So if you've been trying to actually follow this blog, I apologize for the EXTREME laziness on my part for not posting anything in over two weeks. However, I haven't missed a day of the reading, so there are still comments GALORE that I will begin posting. Don't know how long it's going to take me to catch up, but I will.
And without further ado.....
Numbers 9:9-10
It didn't matter if the Israelites were unclean or if they were away traveling. If the time came for them to worship God and make a sacrifice, they were supposed to do it, wherever they were.
Numbers 11:14-15
Sometimes I think that we are dealing with situations and we turn to God with cries like these. We are dealing with situations that are way past our own ability to handle, and we have to turn to God, but instead of asking for God's help, strength, guidance or wisdom, we whine and blame God and say that we'd rather be dead.
Numbers 12:10-11
Why was Miriam the only one affected with leprosy? Hadn't Aaron spoken out against Moses as well?
Mark 9:38-41
I believe that this passage speaks strongly regarding divisions within the church. We are so often worried about who else is "in the club", that we totally overlook the fact that we are all, in some way, trying to do the work of Christ.
Ponderings:
I have been running into a lot of division lately, whether in a particular congregation or denomination, within families, or within politics in this country right now. Some of it seems to be completely irreconcilable, while other issues are those that shouldn't even be issues. (Don't worry, I'm SOOOO not going to use this as a soapbox for any sort of issues. Those opinions, as far as I'm concerned, shouldn't be floating around the interwebz.)
When you get more than one person in a group, you're going to have disagreements and differences of opinion. Even if you only had one person, you could still have more than one opinion. But more often than not, if people are getting into a group together, they've got something in common to begin with. They have a similar interest, work at the same place, live in the same neighborhood, or have a similar opinion about something. But even with similarities, you're still going to run into issues.
We read about this in the passage from Mark, that there were differences of opinion (or whatever) between the followers of Christ. Some of the disciples came across other people that they didn't know who were doing things in the name of Christ. Now these people weren't on street corners condemning others, they weren't going around using the Lord's name in vain, or doing things that Jesus wouldn't approve of. They were healing people, casting out demons. They were performing miracles.
Now I could be missing something, but miracles are good, right? Healing people, forgiving sins, sharing the Gospel message, those are all pluses in my mind when I think about the ministry of Christ. So you can understand my confusion when I read that the disciples said they told the people to stop. And It's also nice to see that I'm in the same boat with Jesus on this one. (At least in the thinking that it's fine what the other people are doing. I don't know that Jesus was likely ever confused about things, but who knows. Maybe. He was human after all)
But what I take away from this is that we, and this 'we' includes everybody, need to get off our high horses and realize that even if other people go about something differently, or just because they aren't part of our "crowd", doesn't mean that they aren't accomplishing something or doing good in the world. What right do I have to say to someone "I don't know you, and that's not how I would do it, so you have to stop"?
If someone is doing something good, in the name of Jesus, for the sake of the Gospel, and they're doing it because Jesus Christ is their savior and they feel called to do because they're trying to lead a Christian life, then they are my brother or sister in Christ. That is the bottom line.
