Adopted – Matthew 9; Luke 7

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, Church, God, healing, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Service, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »

In today’s readings I was struck by the broad view of Jesus’ ministry. He heals the blind, the mute, the paralyzed, lepers, and even a woman who had suffered with bleeding for twelve years. He delivers people from demons, He raises the dead, He forgives sin, and He preaches good news to the poor. Jesus has neither a narrow band of giftedness nor a target audience to constrain Him. His only limits seem to be time and the means of travel in His day.

The overarching theme for me today is how Jesus reaches out to everyone. In Jesus, the outcast becomes the accepted, and those who respond become adopted into God’s family. The apostle Paul will later pick up this theme of adoption and explain it to a growing Gentile audience in terms they would understand (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:4–7; Ephesians 1:5). In Roman culture, adoption was a deliberate, legal choice that gave the adopted child a full new identity, name, and inheritance in the family.

We’ve touched on this before, but all people are created in the image of God. We are given the immense dignity of being real agents in this world, with a will and the ability to make free choices. The first family chose to exercise that will contrary to God’s explicit instruction, and sin entered the world. But God had a plan, even from before the beginning, to rescue humanity after the fall. The promised seed of Genesis 3:15 was Jesus. In today’s readings we see Jesus displaying power that belongs to God alone. The miracles are one proof that He was the promised Messiah and Savior. His message, first proclaimed in the synagogues throughout the cities and villages, was the good news of God’s kingdom come to earth (Matthew 9:35).

You would think this message would be joyfully received by all, but we already see early signs of conflict. Jesus operated outside the established religious hierarchy. He showed no interest in military revolt, even healing the servant of a Roman centurion. And He didn’t favor the already-favored. All of this began to generate opposition. As His ministry grows and the time of His ultimate sacrifice draws near, we will see Jesus directly confront those who made it hard for people to come to Him. But today we see Him reaching multitudes with great compassion, great love, and powerful acts of healing and mercy.

He reaches the outcast. Matthew, a tax collector, and Matthew’s friends, likely men like him, looked down on for siding with the Roman occupiers (Matthew 9:9–13). The woman with the issue of blood, who for twelve years had been considered unclean, cut off from public worship and from the community of God’s people (Matthew 9:20–22). The Roman centurion, who cared enough for his servant to seek out a Jewish rabbi and ask for healing. He belonged to a people hated by the majority, yet he came seeking help from the One he believed God had empowered to heal (Luke 7:1–10).

In our final story we read about a “sinful” woman coming to Jesus (Luke 7:36–50). Many scholars think this means she was a prostitute, someone who sold her body to survive. I prefer the term sinful woman, because every one of us is either a sinful woman or a sinful man in need of the forgiveness and cleansing that only God, only Jesus, can provide. And that is exactly what He gives her. Jesus accepts her, and He accepts her worship. He even points it out to Simon, the Pharisee who looks down his nose at her. Here Jesus makes a critical comparison, one worthy of deep prayer and reflection, because it is something every person will ultimately face:

What will you do with Jesus?

There is a right answer. When we know it, we move from outcast to accepted, from accepted to forgiven, and from forgiven to adopted. That is our blessed hope and our greatest joy.

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From Seeing to Worship

Posted in Beautiful Places, God Stories, Travel, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , on October 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

It’s been a full week. A week of travel, of teaching and work, and also of time with family, beautiful places, and a lot of pictures. Today the outside is gray, windy, and rainy. There isn’t much to do outdoors. So I’m sitting beside my wife, resting in God’s grace and thinking back over the week. As I do, my mind keeps returning to one idea: the path things travel from our eyes, into our minds, and down into our hearts.

The Heart Behind the Eyes

By heart, I don’t mean the muscle that pumps blood. I mean the center of our being, the place where our true self lives. Scripture treats the heart that way, as the seat of what we think, love, and choose.

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” — Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)

What reaches the heart usually comes in first through the eyes. Jesus made that point with startling force in the Sermon on the Mount:

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.” — Matthew 5:29 (ESV)

He was using hyperbole, of course. The truth underneath it is real, though. What we let into our minds through our eyes affects us and changes us. A little later in the same sermon He said it another way:

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” — Matthew 6:22–23 (ESV)

So what is the path from the eye to the heart? As I’ve reflected on it, I see a progression.

Recognition and Awareness

It begins with recognition. We see something and recognize it for what it is: beauty, value, worth. Recognition is the door. Nothing gets to the heart without first passing through it.

