Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, "So" You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself." In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked Him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but He can't save Himself. Let this Christ, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe."

Mark 15:29-32, NIV

I used to wonder why Jesus allowed the people to insult Him as they did. I wondered why He didn't just come down from the cross and save Himself so that these wicked men would be silenced and so that He would not have to die. But of course, there is a reason for everything that Jesus did, and there was a very obvious reason for Jesus not doing as these wicked men who were taunting Him suggested:

Jesus did not come into this world to save Himself, He came into this world to save us!

"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost."

I Timothy 1:15. ESV

Jesus knew this truth. Paul showed that knew this truth. And now we know this truth as well. The question is, "What will we do about it?" That's the reason we are reading: To find the answers to the truths that God wants us to know, and then to live our lives according to these truths... otherwise, Christ would have died in vain.

Today's reading is Mark 15. It reveals much about the love that Jesus and God have for us.

But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me."

Mark 14:6, NASB

This is certainly one of the most beautiful events of Jesus' ministry here on earth. In a life filled with doing wonderful things for others, here we have a circumstance where someone actually does something wonderful for Jesus. A woman, Mary, is so overcome by Jesus' kindness that she breaks an expensive vial of perfume and anoints the feet of Christ with it. It is such a beautiful act that it is told about in all four accounts of the Gospels - one of the few events to have such a distinction. As we continuing reading, Jesus says, "She has done what she could..." Mark 14:8, RSV

The strange thing (though maybe not so strange, when you think about it) is that she was immediately criticized for her "waste" because the perfume that she used to pour on Jesus' feet was very expensive. As it turns out, it was Judas who was the primary critic. He accused her of wasting something that could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor, when all the time we find that he was just a thief looking to get something for himself.

Just think about the simplicity of what has been done: A woman did what she could! Yet this was such a novel occurrence that it became one of the most noteworthy events of Jesus' ministry. That being the case, maybe there is a lesson for us, today. Maybe, if we will follow Mary's example and do what we can, we too might find that our lives can actually be pleasing in the sight of God.

And that truly would be a beautiful thing! Are you doing what you can?

Today's reading is Mark chapter 14. It is definitely worth your consideration!

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on Guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.

Mark 13:32-33, NIV

In my sixty plus years here on earth, I have watched men and women get worried over a lot of things that are simply beyond their control. In this past year, we have seen many people frozen into inaction over the fear of getting a bug and dying. An unreasoned fear has overcome so many to the point where they have simply stopped living, because they are afraid of dying. How very sad! How very useless!

I don't want you to get me wrong. I realize that many people have gotten the "bug" and a number of people have died from it. It is serious, no question about it, but we have had serious things before this bug and we will have serious things after it. For those so terribly worried about what may happen to them because of a stupid bug, perhaps they should ask themselves this question: 

Weren't they planning on going to heaven, anyway?

That brings us to the theme of the verse above. Jesus is talking about His Second Coming and the Day of Judgment. It is a day that will definitely arrive, and a day that we are commanded to be on guard and alert for. But, as Jesus so clearly points out, it is a day whose time no one but God can know about... so we don't need to be worried about its coming, for we were planning on going to heaven anyway, weren't we?

I hope you can see the point of all of this. We plan to go to heaven, not because we deserve to, but because God wants us to and has made provisions for that very occurrence. Since this is a fact, we simply do not have to worry over things such as "what happens if we catch a bug and die?" or "what happens if the Day of Judgment should come tomorrow?". It's not that we shouldn't be concerned about such things, it's just that we shouldn't worry about them beyond our responsibility of due diligence in being alert, on guard, and prepared.

We are planning on going to heaven anyway, aren't we? So let us get to our job at hand of preparing ourselves for that inevitable day of our passing from this life by living for God now! We have things to do for God and things do to help our fellow man. Don't you think that this is what we were put here for in the first place? 

Today's reading is from Mark chapter 13. It will help us with gaining that proper perspective so desperately needed during times such as these.

"Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "Is this: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second one is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."

Mark 12:28-31, NIV

One of the reasons that we are taking our time in reading just one chapter from the New Testament each day is so that we can isolate an important thought from that day's reading and take it with us, thinking about it throughout the day. Since we are looking for an important lesson to think about, and since Jesus said that these were the most important commands, I can think of no greater passage to ponder today than this particular one.

The beautiful thing about the Word of God is that it does not take someone with a PHD in religious philosophy to explain what it means. God loves us and wants us to understand His holy Word. He has given us that word in it's pure form and has stated it in a plain and simple way so that we can understand it on our own. Our job is to read it and to think about what it means so that we can better serve Him. And from the very words of Christ, we are told that there is no more important commandment than these we read above.

So, wouldn't today be a great day to truly think about these greatest of all commandments, so that we may better apply them to our lives?

Today's reading is Mark 12. As Jesus said, it contains the most important commandment ever given.