Other Things – Pt. 2
(God’s Gag order)
“And these are the seeds being sown in the thorns; they are the ones who are hearing the Word, and the anxieties of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for OTHER THINGS coming in choke out the Word, and it becomes fruitless.” ~ Mark 4:18-19
In reading the Bible we need to allow it to provide its own definitions for the words it uses. In this case, we need to remember that Jesus IS the Word. That being true, this is some statement!
My thoughts, My actions, My decisions can actually place hands around the throat of my Lord and choke out His influence so that it has no effect in my life! I know that such verbal imagery is offensive, and it should be – but it is in fact what we do none the less.
Grace… What’s Grace?
Now believe it or not, it becomes important here to define grace. It has been my unfortunate experience, that most Christians do not understand what grace is – only how it comes.
This is typical of our current “carnal state” in the body of Christ. We are SO caught up in the HOWs of religion that we most often miss the WHO of relationship.
When I was young, one of the Southern Baptist Churches I attended was Pastored by a really great man. Mind you, I do not believe he was called to be a Pastor – but an Evangelist. He could lead more people to a genuine relationship with Jesus by accident than I could on purpose. I greatly admire him!