As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“In Mary Slessor, we see a vision of womanhood our age struggles to articulate — strong without being strident, tender without being naïve, courageous without being cruel. She did not demand power; she exercised influence.” - CPost
“Protestantism began as a conscientious resistance movement. We resisted man’s command, but only because we were conscience-bound to obey God’s. But how can we know when to resist man’s commands?” - 9 Marks
With the Old Testament and historical background in place in previous articles, it’s time to examine Mark 7:1–13 in more detail. In other words, it’s time to start comparing our lives to Scripture. God is holy, and he deserves a holy people. Mark 7 makes it clear that in our quest to be holy, the trap of idolatry lies close at hand. Indeed, the Pharisees were the conservatives. They were also idolaters. Are you a conservative? Are you liable to the same rebuke?
“[B]efore God granted us new sight, we were blind, utterly unable to see God’s beauty (2 Corinthians 4:4). Like a blindfolded man in a furniture store, we walked around smacking our shins against majesty, tripping over splendors, repeatedly running face-first into glory in God’s word and his world, and yet we could not see…how all the beauties point to God.” - Desiring God
“To have peace, we must loosen our grip on our lives. And there’s one simple but powerful habit that consistently helps us do this: prayer.” - Lifeway
“Scriptorium was the brainchild of one of these kids, from my university, a couple of years ago, and has grown into a twice-weekly meeting where college students gather to help each other memorize scripture. And then they’ll occasionally have recitations, where they gather to say aloud the scripture they’ve memorized.” - World
Read the series so far.
Bitter attitudes hinder worship, strain relationships, and generally drain all the joy out of life. Apart from the initial pain of loss, mistreatment, disappointment or failure, bitterness does us no good.
Fortunately, Scripture and the wisdom of experience show us multiple ways to beat bitterness. Previously, we’ve considered how the attitudes of worship crowd out bitterness and how a quick escape from bitter thinking can keep it from pulling us in for a long ride.
A third approach is to confront the narrow focus and loss of perspective bitterness brings.
“In the work-from-home world—and for many pastors, stay-at-home parents, or caretakers—this experience isn’t unusual. Even if our devices are silent, our minds keep humming. Our closed laptops sit on the table and whisper, ‘Just one quick thing …’” - TGC
“[T]he Scriptures record that ‘he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?’ (Luke 10:29). No doubt, he was hoping for a small group of people he could count as neighbors and his obligations under the law would be few. But Jesus had a response that he did not expect.” - P&D
We humans need stuff. We need food, and clothing, and shelter, and we need a way to get those things. The past year has made us aware of how much we need other things, too: love, companionship, interaction, variety.
We also want stuff. We want money—always just a bit more than we have. We want better health—even if we live in ways that seem to contradict that. We want recognition, which these days comes most commonly by way of likes and shares and congratulatory comments.
Discussion