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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when His disciples came up to
Him to call His attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” He
asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one
will be thrown down.”
Matthew 24:1-2
As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Look,
Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone
here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
Mark 13:1-2
Some of His disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned
with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for
what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another;
every one of them will be thrown down.”
Luke 21:5-6
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
We live on a planet where there is no
shortage of grandeur, sites that are awe-inspiring and memorable to witness. In
fact, we have even ranked and labeled significant places, calling them “The
Seven Wonders of the World”.
There’s only one problem with our habit of doing
this. We misguide our amazement. Let me explain.
For starters, just ask yourself, “Did these
wonders simply emerge on their own or did the Lord have a hand in creating the
things I am marveling over?”
The truth of the matter is that all natural
things have come through the work of the great Creator and there is glory and
wonder to be found in all created things, not just a select few. In fact, there
are astonishing works that occur every day that we too often take for granted
like a baby being born. From a single fertilized egg, a human being is formed
in the womb of a woman, emerging into the world after nine months of
development. It’s an absolutely incredible work of God and yet we so often fail
to give Him the credit. We do so because we fail to have the proper focus,
giving the creation more homage than the Creator.
This isn’t just a present day problem. For
as we see in today’s scripture passage, Jesus’ disciples were completely
captivated by a man-made structure, more so than the God who made the structure
possible. Look again at these words here found in Mark’s Gospel:
As
Jesus was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Look, Teacher!
What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
“Do
you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be
left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Mark 13:1-2
Note here how the disciples were
proclaiming their amazement at the temple construction, praising its outstanding
features. They used words like “massive” and “magnificent” in Mark’s Gospel. In
Luke’s account, they comment on the “beautiful stones”. Their complete focus
was on the edifice and not the Edifier.
Well, Jesus intervenes in this scene of
worldly admiration to bring what must have been received as bad news by the
disciples. For as we see, He tells them that the temple would one day be
destroyed. All the massive stones would be thrown down as the temple structure
collapsed. The great buildings that once inspired wonder and awe would end up
in a pile of rubble.
Such is the cycle of worldly things. They
exist for but a season and then they are no more. This is why we shouldn’t worship
them but the Lord who endures forever. He is the same yesterday, today, and
forever, and He, the great Originator of all things, is the only One worthy of
our praise.
So how do we carry this out? How do we
direct our admiration to the Lord at all times?
It’s easy if we have the proper focus, a
focus that is centered on Him and Him alone. For example, the disciples could
have just as easily said to Jesus, “Look how great our God is, for only He
could play a part in building such a majestic temple for us to worship Him!”
Note how the emphasis is on the Lord and how it was by His will that the
amazing temple was made for His people to bring their adoration and praise to
Him.
We should make every effort to be
intentional in giving our Lord all the honor and glory for the things of life,
big and small, that speak to His creative greatness. It will come easy when we
put Him first and see that everything astounding in creation originated through
the work of our great Creator God.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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