Tag: christ

A Bleeding Woman and a Dead Girl

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Go ahead and spend a few minutes reading today’s section, Mark 5:21-43, so that rather than retelling the story, I can go straight to some meditations on these precious verses.  Here are nine applications from the story of Jairus’s daughter and the bleeding woman. 

1. Our Stories Are Connected

All our stories are connected.  The story of the healing of Jarius’s daughter is intertwined with the story of the healing of the bleeding woman.  This connection is made obvious with the mentioning of “twelve years” in both cases.  The little girl was twelve years old and the woman had been bleeding for twelve years.  Think about their lives, Jarius and his wife welcomed into the world a newborn baby and on the same day, in an unknown home, a woman began to bleed.  One family experienced joy and another fear.  Twelve years later, their paths would intersect, because both their stories were brought together by a need for Jesus.  

We are all connected, but not just in our brokenness, in our hope, also.  People today find it meaningful to recognize our connection as a suffering human race, but we are also connected to each other by what Jesus can do for us.  Your story is connected with someone on the other side of the planet, because Jesus can touch both of you.  The healing hands of Christ hold all the stories of the world together.  

2. Our Efforts Make Things Worse

Our efforts to repair our lives make things worse, not better, so we need to rely on the grace of God.  There was a bleeding woman, “who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:26).  The true story of the bleeding woman is also a parable to us about our ability to fix ourselves.  Nobody could heal the woman, no matter who they were.  Even though she spent everything she had, she was no better.  

Spiritually speaking, the same is true for you and me.  There are no people out there who can stop the bleeding in our lives.  And the harder we try, the worse things get.  Most of us know what it’s like to try our absolute hardest at something, only to see it get worse, not better.  Friedrich Nietzsche called human beings “the sick animal,” and I think this is what he meant by such a remarkable phrase.  Most of the time we know we’re sick, but the more we try to repair ourselves, the worse we become; and sometimes, we sabotage ourselves with pain in effort to heal ourselves of pain.  

3. We Need Faith

Faith, not more works, is what we need.  After the bleeding woman reached out and touched the garments of Jesus in order to get healed, Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34).  Faith made her well, not more money.  Faith made her well, not more opportunities, better circumstances, a new job, different family, more friends, improved possessions, citizen rights, changed policies, and increased morality.  All these other things can be lumped together in the trash can called “good works.”  Yes, they are good, but they are not healing works.  They do not provide salvation from the human disease, they do not stop the spiritual bleeding, they do not help us sick animals to find meaning in life.  

In other words, nothing can take the place of God in our lives.  Even if you spend all the money in the world, you will never be able to do for yourself what God can do for you.  All the success and power you can accumulate in this world doesn’t compare with one touch of the bottom of Jesus’s garment.  A little of Jesus in your life goes a long way, much farther than the intelligence and resources of this world.  This is why faith, not more works, is what we need most.  And if faith is superior to works, then we owe it to ourselves (and those we love) to engage with activities of faith, such as prayer, meditation, partaking in the sacraments, hearing the gospel preached, Christian fellowship, and so forth.

4. Jesus Will Put the Solution out of Reach

Jesus will regularly put the solution out of reach, but that doesn’t mean he’s done working in our lives.  When Jarius first came to Jesus, his daughter was sick, but still alive.  “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live” (Mark 5:23).  Jarius’s situation was absolutely desperate, so Jesus began to go to his home at once.  However, the situation wasn’t desperate enough, for Jesus knew things could get worse.  On the way to see the sick child, Jesus allowed himself to be interrupted and distracted by the bleeding woman.  He spent just enough time with the woman for further tragedy to strike at Jarius’s home.  

“There came from the ruler’s house some who said, ‘Your daughter is dead’” (Mark 5:35).  While we’ll never know for sure, it seems Jesus tarried long enough to turn a desperate situation into a hopeless one.  In fact, the man from Jarius’s house said, “Why trouble the Teacher any further?” (Mark 5:35), because the situation now was hopeless.  But there’s a lesson here for us to learn.  Whenever you hear yourself saying, “Why trouble God any more with this hopeless situation,” you may be right where God wants you to be.  Don’t give up yet, because God hasn’t given up yet.  

