Page 43 - Living Light Spring 2024

Monday April 15 - Seeking the Saviour
When they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
Mark 1:37
From the moment our eyes open in the morning until they close at night, the world’s demands, and our responsibilities, press in on us. It happened to Jesus too; today we see the disciples bringing the needs and expectations of ‘everyone’ to Jesus, at the very crack of dawn!
Jesus must have been exhausted after the previous day’s preaching in Capernaum’s synagogue, and the lengthy healing session in the evening, when ‘the whole town’ (Mark 1:33) suddenly arrived at Simon’s house! Yet, Jesus is up in the morning, before dawn, praying with his Father God.
The disciples’ exclamation, “Everyone’s looking for you!”, reveals the expectations that are in everyone’s hearts – that Jesus will carry on doing what he did the day before, and continue healing everyone in Capernaum! This was an important Galilean town, so it would make sense – but Jesus has been praying, and there is a different plan for today... one that won’t necessarily meet everyone’s wishes and expectations.
Questions to ponder: am I prayerfully seeking God’s desires for my life and ministry, or are my own desires and expectations ruling my heart? A wise pastor once said, “When we pray, we must be quiet and hear God speak through his word to us first.” We certainly need precious prayer times alone with our heavenly Father.
Father, please change my heart’s desires to match your own. May I know your great love and wisdom afresh today... and then go out and support others, in Christ’s love and in his glorious name. Amen.
Tuesday April 16 - Keeping the main thing
“Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Mark 1:38
When Jesus left Capernaum that day, he was ‘keeping the main thing the main thing’. The people of Capernaum were beginning to seek Jesus’ healings more than his teaching, and though Jesus had deep compassion for their suffering, he knew he must press on with his main task: preaching the message of salvation. His greatest healing miracle, on the cross, was yet to come – when he would defeat sin and death, and bring complete healing and eternal life for all God’s people.
Jesus’ miracles were ‘signs’ proving his identity; ‘Jesus performed many other signs... so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’ (John 20:30-31).
In his final earthly moments, on the cross, Jesus was cut off even from his Father God, in enduring that agonising sacrifice and taking the punishment for our sin on himself. He went willingly to the most solitary place in the universe, so that we will never have to.
In our earthly life we will know challenges and change, but no spiritual ‘wilderness’ exists for our soul when we are in Christ – no guilt or shame, no rejection by God. In Jesus, we have forgiveness, acceptance, love, joy, hope, and abundant everlasting life. Our beautiful Jesus himself is the message – ‘the main thing’!
Father, may Jesus always take first place in my life. Please help me to live for him and reflect him to others, for your glory and your renown. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY