Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Mark 9:38-40 continues Jesus’ teaching about servanthood: “And John answered Him, saying, ‘Master, we saw one casting out devils [demons] in Thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in My name, that can lightly speak evil of Me. For he that is not against us is on our part.’” There are two keys to this brief interchange. First, Christianity is not about whether people follow “us”; it is about people following Jesus: “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34b). Of course, we are to be good examples to others. Paul understood this necessity: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1). We should rejoice in anyone who is actively serving the Savior. Second, Jesus makes an absolute disjunction statement in verse 40: either we are with Him, or we are against Him. There is no third option, no middle ground. Let us make sure that we stand with Jesus by trusting in Him for His eternal salvation.