Month: February 2017

The Lord and the Holy Spirit teach us spiritual truths, with verbal words and physical events. Chapters 4 and 5 of Mark provide the same strong lesson for us today as they must have for the disciples many years ago. In Chapter 4, Jesus teaches the crowds and the disciples, with a string of parables, including the Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Growing Seed, and the Parable of the Mustard Seed.  At the end of Chapter 4 he switches from the verbal to the physical, with the first of a string of amazing miracles. Mark 4:35-41 speaks of a serious storm in which the disciples found themselves embroiled.  The Amplified Bible gives a very vivid description of their situation.

Mark 4:37  And a furious storm of wind [of hurricane proportions] arose, and the waves kept beating into the boat, so that it was already becoming filled.

The disciples spent their life on the water as professional fishermen.  They had seen many storms over the years, but none like this.  They were in a life threatening situation and had no idea what to do.  How did they get in this mess in the first place? Were they really to have met the savior, sat under his teaching, just to die in a row boat near-term?  The reality of their predicament is they were following Jesus’s words, “Let’s go over to the other side”. They heard the voice of the Lord, said “Yes”, and took the necessary steps to move in the appropriate direction.  Jesus said go, they went.  But as it often is with being obedient, there is opposition both spiritual and physical. What should we do when we encounter great opposition in the pursuit of the goals the Lord sets before us and we find ourselves facing ‘What do I do now?”   There was nothing they could do in the natural.  Should they spend their time trying to bail or row harder?  These are their natural options, but neither choice is going to do anything to solve the problem.  The problem is simply out of their control and no amount of their effort will make any difference.

The step they do take is both good and bad.  It’s good they go to Jesus.  That is ALWAYS a good move.  But they approach him asking the very thing He had just taught them NOT to do in the parable of the sower. They were allowing Satan to use the ‘cares of the world’ to kill their building faith.  Anxiety, concern, solicitude and worry.  These are the things Satan uses to attack us whenever we start believing God and moving in the direction of obedience.  Asking Jesus if He ‘cared’ that they were perishing shows that they, not unlike we often do, had missed the message of who He truly was.
The disciples faced a very important decision.  What do we do when we are obedient and as a result of our obedience we face very difficult life conditions?

Let’s make this situation personal.  You believe The Lord has told you to change Jobs and move to a new town.  You have multiple confirmations that is indeed the Lord’s will.  You take the new job, put your house on the market and move.  But suddenly the skies darken and the sun disappears behind a bevy of thunderstorms and lightening.  The man who hired you was terminated after you had been on the job only 2 weeks.  There is great confusion and dissension among your new coworkers and uncertainty about your job grows.  The contract on your old house falls through.  You’ve already closed on your new home.  As your wife is taking the kids to school, her car is sideswiped by a hit and run driver. Do you get the picture?  This is a storm of ‘hurricane proportions’.  What do you do now?

In the trying times like this, we wait and we believe, seeking to be found faithful. Otherwise, we hear the words of Christ, like he said them to the disciple there years ago, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”   This is a time for endurance.  As James 1:3-4 puts it:

Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.  But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

There are times in the Hurricanes of life we simply must hang on to what we know The Lord has told us to do.  Like in Chapters 4 and 5 of Mark, the verbal and physical teaching are followed by the spiritual miracles.  What hurricane are you in? What miracles are in front of you if you but remain steadfast and believe?

Andy Hines

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. -2 Corinthians 4:6-7

How are we as Christ-followers to interpret these verses? The Christian life is a journey and over time, Christ-followers often grow in their appreciation and understanding of God’s Word. Just when we feel we have some Bible verses down and there’s nothing more to learn, God has a way of teaching us something new. I think the average Christian progresses in his or her understanding of the above mentioned verses in three stages.

In stage one, the verse centers around us or the jar and not the treasure. We are the center of God’s universe. Isn’t the jar beautiful? It is so useful! The jar is so great that the light fills the jar and spills out from the top, producing an effervescent glow that can be seen from miles away. Almost like finding gold in a pot at the end of a rainbow. The jar lights up anything it comes into contact with. After all, didn’t Jesus say he was the light of the world and that we too are to be a light in a dark place.
In stage two, we come to realize the verse isn’t about the beauty of the jar at all. After all, a clay pot was just an ordinary vessel used to carry water and other day-to-day objects around (I think about a Dixie cup today). We begin to understand the jar has cracks in it and that those cracks represent our weaknesses, imperfections, and faults. We understand this verse applies to our post-conversion and that we are both broken vessels before and after we meet Christ. We typically see Christ’s light shining through all of our cracks. After all, when we are weak, He is strong. Christ makes up for where we are lacking! The image that comes to mind is something like:

It took me a long time to get to stage two, but it has taken me even longer to get to stage three. In stage three, a jar with light rays shining brightly through all of its cracks doesn’t make much sense. It sounds great and the premise is true. But if the jar is such an ordinary item, why wouldn’t you just use a new jar instead of one filled with cracks.

I think the best illustration for a jar of clay is:

Jars of clay break easily. And when they shatter, they break into multiple fragmented units. In all of our brokenness, God still chooses to shine the glorious light of the gospel of Jesus Christ through our earthly vessels. In fact, as you read on in the passage, you notice that the Christian takes on a different outlook for life. The Christian faces many troubles and heartache but does not lose heart. This act in itself is a witness to a watching world, as the hope that lives within us, Christ out shines all of our broken pieces. This all-surpassing power is not from ourselves but from God!

I’m not saying I fully understand these verses. Perhaps there is a stage four? And maybe you started out with the understanding of stage three as opposed to stage one. What I do know is God’s Word is a mine to be dug, full of gold nuggets awaiting to be extracted. What is God teaching you?

Aaron Dougherty