“But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe’” (Mark 5:36).  In terms of boxing, Jesus was not ready to throw in the towel, but wanted to go a few more rounds.  Be careful who you listen to, for there will be those voices in your life that say to you, “Don’t bother about this anymore, because it’s hopeless.”  In critical moments like these, turn your ear to Jesus and listen to what he says, instead.  Chances are, he’s still in the ring fighting for you.  “Do not fear, only believe.”

5. When Suffering, Be Careful about Who You Allow to Get Close

When times are really tough, be careful who you allow into your life.  Even though we’re told over and over again that there were great crowds of people tagging along, notice that Jesus only selected a few to walk with him into the suffering home.  “And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John…” (Mark 5:37).  As your suffering increases, your friends will decrease, for not everyone has what it takes to face a storm.  Peter, James, and John had what it took to walk with Jesus into the tragedy, but no more than this.  To tell the truth, you don’t want people in your life who can’t hack the pain and difficulty.  You want just a few tried and true friends to be with you when things are really tough.  

6. Allow Jesus to Believe for You

Allow Jesus to believe for you, when you find it hard to believe for yourself.  When Jesus entered the home of Jarius’s daughter, many family members and friends were “weeping and wailing loudly” (Mark 5:38).  Jesus said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping?  The child is not dead but sleeping” (Mark 5:39).  The people laughed at him for saying this, because they knew she was dead (40).  They knew what they saw with their own eyes, heard with their own ears, and felt with their own hands: the little girl was dead.  They found it very hard to believe she was sleeping.  Now, here’s a lesson we’ve got to learn about suffering in life.  The suffering you observe is true, but the suffering Jesus observes is also true.  Yes, you are right, your life sucks, the pain is real, and there is no hope in sight, but guess what?  The things Jesus sees are also right: our pain is not final, but just a pause, like a night’s sleep.  Both are true.  

So when you can only believe the former, trust Jesus to believe the latter for you.  To be clear, Jesus believes in our healing and restoration to life, even when nobody else believes it’s possible for us.  Even when your dreams are dead, with Jesus in the room they are merely sleeping, waiting for him to wake them up.

7. Jesus’s Words Are More Powerful

Jesus’s words are more powerful than the forces of earth.  There’s no doubt that the forces of this world are very powerful, such as disease, nature, technology, and living creatures.  However, Jesus’s words are stronger than all these combined.  Death was strong, but Jesus’s words, “She is not dead but sleeping” were stronger.  And his words, “Talitha cumi” pried her from death’s seemingly impenetrable grip.  Just as a painter’s hand creates when it moves, so do Jesus’s words create when they sound.  If Jesus says, “You are forgiven, then” then a new reality is manifested, a new world is born.  The world changed when it received back the little girl from the dead, and so does our world change when Jesus brings you back to life, forgiven of your sins.  His words about you create a new reality, which no other words about you can erase or conquer.

8. Take Care of Your Miracle

Take care of your miracle.  After Jesus raised her from the dead, Jesus, “…strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat” (Mark 5: 43).  When God gives you a gift, you are not off the hook, but you are responsible to care for it.  Jesus made her alive, but they had to keep her alive, by feeding her.  We often forget to take care of the wonderful gifts God gives to us, taking both them and him (God) for granted.  

9. God Can Make It Even Better

Finally, if you’re lucky, life will not work out the way you want, because God makes it even better.  Up until now, Jesus healed in just one way, by touching the sick.  But because of the crowd and fear of being known, the woman “discovered” a different kind of miracle, received by touching Jesus’s robe.  This was new, different, and unforgettable.  Disappointment and suffering birth a better version of you, forcing you to change course and see Jesus from a different vantage point in the crowd.  God loves to do new things, rather than repeat the same old kind of miracle or write the same kind of story.  Sometimes we need to know when to let go of our old dreams in order to let God give us new ones, for some dreams are twelve years in the making.  

The Breakdown

  1. Which of the above truths (found in the headings) stood out to you? Why? 
  2. What are some things we can do to move away from self-reliance and begin to rely more on God?
  3. Has God ever seemed to put the solution you needed out of reach?  What happened?  What did you learn about yourself?  About God?

Christ Our Pig

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 5:1-20

I know what you may be thinking, how can we be so irreverent, comparing the Son of God to a pig!  I don’t mean to be too much of a ham, but I think you’ll find this idea to be quite tasty, if I have the chops to pull it off.  Though it’s a meaty message, it has the potential to blow your house down.  Before you turn up your snout at my pig puns, I’ll get on with telling the tail. 

