Day 33 - Shifting Patterns

Read: Acts 13:13

THEME: For much of his life John Mark appeared to be living on the edge of the action. For many this is an uncomfortable area to be in, but it can be an ideal place for God to shape us and mature us.

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Yesterday we looked at John Mark’s move to Cyprus with Barnabas and Saul. In Acts 13:13 we see him quitting the team and returning to the security of his Jerusalem home.

Once again circumstances had changed beyond Mark’s influence. Saul, who was now calling himself Paul, seemed to be taking over the lead from Barnabas and recruiting others in a move to expand the team.

Problems seem to have begun with a dramatic encounter at the Proconsul’s house. Barnabas and Saul had been invited, but not John Mark. As Barnabas was speaking to the Proconsul, Saul had intervened and an obstructive magician who had been acting as the Proconsul’s advisor had been struck blind. Saul seemed to think this was fine, possibly an echo of his own conversion experience, and certainly an opportunity for the man to have his inner blindness highlighted by his outer condition. It seemed to be such a turning point for Saul that he had changed his name to Paul, had taken charge, and had gathered others around him in readiness to extend the mission to the mainland.

For John Mark the choice was onward or out and he was opting for out. Being on the edge of the action gives plenty of opportunities for taking offence but taking offence always stunts personal progress.

May God give us the grace to handle today’s challenges with wisdom in a way that pleases Him.

Day 31 - Parental Shadows

Read: Acts 12:12

THEME: For much of his life John Mark appeared to be living on the edge of the action. For many this is an uncomfortable area to be in, but it can be an ideal place for God to shape us and mature us.

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Many of us feel we live on the edge of life’s action, just caught up in circumstances rather than determining them. Sometimes we wish we could step in more closely, sometimes we long to stand further away. From Acts 12:12 we can see that John Mark had the benefit of godly parenting. His mother held a prayer meeting in her home, and some believe that she was the widow of the man who hosted the Last Supper in the very same room. They seem to have been people at the centre of the action and Mark grew up under the shadow of their protective care, seeing much from the side-lines and experiencing their joys and pains.

Of course, we can understand his longing to have a role of his own and maybe Mark’s Gospel chapter 14, verse 51 gives an early hint of this – a young man who had set his heart on following Jesus but who eventually came under pressure and fled. But in all honesty, living on the edge of the action does have its advantages. It can be a safe place from which to look and learn; seeing but sheltered; learning but secure. It is good to know that we can be in the centre of God’s will without always being in the centre of the action.

May God fill us with His peace as we live out our lives for Him today.

Day 23 - A Woman from Samaria: a meeting at a well

Read: John 4:4-26

THEME: The Gospel record gives us so many examples of how people engaged with Jesus that it would be hard to find a human challenge that did not in some way meet Him face-to face.

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The well at which Jesus met the Samaritan woman was not just any well. She had come to draw water from Jacob’s well. She knew who had dug it, who had drunk from it, and how deep it was. There was nothing wrong with Jacob’s well; it provided a good temporary solution to physical thirst and Jesus was happy for her to help Him drink from it, even though His request shocked her. But when Jesus offered her living water, which He said would continually slake her thirst, she was curious. This could save her leaving her house and let her hide permanently from her neighbours.

There was a problem, though; the well was deep and, although she sensed that Jesus might be greater than Jacob, He had no rope and bucket. She was of course right about Jesus being greater than Jacob and His well is even deeper than Jacob’s well was, but no bucket is needed. The spring supplying it is strong enough to deliver at the surface as well as to satisfy the depths. It is the spring of resurrection life that was to see Jesus triumph on the cross.

The woman was so overwhelmed with what she had received that she left her water-pot at the well. She would need it again to draw physical water, but she had discovered a deeper well that had enabled her to confront her past, face her future and embrace her neighbours.

Let’s be quick to recognise the fullness of the solutions Jesus brings to our circumstances.

Day 18 - Lot and the rescue

Read: Genesis 14

THEME: There are some incidents in Abraham’s life that are hard to explain unless we see how God’s grace towards us can make us gracious towards others.

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Although, when choosing land, Lot believed he was selecting the best, it turned out to be the worst, with two very sinful cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, right in the midst of it. It was also a region renowned for strife, with rival kingdoms fighting over the territory.

On one occasion Abram had had to mount a rescue, riding hard with his friends and household to release Lot, and his fellow inhabitants of Sodom, who had been taken into captivity. It was on his return from this battle that Abram was blessed by Melchizedek, God’s High Priest, named as King of Righteousness and King of Peace.

In his commitment to Lot, Abram never wavered. Years later when God determined to judge Sodom, Abraham stood and prayed over the city, believing that even a handful of righteous people, as few maybe as Lot’s wider family, could bring a sinful city to repentance.

Abraham was not presuming upon the grace of God in thinking in this way (as we know, an unrepentant Sodom was destroyed) but he did know the power of God’s grace in his own life and wanted to extend that grace to others.

May we today find ways of extending God’s grace to others.