Wednesday Mark 8:14-21
BIBLE PASSAGE
[Please do read the passage before (or after) reading the devotion.]
Jesus loved his disciples. That’s why he warned them against the self-righteous pride of the Pharisees and the self-serving ambition of Herod. They can be dangerously deceptive attitudes because they are easier to notice in others and rarely in ourselves. But the disciples didn’t get what Jesus was trying to say! It’s as if they saw him speaking, but “heard” something completely different and irrelevant. Do we disciples not hear Jesus either because we just don’t want to, or because we listen for only what we want to hear? Jesus asks them a series of questions which give three reasons why we either don’t hear him, or we consistently misunderstand him: First, our perceptions (how we see, hear, feel) are clouded; second, our hearts are hardened; third, we’ve not taken the trouble to remember the times we did see and understand Jesus. How is it with your hearing and understanding?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I’m afraid. Is your silence not really silence but my inability to hear you? Is my confusion because I am not able to understand you? I realize that my perceptions (hearing, seeing, feeling) can get clouded if I’m not using them correctly, or not using them at all, when it comes to you. I allow the world and bitter circumstances to harden my heart even when you are willing to soften it – if I let you. Forgive me, Lord, also for the times I’ve let words and acts of your love and faithfulness slip from my heart and mind. In your love, break through my unconscious yet very real self-made hindrances that keep me from growing closer to you. I really do want to see you, hear you, understand you, love you. Amen.
Song: CLICK HERE
[Please do read the passage before (or after) reading the devotion.]
Jesus loved his disciples. That’s why he warned them against the self-righteous pride of the Pharisees and the self-serving ambition of Herod. They can be dangerously deceptive attitudes because they are easier to notice in others and rarely in ourselves. But the disciples didn’t get what Jesus was trying to say! It’s as if they saw him speaking, but “heard” something completely different and irrelevant. Do we disciples not hear Jesus either because we just don’t want to, or because we listen for only what we want to hear? Jesus asks them a series of questions which give three reasons why we either don’t hear him, or we consistently misunderstand him: First, our perceptions (how we see, hear, feel) are clouded; second, our hearts are hardened; third, we’ve not taken the trouble to remember the times we did see and understand Jesus. How is it with your hearing and understanding?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I’m afraid. Is your silence not really silence but my inability to hear you? Is my confusion because I am not able to understand you? I realize that my perceptions (hearing, seeing, feeling) can get clouded if I’m not using them correctly, or not using them at all, when it comes to you. I allow the world and bitter circumstances to harden my heart even when you are willing to soften it – if I let you. Forgive me, Lord, also for the times I’ve let words and acts of your love and faithfulness slip from my heart and mind. In your love, break through my unconscious yet very real self-made hindrances that keep me from growing closer to you. I really do want to see you, hear you, understand you, love you. Amen.
Song: CLICK HERE
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