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“Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15 (KJV)

This is one of the major transitions in the Gospel of Mark. In typical Mark fashion he lets us know that John is no longer the main focal point of the time. In fact he deals with this issue so simply that it seems as though Mark expected the reader to anticipate John’s imprisonment from the beginning. In this account we do not get any of the details of why John was imprisoned, we just get the simple statement that he was.

Mark now turns our attention back to Jesus. It is quite likely that Jesus’ actual message was much longer than what we have recorded, but Mark certainly captures the essence of what Jesus was preaching.

Jesus begins his message by setting the stage so to speak, recognizing that “the time is fulfilled.” If we aren’t careful we can gloss right over these four words and miss a great deal of their meaning. We must remember that at this point Jesus is speaking to the Jews, God’s chosen people, who until the time of John the Baptist had not “heard” from God in several hundred years. When Jesus begins speaking about the time being fulfilled, those that heard his message would have understood it in the context that it was given. All of the preparation that the Old Testament speaks of regarding the Messiah has occurred, and in fact was unfolding before their very eyes, whether or not they recognized that fact. This wasn’t your standard introduction, and we shouldn’t picture the Pastor standing up and saying “Ok, let’s get started”. These four words would have grabbed the Jewish listeners attention, and they would have understood that something significant was occurring.

Now that Jesus has their attention, His next statement would really grab them! “And the Kingdom of God is at hand!” Again, we have to try to put ourselves in the mindset of the Jews at this time in order to truly grasp the significance of this statement. Not only had God again spoken to His chosen people through John, now here comes Jesus saying that the Kingdom was at Hand! I do not think that we can really fully understand the excitement, and dare I say skepticism, that the audience would have felt when hearing this statement. We are simply too far removed from the event to really be able to understand it. But we can certainly see some of the significance, not only to the Jews that heard this statement, but to our own lives today.

What is this Kingdom that Jesus spoke of so often? There has been a great deal of theological debate over this topic for several hundred years, and I won’t suggest that I have the answer completely figured out. The Bible seems very clear to me that at some point God is going to work mightily and establish a new reign, and I’m sure that is part of the Kingdom that Jesus spoke of. But if we look at the terminology that Jesus used, it seems pretty clear that Jesus was not speaking only of something in the far off future, but of something immanent and immediate. Richard Deibert has this to say in The Interpretation Bible Studies series “Mark”: Jesus does not choose the common Greek word for linear, chronological time as the clock sees it (chronos). Jesus chooses the special Greek word for seasons, appointed-though-unpredictable time, as the Clockmaster sees it, perhaps best translated “time-within-time” (kairos). To make matters muddier, Jesus chooses to speak with a wonderfully rich tense in Greek, the perfect tense, which is used to indicate that the effects of a past action are still continuing in the present.”

Clear as mud, right? I think the key phrase that Deibert provides is that these effects continue in the present. The Kingdom of God is here and available to us today! How do we enjoy this Kingdom here and now? Jesus is about to tell us!

The key words in this next passage are a common theme in Jesus’ messages: repent and believe. Those two simple words sum up the entire Gospel message! We like to make things much more difficult than they are, but here we have Jesus himself giving us two very direct steps that we must take. We must first repent. That is the key that unlocks the Kingdom. Until we reach the point that we are able and willing to admit that we have been wrong, that we have not lived our lives the way that God intended, and to turn away from our sins, we are unable to enter the Kingdom. Truth be told, until we reach that point we aren’t even thinking about the Kingdom at all, so this just makes sense. Repentance is much more than just saying I’m sorry. It has to move beyond lip service, into a truly repentant heart. (Note: see http://heleadstheway.hesavedus.com/2009/12/25/true-repentance/ for related information). A truly repentant heart longs not only for forgiveness but for a sincere and life altering change in direction.

