Mark 12:38-44

Do you ever dream of the amazing good you could do if only you were rich? If only you had the means to be as generous as you want to be!

Today we see that all of God's people already have the means to be incredibly generous. It's not the size of the gift itself, or even the size of the gift in proportion to what one has that matters. It's the heart God wants, and he'll do amazing things with even the smallest gifts. There's no reason not to live an incredibly generous life!

Daniel 3:1-30

When POWs face physical torture, their tormenters do their best to remove any hope of rescue and to make their victim feel alone and hopeless. As much as we love heroic stories of resistance, the unhappy truth is that the question isn't if a person will break under pressure, it's when. Everybody breaks. It's just biology.

As a Christian, you are the exemption! Even though the devil is a master torturer and employs all sorts of inventive ways to psychological and spiritual pressure, perhaps even physical pressure, Christians can remain unbroken. Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego are certainly a dramatic example, but not outliers in their steadfastness. Every Christian has the same promises they had. Every Christian can live like you'll live forever, and remain unbroken just like them!

1 Corinthians 9:7-12,19-23

“What’s in it for me?” It’s easy to look at life through the lens of that question, to make decisions based on perceived personal benefit. Perhaps at times we look at Christianity through that lens, wondering what we will gain from following Christ. “What’s in it for me?” Jesus first disciples asked that question. They hoped that following Christ would bring prestige and honor. They assumed following Christ would make life easier. But it doesn’t work like that. Followers of Christ are called to sacrifice for the well-being of others.

“What’s in it for me?” Everything! Because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, followers of Christ have the peace of his forgiveness. Followers of Christ have the joy of meaningful purpose. Followers of Christ look forward to an eternity of glory in Christ’s heavenly kingdom. In Spirit-wrought gratitude, followers of Christ make selfless sacrifices with joy.

Mark 10:17-27

With God's law written on our hearts in our consciences, it's only natural for us to assume that knowing right and wrong and living a good life should be enough for us to earn eternal life. A rich young ruler in Jesus' time thought the same thing, but even though he felt he had followed God's laws perfectly, he still wasn't sure he had eternal life. Something was missing!

Jesus gave him the ultimate test, to give up everything he owned, to help him realize his priorities were messed up. Sadly, he loved his wealth too much to give it up.

What is it that you couldn't give up for Jesus? Money? Free time? A loved one? Looking at Jesus' love for us helps us set our priorities straight.

Ephesians 5:21-6:4

Everybody, believer and unbeliever alike, knows that they should love their family. The problem is that even though it seems like it should come naturally, it isn't actually that intuitive. Pain and strife in families is unfortunately all too common. Everyone knows they should love their families, but followers of Christ have the "how" revealed to them. Disciples of Christ know HOW to love their families because God the Creator explains it himself!

2 Kings 6:8-17

Today we're celebrating the Festival of St. Michael and All Angels. It's a lesser-known minor holiday in the Christian church year, but also a great opportunity to celebrate the wonderful truth that God sends his angels to guard and keep his children! Even though we might not always see them, disciples of Christ have powerful allies!

Mark 9:30-37

The discipled argued over which of them was greatest. People today still live lives driven by the desire to be great or end up bitter that they never had the chance to be greater.

Jesus turns our expectations of greatness upside down. Disciples of Christ know what true greatness looks like. They see it in their Savior, and they have an abundance of opportunities for godly greatness in his kingdom!

Ephesians 6:10-18

Soldiers going out on duty have to be prepared for whatever might happen. In a very similar way, disciples of Christ must be prepared. Even though we might not always see it, there is a war going on, and Christ's disciples can expect to be under constant attack, not just from unbelievers around them, but from spiritual forces of evil.

The good news? Jesus has equipped every one of his soldiers with exactly the right kit to be able to withstand every attack, and not just that, but to advance with the gospel!

Mark 7:31-37

What kind of report card would you give Jesus for the miracles he performed during his ministry on earth? You'd probably give him high marks! How about his performance in your life? You know the right answer would be to grade him highly, but sometimes it feels like he's not living up to what you might expect from an all-powerful, and infinitely loving Savior.

As disciples of Christ, however, we see the true purpose of his power. Knowing what his power is for and how he uses it makes it easy to evaluate him: He has done everything well!

Mark 7:1-8,14,15,21-23

The temptation is always there to make your case for being a good person based on how you live, whether it's by minimizing your sins, taking too much pride in the temptations that are easy to defeat, or comparing yourself to (and judging) others. There is nothing more hypocritical. Truth is, you could do everything right, and still not have all God wants. He wants a clean life, but also a clean heart.

The problem is that our hearts are the source of the evil that separates us from God. Our hearts are why we judge others and get prideful about the things we can do and make up extra rules to balance out the ones we struggle with. Jesus wants us to see that we're hopeless in ourselves, and that we can't give him a clean heart.

Because it's only then, when we've realized we need help, that we turn to him and see what's been there all along: his offer to create a clean heart in each of us, to give us righteousness that comes from simple faith in him.

Disciples of Jesus obey him, not out of duty, obligation, or to earn anything, but because he has given us clean hearts!