Month: October 2019

. . . To love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12:33 In the painful consequences of my addiction, I came to know tremendous situational anxiety as my future was so uncertain. My marriage was a mess. My career hung in the balance. I was unsure…
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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30 In my addiction, I indulged in an impulsive desire for something that provided an immediate reward. When I got what I wanted and nothing horrible happened, I…
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Forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25 In my drug addiction, I was lost spiritually, so I tried to read and pray, but I kept using. I was out of shape and overweight, so I tried to go to…
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Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. Mark 10:46 Today’s passage tells the story of Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who sat by the road as Jesus happened to pass. Destitute and desperate, he had no difficulty recognizing his profound need. Bartimaeus knew he couldn’t fix himself, and so, when…
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Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. Mark 10:43-44 In today’s passage, Jesus again addressed pride and humility, insisting that as his followers, we’re not to follow the world’s desire for self-promotion, but rather, we’re to seek a life of…
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There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time . . . Mark 10:29-31 Part of me has always been concerned that following God would mean missing…
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It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Mark 10:25 It’s a little terrifying for me to consider where my life would be if I’d been able to keep my drug use a secret. If I’d been able…
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And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Mark 10:21 One of the hardest things we’ll do in life – other than dealing with our own…
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Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Mark 10:15 As a young child, I was wholly dependent on my parents. I needed them for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, love, guidance, and protection. Gradually though, I became less and less dependent. One day, shortly after graduating from high…
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A man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Mark 10:7 The problem with marriage is the same problem with any human institution. The problem with marriage is that we’re in it. In today’s passage, Christ described the ideal – what marriage is supposed…
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