Once we have repented, the next step is to believe! Jesus doesn’t give us some endless list of rules that we have to obey, or things that we have to do, in order to “qualify” for citizenship in the Kingdom of God. All He requires of us is that we believe the Gospel! For many of us today this seems to be one of those “if it sounds too good to be true” moments. We are used to working for everything we have, and live in a society that reinforces the belief that we only get what we earn. But here Jesus is telling us that “all” we need to do is believe! The simplicity eludes us sometimes. But if we think about it, it has to be this simple. Why? Because we can not save ourselves! If we could, then there would have been absolutely no reason for Jesus to come to Earth and die as the ultimate sacrifice. Since we couldn’t save ourselves, Jesus paid that price for us, and all He asks in return is that we believe in Him!

On paper it seems so simple, but as any experienced Christian will tell you, it certainly doesn’t stop at that moment of repentance and belief. In fact, that’s just the beginning of the journey. Once we believe the Gospel, I mean truly believe it and let it become the focal point of our lives, we begin to change. Not because God says we must, but because we want to, because we desire to live a life that is more pleasing to God. Jesus knew this already! He knew that if we would turn from our sinful ways and believe the Gospel that extraordinary changes would occur in our lives. I truly believe that is why He kept the plan so simple.

Over the past few weeks I have been busy setting up a new website called He Saved Us. This is a true Christian Social Networking site built by Christians, for Christians. With many of the same features that have made other social networking sites (such as Facebook and Myspace) so popular have been incorporated. The biggest difference is our focus on providing this type of resource for the Christian community!

Now you can easily connect with friends from around the world! Our site includes such popular features as Status Updates, Your Wire (called the Wall on some sites), Groups, Messaging (internal email/private message system), Forums and much much more!

For those that really like to write, we also include a full featured Wordpress Blog! The blog, and all of our features, are offered free of charge! It’s just our way of helping the Christian Internet Community.

Please take some time to visit our new site and join us in building a true Christian Social Network!

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Rom 6:1-2 KJV

In preparing for our weekly Bible study I had the opportunity to spend some time mulling over this passage of scripture. One of the references that I use a lot (The KJV Parallel Bible Commentary) brought out a point that I had never really thought of in quite this way before.

Through the ages there have been many that argue that the Doctrine of Justification had to be incorrect because it didn’t make sense. Their argument is essentially that if God has forgiven us and treated us as righteous, regardless of what we have done or will do, that this mindset would lead one to continue in sin because there was nothing to encourage them not to. Meaning, in short, if God’s going to forgive me anyways I may as well have some fun along the way! I doubt that’s exactly how the argument would be presented, but that certainly seems like the general gist !

Paul, apparently anticipating just such an argument, goes on in the next few passages to lay the ground work for this doctrine. While it is certainly true that God freely and fully forgives us, that gift is only granted after a heart felt, sincere appeal and repentance. Absent that sincerity, all the words and works will do us no good at all, because it’s all done for the wrong reason. Paul goes on to argue that we are dead to sin, that the very body of sin might be destroyed, and that if we are in fact freed from sin (forgiven by God) then we’d have no desire to continue to live in sin. And I think that right there is the very key to the argument.

If we are sincere when we seek God’s forgiveness and turn our lives over to Christ then the very idea of continuing to intentionally live in sin wouldn’t even cross our minds! We’d have such a heart felt desire to serve God, and to live for Christ, that our sins would no longer be a source of enjoyment, but rather a source of torment that requires us to face them head on and, through the power of Christ, overcome them. It’s about our reason for doing, or not doing, things that is the difference. We do not need to serve God out of fear, for we are already justified through faith and faith alone. But we choose to serve Him out of love, respect, admiration and gratitude! Talk about a paradigm shift!

So the question we are faced with is are we truly dead to sin? Not are we perfect, for we won’t reach that point this side of heaven. The true test I think is that when we know that something in our lives is sinful, how do we deal with that? Do we recognize our need for change, or do we just say “God will forgive me anyways”. If we take measure of how we respond to sin in our own life, we will have a very good barometer of where our relationship with Him stands.

Mmmmmthe bed feels good this morning! Just a little while longer. I snuggle in, wrap my arms around my husband and send my strongest, most persuasive vibe. Let’s stay here awhile.

“Come on sweetheart, time to get up and get ready for church.” ,he whispers gently but firm. As he tosses his legs over the side of the bed,

**two copper pennies drop into the plate.

Is that man still in the bathroom? Why is it that he has to string out his grooming process? Take a shower, watch T.V., shave, eat breakfast, and last but not least brush his teeth. Grrrr.

