Thought for July 24, 2024

  • 1832: Benjamin Bonneville leads first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by Wyoming's South Pass 
  • 1847: Brigham Young arrives in Salt Lake City
  • 1911: Machu Picchu discovered by Hiram Bingham
  • 1952: "High Noon" with Gary Cooper premiers
  • 1959: Kitchen Debate between Nixon and Khrushchev
  • 1974: Supreme Court rules Nixon must release Watergate Tapes
  • 1998: "Saving Private Ryan" premiers
  • Born: Simon Bolivar, Alexander Dumas, Amelia Earhart, Jennifer Lopez, Karl Malone, Barry Bonds
  • Died: Martin Van Buren, Peter Sellers, Matthew Webb [1st to swim English channel unassisted],  Tony Lema, Regis Philbin
Thought:
Reading Mark 3:20-30. On June 16, 1858, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Illinois used this passage in a speech in Springfield. Abraham Lincoln said:
A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. 

Jesus' own family had come to get him because He had "lost His senses."  The scribes from Jerusalem accused Him of being possessed by the devil. And Jesus replied, "if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand." Now notice that at the end of the chapter, Jesus says, "whoever does the will of God, he is My brother snd sister and mother." 

This morning I am thinking about these statements by Jesus and applying them to my life. Am I a house divided against itself. Scripture says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Are my thoughts and attitudes divided between the will of God and the way of the world? Is this what causes anxiety, anger, impatience, headaches. Is my heart and mind torn between two claims--the claims of Jesus and the claims of the world. As I look at our country today, is Jesus speaking to us in these verses. A country split by issues with both sides claiming to be right and righteous. But then I examine my own life and wonder if I am not in the same predicament. Is this division the reason our country is weak and could it be that it is the reason I have no spiritual power? 

Scripture tells us we cannot serve God and mammon. Our allegiances cannot be divided. We must be all in or we are ineffective, powerless. Maybe that is why Jesus ends His response in verse 35. We are part of His family when we do the will of God. Obedience rather than sacrifice, or perhaps obedience in sacrifice. Lord, help me be all in, undivided in my walk today. 


Blessings

Larry

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