Devotional Song: Go to this link – Please take your time to see a video of a powerful song, performed by Clay Crosse, Bebe Winans, and Bob Carlisle … I Will Follow Christ, reminding us that our place in heaven will be determined by our discipleship in following Christ in this life.
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Highlight Passage #1 – NKJV: Mark 10: 42 …
43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
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Highlight Context - NKJV: Mark, Chapter 10, Verses 35-45 … GO TO THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1: Luke 9: 23 … [NKJV] … [Jesus commands His disciples to first be His follower.] …
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. …”
Reference Passage #2: Philippians 2: 5-7… [NKJV] … [If we’re to be like Jesus, we need to let His Spirit rule in our hearts, choosing to humble ourselves to His be His slaves, just as He was slave to His Father’s will.] …
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Reference Passage #3: Romans 12: 1-2… [NKJV] … [To be in service to/for Christ is to be living our lives in living sacrifice in His Name.] …
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
My Journal for Today: Today, on this day here in the USA, it is Martin Luther King day, honoring the life of the man who served His Lord by leading America out of the doldrums of racial discrimination toward the light of freedom in Christ; and in doing so, in the late 1960s, this great social leader spoke to American from today’s highlight passage, Mark 10: 35-45, linked above.
Dr. King said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. . . . You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”
And the context of the Mark 10 passage was taken from an interaction involving Jesus and His inner 12 Disciples, who were quibbling over whom among the twelve should have a lead place in heaven as the Man, Whom they believed to be their Messiah, would lead them there forever. And Jesus His Disciples in their place, as He had to do often in His earthly ministry, by showing them that the only way they could be leaders – in this world or the next – would be for them to learn first to serve others.
And if you’ve taken in the attached photo as well as the song I’ve linked my readers to today, as well as the Scriptural references, you’ll see that God slammed me again in conviction today with His truth that I must follow Him, 24/7, in the living sacrifice of service to others, especially in lieu of trying to impress others in this life with what service I do in His Name and for the Father’s glory.
I’ll leave it to you to decide, as I’m led to do this day, whether the service we render in this life is for God’s glory or to have ourselves seen as “good Christians” in the sight of others.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, help me to learn and live the humility You lived in Your life, death, and resurrection for us all. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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