The Wild Side of Grace

In the last devotional, we heard Jesus say, “Let us go across to the other side” (Mark 4:35).  We learned that Jesus wants to take us from the side of the “law” to the side of “grace,” passing through a storm along the way.  Now that we’re through the storm and on the other side, we enter the wild world of grace.  Our passage begins, “They came to the other side…” (Mark 5:1).  We’re entering a fantastic world, where things aren’t what they seem to be and anything can happen.  More precisely, the things we would never expect to happen, happen.  This is an important distinction for those who think they’ve figured out what God is like and who ends up on top.

The Most Terrifying Man

It all starts in the land of the Gerasenes when a crazed man rushed out of the tombs toward Jesus.  If you had to score this guy on a “dudes I wouldn’t like to meet in a dark alley” scale, then he would get high marks in all the categories.  He was incredibly strong, able to break the shackles and chains they attempted to bind him with; he was mentally insane, evidenced by his cutting himself with stones and crying out in a loud voice; and, he was evil, being possessed by many demons.  This guy scored a perfect ten in the three major categories of a terrifying monster: strength, lack of sanity, and satanic possession.  

As you would expect, he was no match for Jesus, who commanded the unclean spirit to leave the poor man.  The man fell down on the ground before Jesus and begged him not to torment him.  Jesus asked the man, “What is your name?” to which the demon responded, “My name is Legion, for we are many” (Mark 5:9).  As it turns out, Legion was a community of about two thousand demons.

Legion’s Wish

If it weren’t crazy enough, here’s where the story gets really interesting.  Legion, “begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country” (Mark 5:10).  They wanted to continue to live in the land of the Gerasenes, which was an area on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee.  They wanted to stay in that area and continue to find hosts to enter and destroy, just as they had done to the man.  

Pause for a moment and think, for this is where most people fail to pick up on this first clue on the meaning of the story.  The demons want to stay alive in the land of the Gerasenes.  If you were Jesus, who not only had power over demons, but also hated what they did to people, would you grant them their wish?  Would you let them continue to live in the land of the Gerasenes?  If so, then why did he cast them out in the first place?

And Now for Some Pigs

“Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, ‘Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.’” (Mark 5:12).  Legion, who wanted to stay alive in the region, begged Jesus to let them take a herd of pigs as their host.  That seemed like a good compromise to them: they would leave the man alone, but would also get to continue to live.  

“So he gave them permission” (Mark 5:13).

What?  Is Jesus going soft on satan?  Rather than seeing this as Jesus compromising with the devil, let’s keep reading to see what happened.  

“And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.” (Mark 5:13).  The demons got their wish, the pigs did a pork roll into the sea, and the man returned to normal.  The pig herdsmen, “…came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid” (Mark 5:15).   

Pigs Can’t Fly, But…

But pigs can swim.  Did you know that?  I grew up on a farm and my neighbors had both pigs and a pond.  I can testify that pigs can swim, especially when they get hot, which seems to be all the time.  If you don’t believe me, then just google it.  In fact, pigs are very strong swimmers, which begs the question, “Why did they drown?”  

Put this fact of porcine nauticality alongside our previous observation that the demons begged Jesus to keep them in the region so they could continue to live in another host, and you’ll begin to see what was happening.  Jesus, as you probably guessed, was not about to compromise with the devil; he wasn’t going to give them their wish and allow them to take another host in the land of the Gerasenes.  When he gave them permission to enter the pigs, he knew something they didn’t know.

The Noble Pig

Legion thought they won the case, because they got to enter the pigs, but Jesus knew the stout heart of the noble pig.  You see, many people think the demons overwhelmed the pigs so that they hoofed crazily toward the sea to die, but that understanding doesn’t make sense, given that the demons wanted to continue to live in the land of the Gerasenes.  If they wanted to continue to live, once they got their wish, then why would they have driven the pigs to kill themselves?  Even more, if pigs are such good swimmers, then how did they drown?

It’s better to see that the demons underestimated both the character and capability of the noble pig.  The pigs were in cahoots with Jesus; just as Jesus had power over the storm, so did he have power over the herd.  The pigs didn’t lose control, but the pigs maintained control and ran to their deaths.  They did it by sacrificing themselves in the sea.  Even though they could swim, they chose to die, rather than allow the demons to continue to haunt the land.

