Today's Passage: Mark 3
Have you ever been in a situation where someone tried to test to see if what you said you believed was really what you believed? I can remember a time in high school where some of my "friends" tried to put me in a situation where I had to make that choice. They were involved in something that I knew wasn't the standard God had set for me and wanted to see if I would join them if pressured. They thought it was a no-win situation for me...either conform or be ridiculed. They even laughed about it...."let's see if you really are "good"!" I was fortunate that I had been well-trained by my parents, my youth minister, and my godly friends...I was able to laugh it off and tell them they knew better than to try that stuff with me!
I wish I could look back on all the decisions I've made and say I chose as wisely as I did that day. There were times, both public and private, when I did conform to the world's standard. There were times when the allure of sin or the pressure from the world led me to choose that sin over righteousness. Whether we're being tested by someone else or by sin, we all have to face that decision almost daily...conform or be like Jesus.
In the first six verses of Mark 3, the Pharisees..."friends" of God...were trying to trap Jesus in to what they thought was sin. They were looking to tarnish his reputation, so they put him in a "no-win" situation...either heal on the sabbath, which was against religious law, or ignore a man who desperately needed His help.
How did he answer them? In verse 4, he breaks it all down into a very simple question. What is better...good or evil? What is better....life or death? Jesus cuts right through the red tape of the law and the trap set to entangle Him and gets to the heart of the matter. It's always better to choose good over evil and life over death. We all know it...we don't have to think too hard to understand this simplicity. Jesus choose good and life, healing the man on the spot.
How will we respond when we are being trapped by the world again? Will we choose good over evil? When we're pressured to conform to the pattern of this world, will we live like we've been transformed? Whether someone is testing us or we're being tempted by sin, we must choose good and life!
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