“Hon, it’s 9:30 am. Remember, I need the bathroom, too”

“As soon as I brush my teeth, it’s all yours.”

I smile patiently. Same story every week

**and two copper pennies drop into the plate.

Well dressed including their smiles,the ladies with beauty shop perfect gray hair stand at the church door greeting each person warmly as they arrive. They recognize us as newcomers.
“We’re so glad you’re here.” They say as they hand me a little white gift bag. “Are you from around here?”-simple getting to know you questions and genuine interest in our answers. We feel at home

**as two plus two copper pennies drop into the plate.

Entering the sanctuary, we look around at the pews filled with mostly ordinary people. In the back of the church, a couple of members sit in wheel chairs. In front of us, a little white-haired lady with a prayer cap sits quietly. As the service gets underway, announcements are made and songs are lifted. A blonde-haired woman takes the arm of the lady with the prayer cap. They walk to the front of the church.
Oh, she’s blind

She takes her place in front of the microphone and in a strong voice says, “I first heard this song about washing each other’s feet several years ago. It is my hope that you will be encouraged by it and come tonight for our Love feast and Communion service.” And then, she sings acappella not in a recording artist voice but clear and sweet. As she returns to her seat,

**four copper pennies drop into the plate.

One by one each person brings their pennies and a melodious sound of copper bells ring out in the heavenly courts, sweet, sweet worship to the King.

Mark 13:42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two pennies. NLT
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Darlene Hight

Darlene is a writer who travels with her husband, Mark across rural United States as he builds power plants.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

Gen 4:26 “…At that time, men began calling on the name of the Lord.”

Outside my office hangs a clock on the wall that’s been slow for weeks, maybe months now, but who’s counting? Before yesterday, the last time I noticed, it was about ten minutes slow. For a while (weeks or months) its sluggishness didn’t bother me. Yesterday, I recognized that it had now lost three hours. Suddenly, like a lightning bolt, “bother” struck me. I walked back to my office, poked around in my desk, found two AA batteries, and fixed it.

It took three minutes. Three, sixty second segments to recover three hours!

It’s 12 months, 365 days, 8,760 hours later than this time last year.

Welcome to 2010.

What did you do with your time in 2009?

It’s funny, the things we say about time. We declare that time can be lost, wasted, spent, and of all things, fly. Some of us talk about killing time. But I think it’s really as Dion Boucicault says, “time quietly passes and kills us.”

The first chapters in the book of Genesis are mysterious. Historians find it difficult to pinpoint time in the first chapters of the Bible. We can’t date or figure out exactly when or how much time passed in the events from creation and throughout Adam and Eve’s family lineage. Adam, himself, lived 930 years. Adam’s youngest son lived 912 years, and farther down the line, Noah had his sons after he was 500 years old. A young, strapping dad, he was!

The history of beginnings reveals a troubled lot. But it was times of trouble that changed people and turned them back to their Creator. Adam and Eve’s great fall, then their son, Cain, murdering his brother, Able, marked turning points in history. Trouble initiated something they, obviously, had not done in years. After so much trouble, they began to seek the Lord.

After all the mess-ups and foul-ups, the writer takes notice, “At that time,” the time of one failure after another, the time of trouble, “men began calling on the name of the Lord.”

We step into this year, wiping sweat from our brow, barely escaping a death blow to the world economy. With job losses, some people suffered a fatal blow to their personal finances, losing houses, cars, and credit ratings. Others suffered more personal and tragic loses last year. Deaths, divorces, broken relationships and shattered dreams abounded.

What now?

What happens now isyou get a mulligan, a do-over. Here’s the question: What will we do with our do-over? Hopefully, we’ll learn from our ancestors, and after all our trouble, we, too, will “begin to call on the name of the Lord.”

It’s noteworthy that after men began to seek the Lord, He called Noah to build an ark of salvation for his family to escape the coming rain storm. Prayer didn’t stop the storm, but created a way through it for those who would listen to Noah’s warnings. Sadly, not all listened, most didn’t in fact. Only Noah’s family was saved.

