Category: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Mark 1:35

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“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.”
— ‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:35‬ ‭(CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

How do you recharge? How do you build yourself back up when you’ve hit the point of exhaustion? Different people fuel up in different ways. Extroverts, for example, need to get around people. After a long, stressful day of work, they need to go home, change clothes, and go to some crowded, public space where they can be the life of the party. Introverts like me, on the other hand, need isolation. After a Sunday morning of being “on,” I have to spend a few hours being completely “off” before I’m good for much else. Those are just two ways to recharge. Not every approach works for every person, and finding your source takes some trial and error. What we see here is Jesus demonstrating a way to recharge that is not only universal, but it’s also more efficient and effective than anything else. I’m talking about prayer.

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Morning Musing: Mark 1:28

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“At once the news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity of Galilee.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Some people are attention hounds. They’ll do whatever they can to get people to pay attention to them. Sometimes the antics are positive and funny, sometimes they’re more unsavory, but attention is the goal. Social media has allowed for the creation of more of these folks than have ever existed in the past. There are people whose entire lives are spent finding new ways to get people to notice them. Jesus wasn’t like that at all, but He got it all the same.

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Morning Musing: Mark 1:21-22

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“They went into Capernaum, and right away he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach. They were astonished at his teaching because he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not like the scribes.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’ve had the chance to sit at the feet of some pretty remarkable teachers over the years. From seminary to the various conferences I’ve had the chance to attend, I have gotten to learn from published authors, nationally recognized speakers, and world-renowned experts on a variety of topics. These men and women were all brilliant and absolutely deserving of the acclaim they received. Without exception, though, when they spoke, experts though they were, when they taught, they consistently made reference to other experts to back up what they were saying. That’s just how people teach. It’s how they have always taught. When you say something that you really want people to believe, you find some other widely recognized authority on the matter and cite their work for support. Anyone who doesn’t do this kind of thing is either incredibly arrogant, a genius of the first order, or Jesus.

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Morning Musing: Mark 1:15

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“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
— ‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:15‬ ‭(CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Jesus said a lot of things. At the end of John’s Gospel, the apostle includes a note that he only presented a sampling of what Jesus did and said. Speaking only somewhat hyperbolically, he observed that if he had written down everything, it would have filled several books. But, Jesus was a teacher. That was His primary mission and goal. For all of the things He said, though, there was one big idea that beat at the heart of all of His messages.

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Morning Musing: Mark 1:14

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“After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever read something in one place, read something else in another place from a purportedly friendly source, and something about the two accounts didn’t quite sit right? We often see this today in modern politics. One person says one thing and another says something slightly different; different enough that the contradiction is glaring. Generally speaking, people don’t tolerate contradictions very well. Contradictions reveal either duplicity or hypocrisy, or both. This is bad enough when it comes to life in general. It’s even harder when we seem to find them in the Scriptures.

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