Close behind recognition comes awareness. Here we start weighing and judging what we’re taking in. Is this good? Is this true? Is this worth holding onto? Paul gives us a filter for exactly this moment:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” — Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

Appreciation and Gratitude

Once we are aware of what is good, appreciation follows quickly. These are the things that register in us as lovely and valuable, the things we like.

This week gave me plenty to appreciate. Driving through Canada, the fall foliage was stunning, and the deep blue of Lake Superior stopped me in my tracks. But the smiles, the laughter, and the kind words we shared while gathered with family in Gaylord, Michigan were just as beautiful. So was a visit to Boyne Mountain. And then many hours of travel where my friend Red and I talked about the Lord and the life lessons He has taught us along the way.

From appreciation, it isn’t a big step to gratitude. Once we value something, we become thankful that we were able to see it, perceive it, and enjoy it at all. And this week, gratitude was flowing.

Where Gratitude Leads

Gratitude is a platform. From it, we can go one more step, if we recognize the One who is the source of every good thing.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” — James 1:17 (ESV)

That last step is not automatic. Paul describes people who saw God’s handiwork in creation and still stopped short:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” — Romans 1:21 (ESV)

They had recognition but no gratitude, and so no worship. Their path ended in darkness instead of light. That’s Jesus’ warning about the eye, seen from the other side.

When we do recognize the Giver behind the gift, gratitude becomes worship. Worship is the highest level of recognition. It flows through appreciation and gratitude and turns back to the One who made the beauty, who made the people we spend time with, who made the ones who add value to our lives and make life worth living.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” — Psalm 19:1 (ESV)

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” — Psalm 100:4 (ESV)

Thanksgiving is the gate, and praise is the court. Gratitude walks us right up to worship.

A Gray Day, a Grateful Heart

I find it fitting that I’m writing this on a day with no blue sky and no bright leaves outside my window. The beauty of this week doesn’t depend on today’s weather. I can look back over it, recognize it, appreciate it, and give thanks. And as I do, I’m moved to worship.

“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” — Psalm 118:24 (ESV)

That includes the gray, rainy ones.

Looking back over your own week, what beauty did you recognize? And did it make it all the way from your eyes to your heart, through gratitude, and into worship of the One who gave it?

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Built on the Rock

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, Church, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Priorities, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Today’s devotional is on Matthew 5–7, known as the Sermon on the Mount. I have to admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to glean a key thought from what is arguably the most important sermon ever preached. What began as covenants God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses in the Old Testament finds its ultimate exposition in Jesus’ talk with a crowd gathered on a Galilean hillside 2,000 years ago. I think I will mostly let Jesus’ words speak for themselves and just speak to how today’s reading struck me.

I’ve read the Sermon on the Mount many, many times. Sometimes I take a piece of it and chew on it for days. Other times, like this morning, I read straight through and simply feel both the weight and the joy in it. What can feel in the Old Testament like a harsh checklist of dos and don’ts, Jesus boils down to the heart.

This morning, it was the final section that stopped me:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24–25, ESV)

The timing is not lost on me. As I write this, a hurricane that came ashore in the middle of the night, 400 to 450 miles from here, is still reaching us. We’re expecting driving rain and 30 to 40 mile-an-hour winds all day long. Storms like this have a way of revealing how well a house is built. Whatever was hidden in the framing and the foundation comes to light when the wind starts to blow.

The same is true of our lives. There are plenty of foundations on offer: success, reputation, comfort, our own good behavior. None of them hold when the storm comes. Jesus himself is the rock. As Paul wrote, “no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). He is what makes us whole and moves us toward the completeness and purposes God designed for us.

What struck me most this morning is how the sermon begins and ends. It opens with “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Recognizing that we are spiritually bankrupt without Jesus is where the right foundation begins. And it closes with building on the rock: on Jesus, on what he accomplished in our place at the cross, and on what he continues to do through his Holy Spirit living in us, drawing us close to the Father. That intimacy with God was his plan from the very beginning in the garden.

From there, the building goes on. As we keep reading, applying, and living out his Word, God brings about the spiritual maturity that lets the house stand. Notice that both builders in Jesus’ story heard the same words. The difference was that one of them did what he heard.

What storm in your life right now is revealing what your house is built on, and what would it look like to hear and do Jesus’ words this week?

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