Month: October 2019

If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell . . . Mark 9:47 When I was a child, I read a story about monkeys in a zoo that left a…
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If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell . . . Mark 9:43 I have a surgeon friend* who often uses cancer as an illustration for the destructive behavior in our lives. He says that while…
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He asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. Mark 9:33-34 It’s not uncommon in to encounter Christians who believe that our self-destructive nature is miraculously removed and that our sinful desires are gone once…
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I believe; help my unbelief! Mark 9:24 I find significant comfort in the transparency of others regarding their own flaws and imperfections. I’m not glad that others struggle. I’m just thankful when those who do struggle, admit it. It makes me feel much less alone to know that others are as flawed as I am.…
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Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed . . . Mark 8:38 When I was a kid, my dad and I knew a particularly foul-mouthed man (who has long-since passed away) who was accustomed to using profanity…
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Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. Mark 8:35 I’ve lived two very different lives. In one life, I was a reasonably successful ER physician who had a decent reputation. I was hiding a secret addiction, but as long as…
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Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Mark 8:33 Once, while driving in the fog, I turned south towards my destination. After a few minutes, I noticed the compass in my car telling me that I was headed back north.…
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They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind . . . Mark 5:15 Honestly, I struggle with today’s passage. In the story, Jesus encountered a demon-possessed man. Violent and impossible to restrain, this man lived naked among the tombs,…
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Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Mark 4:38 Often, in stupid, little frustrations, I find myself turning on God. When I’m late, can’t find my keys, the traffic is bad, and I’m low on gas, I find myself muttering, Come on God! I’m going to speak at the treatment center for you.…
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It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in…
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