Foreshadow the Cross

A sacrifice was made, a man was freed, and demons were destroyed.  These are the elements of the cross, given ahead of time, in this titillating story.  

Just as Jesus would sacrifice himself in order to free people from sin, so did the pigs sacrifice themselves to free the man and his country of the horrible demons.  Just as Jesus didn’t rely on his powers as God to save himself, but set them aside, emptying himself (Philippians 2), so did the pigs not rely on their powers to swim, but set them aside, in order to die in the sea.  What a vivid image of how God takes our sin and plunges it into the heart of the sea (Micah 7:19)!  And that’s no hogwash.

Things Aren’t What They Seem

Finally, let’s see how this story applies to our lives.  First, in the country of grace, things aren’t what they seem to be.  Remember, everywhere Jesus goes, he’s trying to demonstrate to the religious leaders of his time that they are misleading the people and do not understand the grace of God, because of their insistence on keeping the law.  Jesus uses a pig to show that God is not what we make him out to be; in fact, God is wholly other than we expect.  We cannot manipulate God into being the kind of Being we think he should be.  Many people remake God in their image in order to support their personal agendas.  But God is wild, like a pig, and will not be remade according to our desires.  Further, most people don’t realize when they encounter God, in the first place.  We don’t encounter God in the holy times, the good times, the predictable times; rather, we encounter God in the mud and mire, the worst times, the uncharted moments of our lives, when things are the messiest.  

The religious leaders of the day believed the pig to be ceremonially unclean, one of the vilest creatures imaginable.  It’s no wonder that in the land of grace, Jesus chose to represent himself in the pig, which is the least predictable, lowest, and least likely representation imaginable.  In the same way, God shows up in your life when you least expect, through a means that is both humble and humbling.  God is not in the thing that seems the closest, but that which seems the farthest.  As we’ve seen, Jesus is constantly using words, ideas, and events that confuse us, harden our hearts, and keep us from figuring out God on our own, in order to get us to realize salvation does not come from our abilities, but from his grace.  

Yes, Christ our pig is an emblem of grace, because it’s Jesus as we would never expect, doing for us what we could never do, in a way we would never recognize.  Christ as pig is a precursor to Christ on the cross, for “he had no form or majesty that we should desire to look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:2-3).  Just as the Pharisees despised the pig, so would they despise Jesus.  

And if the idea of Christ as pig is something you find yourself despising, then it’s probably closest to the truth.

The demon-possessed man is the human counterpart to the pigs.  Just as pigs were considered unclean, unusable, and unlikely, so was the man.  Just as the pigs were an emblem of grace-given, so was the man an emblem of grace-received.  Remember, he was the farthest from what you would expect to be a citizen of heaven, for he was insane, demon-possessed, and a force of destruction.  Yet, Jesus loved this man and had mercy on him (Mark 5:19).  Likewise, you are no “worse” than the man possessed by two thousand demons; if God loved him and changed his life, then be assured God loves you and can change you.  

Name Your Demon

This brings us to a second application, tell Jesus the name of your demon.  When Jesus first met the man, he asked him, “What is your name?” (Mark 5:9).  I find this to be an important question for all those who struggle to overcome sin.  We need to be able to give a name to our demons and then tell it to Jesus.  If you want Jesus to break the power of the sin in your life, then you must begin by being honest and vulnerable with him.  Name your demon.  What is possessing you?  What are you struggling with?  This is the first question Jesus asks you and the first way you can find healing.  

Porn.  Gambling.  Envy.  Self-pity.  Lying.  Bragging.  Self-hatred.  Prostitutes.  Bestiality.  Violence.  Abuse.  Foulness.  Hypocrisy.  Addiction.  Alcohol.  Drugs.  Stealing.  Gossip.  Manipulation.  Idolatry.  Greed.    

Tell Jesus the name of your demon(s).

