Never Too Far Gone

If you haven't noticed by now, I've been spending time in the Gospel of Mark lately. I have no idea how many posts will come from this, but right now this is what God is teaching me, And that's what I write about.

Mark 5:1-20 is an account of Jesus restoring a demon-possessed man. A man with a legion of impure spirits who control him. He lives among the tombs. And nothing can control him.

I've read this so many times it can become easy for it to just become normal. Except it was anything but normal to those who witnessed it.

First, the impure spirits in this man know who Jesus is and identify Him. Then, to free the man from them, Jesus sends these impure spirits into a herd of pigs who run off the hillside and drown in the lake. When news gets back to the town about this, they come and see the man Jesus had driven the spirits out of sitting before Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

What would the disciples have thought while they witnessed all of this?

What would the town people have thought when they arrived and saw the change in the man? What about it made them afraid (Mark 5:15)?

The more I reflect on this, the more I realize just how powerful Jesus is. He can change any life, no matter how far gone we may think it is. It's never too far gone for Jesus.

I'm sure most people had written off this man. They saw him as too far gone. Deemed him to be someone no one could help.

But not Jesus. Jesus saw someone who needed help. Someone He could help. Someone He could free. And, most importantly, He had the power to do it.

Someone may be beyond our ability, as humans, to help, but they are never beyond God's. No person is ever too far gone for Jesus to rescue and free them.

Our job, when feel like someone is too far gone, is to pray for them. To bring them to Jesus, so He can do the work.

Calming the Storm

That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowds behind, they took Him along just as He was in the boat. There was also other boats with Him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to His disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him."
                                                                                                                 -Mark 4:35-41

I can find it hard to imagine what it would be like to be in the boat when Jesus calmed the storm. One minute you're in the middle of a violent storm and the next everything is completely calm. All because of Jesus' words. I get the disciples' reaction to it.

This isn't just a thing of the time when Jesus was on earth. His words still have the same power to calm the storm today. It's not always a physical storm, in terms of wind and waves and danger of drowning. The storm can be the circumstances around us, the emotions of a situation. All sorts of things can be the storms of our lives.

When we're listening for His voice, we hear Him speaking to the storm.

When we cry out to Jesus, as the disciples did, we can hear Jesus' voice speaking.

. . . Speaking peace when worry, anxiety, and fear over things we can't control is raging.

. . . Speaking truth when lies are dragging us down a dangerous path.

. . . Speaking encouragement when it feels like too much for us to keep on going.

. . . Speaking guidance when the path to take is obscured.

. . . Speaking courage when fear of the storm has pushed us into hiding.

Jesus continues to speak to the storms in our lives to calm them. Even if the storm continues to rage around us, His words can be the calm that keeps us persevering and clinging to Him.

What storm in your life do you need Jesus to speak to right now?

Will you take the time to listen for His voice speaking to it?

The Right Soil

The Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-20 is a familiar one.

A farmer goes out to scatter seed. There's four places the seed lands:

• Path - where the birds eat it up right away
• Rocky Places - where it springs up quickly but doesn't last when the sun comes because there is no root
• Thorns - where it gets choked by the thorns growing around it before it can really take root and grow
• Good Soil - where it takes root, grows, and produces a crop

Each of the soils represents a heart and how receptive it is to the Word of God.
In some hearts, it will be snatched away before it even try to grow.
In some hearts, it will begin to grow, but won't last when hard times come.
In some hearts, it will be choked out by the worries and anxieties of life.
In some hearts, it will take root and produce fruit in their lives.

I've always heard this parable spoken of in regards to salvation. It's a pretty clear application.

As I was reading it recently, I was struck by how this applies to more than just salvation. The same concepts continue to apply to our hearts after salvation as well.

We continually have a choice in how we'll respond to God's voice in our lives. When He speaks to us, our hope may be that those words will always take root in our lives and bear fruit, but that's not always the case. Those words can land on any one of these types of soil when we're believers as well.

Sometimes we've wandered away and given Satan access he shouldn't have and he uses this to grab the words before they have a chance to grow.

Sometimes we're not will to deal with the sin in areas of our lives and when the word speaks to those areas it grows quickly but doesn't last because there's no way for the roots to go deep.

Sometimes our focus shifts and we get so focused on the worries and anxieties of life that they choke out the words of truth God is speaking.

Sometimes our heart is receptive to what we're hearing and we respond in a way that brings what God desires those words to bring in our lives.

What kind of soil is your heart right now?