Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Tuesday's with Jesus #169

#169 "You've Got To Be Kidding Me!"
October 14, 2008
"When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind." (Mark 3: 21)
 
In the midst of chaos and confusion, uncertainty and fear, worry and crisis, it's refreshing to get a good laugh once in a while. The state of our world, and many of our lives, seems to make the old saying true that "if it weren't for bad news, we'd have no news at all."  I think I have something funny to share with you this morning. From a most unlikely source. God! He does have a sense of humor, you know...as Robin Williams used to say...just look at a platypus. Anyway...I digress.
 
I started my reading this morning in the gospel of Mark. Well into the third chapter, I came across a verse that you and I have probably read hundreds of times. When I went back to it, I saw something new that I'd never seen before. [Isn't it awesome how alive and active God's Word is?] Mark 3: 21 says this: "When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind." Seriously, I laughed out loud! (LOL)  
 
They went to TAKE CHARGE OF HIM? You've got to be kidding me?!?!? THEY went to take charge of HIM?!?!?!? If any of my neighbors were out at the crack of dawn this morning and heard me laughing, I would've been thought to be out of mind right along with Christ!
 
Who are we talking about here? Talk about not being in someones right mind! How do you take charge of the Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, The Holy One? We're talking about the One and Only Lord God Almighty, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Word of Life, and the Author and Finisher of our faith. How do you lay hold of The Way, The Truth and the Life? Did they actually think that they could stop the Lord of All, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, the Chief Cornerstone, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Head of the Church, the Morning Star, the Chief Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord Jesus Christ.... and the great I AM? Come on...you've got to be LOL with me right now! Or maybe not...
 
Wouldn't you agree that we sometimes do the same thing? We try and take charge of Christ when we give Him our 5-point plan for how He should solve our problem and expect Him to follow it point by point. We try and take charge of Him when we come up with bright ideas for ministry, and with no patience, no prayer or seeking His guidance, we want Him to bless what we've conjured up in our minds as "doing His will". We fight His hand of discipline over our lives. We fight obedience to His Word when our way seems to be best, and the ways of the upside-down Kingdom of God seem foolish. We cry, we make excuses, and often we blame the devil. We try to manipulate Christ with patterns and principles that we've heard will surely get our prayers answered the way we want them to be. We try that new method of prayer that we've heard really moves the heart of God.  His ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts, because they are much higher (see Isaiah 55), and maybe we think Jesus is just a touch out of His mind at times. Like His earthly family, we want to take charge of Him. Seriously, how ridiculous!!
 
We need to let Christ take charge of US, not the other way around.  He is in His perfect mind. And who are we to question that? "Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? Who has instructed Him as His counselor?" (see 1 Corinthians 2: 16, Romans 11: 34 and Isaiah 40: 13) He doesn't need our help. I've heard it said that He is God all by Himself. His will is good and pleasing and perfect (Romans 12: 2), and when we let Him take charge of our lives, He will take us places that we've never even dreamt of! He will lead us to pleasant places (Psalm 16:6), spacious places (Psalm 18:19), and do for us exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20) For gosh sakes, who do we think we are? And more importantly, how do we not fully understand who HE is? Take charge of HIM? Yeah, right!  
 
Still ROTFL (Rolling on the floor laughing),
 
Donna
 
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