New Ears

Jesus has said over and over in Mark’s gospel, “if you have ears to hear…”  This is his way of telling you that you need a new kind of hearing to understand what he’s saying.  It’s not the kind of hearing you’re used to, where God is predictable, controllable, and fashionable.  We’re used to hearing the demonic message: if you do good, then you will earn God’s favor; if you do bad, then God will condemn you.”  Again, that’s the message our ears are most attuned to hearing.  Jesus wants to give you ears to hear the message that the ordinary person can’t hear, can’t tolerate, and can’t imagine.  We need new ears to hear the new message, “If you try to earn merit with God, then you will be condemned; but, if you name your demon, bring Jesus your sin, then he will forgive and accept you, for God loves you, just as you are.”  

Christ our pig.  He took your demons into himself and ran headlong to the cross, where he put aside his power of life in order to embrace the weakness of death for you.  Perhaps today, Christ our pig is the gospel message you’ve finally been able to hear.  

The Breakdown

  1. If the demons wanted to continue to live in the land, then why would they force the pigs to kill themselves?  If pigs can swim, then why did they drown?  What do you think of this interpretation? 
  2. Have you ever felt like too much of an outcast to be accepted by God or used by him?  How does the story of the demon possessed man help you see otherwise?  
  3. If you’re struggling to find a mission in life, consider what Jesus told the man in verse 19.  How could you do the same?  What was the reaction of the people who heard the man? 
  4. Name your demon(s).  Tell the name to God. Be completely honest.  If this doesn’t ease your conscience, then name your demons to a trusted person in your life.

Living Large

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 1:16-20

Stories of Being Little

Josh grew up in a home with a mother who was often sick, so he had to act as a caretaker for his four siblings.  Whenever he wanted to do something for himself, his parents would lay a guilt trip on him, asking him how he could be so insensitive when there was much to do and his mother was too sick to do it.  As he thinks back to his childhood, the refrain in his head is, “My needs don’t matter.”  As an adult, he continued to live out these words like a prescription, to the point where his lack of ability to care for himself cost him his job and friendships.

Ken’s father had a temper that was out of control.  One year, when his Ken’s baseball team won second place in the State tournament, after the game, his father, “Wrapped the second place trophy around a telephone pole in front of all my friends,” as Ken put it.  Because the team did not finish first, his dad smashed their prize.  Ken vowed never to be angry like his dad.  As an adult, Ken seems to be cool and calm, but he’s never figured out how to process all his emotions in a healthy way.  He has addictions, instead. The message he hears in his head is, “Conflict and emotion are bad.”  He struggles to be whole, rather than compartmentalized.  He pretty much reacts the same way to good news or bad, making him seem robotic. 

Maggie’s mom was an alcoholic, so Maggie had to take control of her family’s life.  She constantly had to rescue her mom, care for her siblings, and be a support to her dad.  As an adult, it’s hard for Maggie to accept when life gets out of control.  She will become the hero once again and attempt to manage every aspect of life, but it’s exhausting and her whole family walks on eggshells.  If they don’t do exactly what she wants, there’s hell to pay.  Maggie lives by the unconscious voice in her head that says, “If I don’t have everything under control, then my family will be embarrassed and people will be hurt.”  

How about one more? 

Adam grew up in a Christian home.  His church and family taught him a lot about “spiritual” matters, but they ignored talking about sex.  By what they did not say, Adam gathered that sex was a shameful thing.  Being sexual was something to hide from, as if it were “beneath” a good Christian.  Even though his church taught sex was a gift from God, the way everyone tiptoed around it and failed to celebrate our physical, sexual nature, sent Adam a very different message.  As an adult, he doesn’t know how to have a healthy and balanced sexual life; he tends to abstain as best he can, then when he can’t resist anymore, binges on sexual indulging. 

Magical Thinking

What about you?  What are the messages you learned as a child that you’re still living by today?  We all have them.  As a child, they were very useful; in fact, we needed them to survive.  But now that we’ve grown, these statements don’t help us, but hinder us, keep us stuck.  My needs don’t matter.  My sexuality is something to be ashamed of.  If I don’t have everything under control, then my family will be embarrassed and people will be hurt.  Some others could be, “I can’t be vulnerable” or “I’ve got to be perfect” or “Kids get in the way.”

We continue to think these messages from our childhood will help solve our problems today.  And when they don’t work, ironically, we keep trying them!   This is called magical thinking.  Somehow, magically, we think things will turn out differently this time.  Instead of abandoning our magical thinking, we double-down and continue to trust it.  

Follow Me

After Jesus ushers in the kingdom of God by proclaiming the gospel, he begins to take an ordinary walk along the Sea of Galilee (Mark 1:16).  The sea often represents the soul of a person.  Imagine Jesus, walking right alongside your soul.  He usually doesn’t intrude, but he gets awfully close.  As he walks, he woos.  What does he say?  Follow me!  

“Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’  And immediately they left their nets and followed him.” (Mark 1:16-18).  

Jesus sees the brothers, Simon and Andrew, and he commands them to follow him.  They were fishing in a boat the moment he called them.  When they heard Jesus’s invitation, they dropped their nets and came after him.  

The same thing happened in the next story.  “And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.  And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.” (Mark 1:19-20).  Jesus found two more brothers, who were mending their nets in the boat next to their dad.  But they didn’t hesitate to leave him and follow Jesus.

Immediately

Perhaps the most intoxicating word in these true accounts is “immediately” (verses 18 and 20).  We’ve already seen this word twice so far in Mark 1:1-15.  The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus immediately when he was baptized (1:10); the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness (1:12).  The writer Mark loves to use the word “immediately,” it appears about 40 times in his account!  What is the significance?  

Let’s think of the word “immediately” as the ticket out of magical thinking, and the portal to something new.  It’s for those who finally wake up and accept the fact that what they are doing is not working.  The brothers in the boat immediately followed the call of God.  Think of all they left behind!  They left their jobs, family, security, and reputations in that boat.  I’m sure they could hear the voice of their father calling to them as they left, commanding them with the old family cliches to get back into the boat.  But they dropped their nets and followed the Voice.

(Safety) Net

How about you?  What is your (safety) net?  You’re not holding onto a fishing net, but you are still clinging to other things that make you feel secure.  Maybe your safety net is magical thinking.  But you’re only avoiding taking the call of Jesus seriously.  You think the old family ways in the boat are better.  You don’t trust the rabbi walking along the edge of your soul, peering down into it like a concerned physician. 

We hold onto and continue to mend the old fishing nets, giving them yet another tired try, fishing nets such as self-pity, resentment, alcohol, reputation, career, anger, control.  We feel safe with these.  Yet nothing changes, because it’s all been magical thinking.  We keep lingering, not realizing the power and potential of “immediately.” 

The Voice

We wish to hold onto our old world, but get new results, but that’s madness.  The only way to get new results is to follow the voice of Jesus, who wants to woo you out of the old boat.  Most people live life responding to the demands of the world.  We act like rats in a maze, going for the next bit of cheese the world leaves for us.  Our motivation is “what is the world demanding of me next?”  A degree, better car, bigger house, better job, family, and so forth.  

But there are some who dare to get out of the boat in order to find out what God and their soul are up to.  

Fishers of Men

Do you know why Jesus told the brothers he’d make them “fishers of men”?  Because Jesus knew there was another fisherman out on the lake, an evil one, who wanted to destroy people.  The enemy wants to catch souls, cut them, char them, and then consume them.  But Jesus calls others out into the world to catch people first, before the enemy can get them into his net.

When they woke up that morning, the disciples thought they would only ever be fisherman, just like their fathers.  Religious work was exclusively for special members of society, who were a part of elite groups called Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots.  Simon, Andrew, James, and John would spend most of their lives on a boat, doing what was handed to them by their ancestors.  But Jesus thought they would make great ‘fishers of men,’ so he called them out of their boats into the great drama of redemption, in order to fish people out of the enemy’s nets of destruction.  

When we follow the voice of Jesus, rather than the voices that haunt us, we enter into a larger life. “Living Large” is about discerning the lies that have been keeping you small and following the voice of Jesus to the truest and most useful version of yourself.  The voice of Jesus will tell us that our needs matter, that our sexuality is very important to him, that we can make mistakes and don’t have to have everything under control, that we can show our emotions as whole human beings, and that we can serve him wherever we are in life.  If you start to listen to the voice of Jesus, your life will start to get larger, immediately.

It may seem scary, but nothing meaningful is safe.

The Breakdown

  1. What are some voices of the past that are still speaking to you today?  Are they holding you back?  What are they saying? 
  2. If Jesus were to speak directly to your soul, what would he tell it? 
  3. What do people expect of you?  What safety nets do you cling to today? 
  4. How can you “live large” today?  (Remember, you only need to take small steps in being honest with yourself and following Jesus).