It’s 2010 already! Don’t you think it’s time? With everything we’ve been through and all the battles we fought last year, isn’t it time we begin to seek the Lord?

A new set of AA’s will not recover the time we’ve lost, but the Lord is offering grace for us to start over today. This is a New Year, a new day. If you will begin to seek the Lord you will discover, over time, that God will make a way where there was no way. Prayer doesn’t always stop the coming storms, but it does make a way through them.

In the history of humankind, the days we live in are like none of the others before us. Indeed, this is a different day. This is not a time to attempt to journey into the future without a relationship with the only One who knows what lies ahead.

It’s 2010and it’s time.

It’s time to begin calling on the name of the Lord.

Bill Baldwin is an author, speaker, and pastor. He resides with his wife, Karen, daughter, Karly, and two dogs, Rosie and Gracie, near Charlotte, North Carolina. Visit www.billbaldwin.org

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

It’s funny how certain phrases that you hear just stick in your mind. My wife and I watched the movie Fireproof this weekend. (Which, by the way, if you haven’t seen yet I highly recommend!). One of the scenes of the movie has the main character talking with a friend of his who he knew was a Christian. The main character had just accepted Christ as his Saviour, and was stumbling to find a way to share this with his friend. He finally manages to tell his friend that he’d joined the team. His friend looks at him and says something to the effect of “have you completely joined? You can’t be part way in, you have to be all in.” I’m paraphrasing here, and obviously my recall leaves a bit to be desired, but the “all in” part really stuck in my mind.

It’s such a simple phrase, but filled with so much meaning! To be “all in” means that we are completely, 100%, and without reservation committed to that relationship with Christ. It means that this relationship is the most important thing in our lives, the one thing that is going to drive every thought, action, desire, relationship, decision, everything. It’s how our relationship with Christ is supposed to be.

How many of us, I wonder, are truly “all in”? How many of us have reached that point where we put serving Him above EVERYTHING in our lives? I know personally there have been times in my life when I’ve reached that point, and sadly there have been times when I’ve been “half in” or less. Unfortunately that seems to be true for most Christians that I know as well. That’s not meant to belittle myself or anyone else, it just seems to be the way things work in this life. But what if we could reach, and maintain, that level of “all in”?

I’ve been praying that God would continue to show me places in my life where I’m not as committed to Him as I need to be; to show me the things that are barriers that are keeping me from completely serving Him. You know the phrase “be careful what you wish for”? It’s certainly true in this situation. He’s definitely responded, and I find myself more challenged today than ever before. But that’s a good thing! It means that although I have a long way to go, at least I know for sure that God is continuing to work in my life.

Are you “all in”? Or are you sitting on the fence a little bit, holding back part of your life? I challenge you to really look at your service to Him, and ask Him to show you what area’s you need to work in, and then pray for the strength to be able to overcome those. Growth is scary sometimes, because we get comfortable in our routine, in our way of living. But growth is what this Christian Journey is all about! We just have to be willing to ask Him for guidance.

As 2009 draws to a close, many of us are no doubt going through that annual rite of passage of coming up with our New Years Resolutions. I don’t know about you, but personally, I am horrible about keeping resolutions. I have great intentions each year, and tend to do pretty well for the first few days, and then the old will power dies and the resolution is thrown out with yesterday’s trash!

I think part of the problem is in previous years I focused on things that I really didn’t want to change! I knew I needed to, mostly for my health or professional growth, but my motivation was amiss. Doing something for the wrong reason’s will generally lead to failure.

Having said that, my resolution this year is not about physical or professional goals, but spiritual one’s. I want to draw closer to God, and serve Him better than I ever have before! In a nut shell, that’s my one and only resolution for 2010. And I am hoping that everyone that happens to read this will join me in that goal!

Think about the impact that this could have in our lives. If we are truly striving to serve Him above everything else, then many of the “problems” that we face day in and day out will not seem so insurmountable. This doesn’t mean that they will just go away, don’t get me wrong. We’ll continue to have challenges, that’s just part of life! But if our mind is set on the things above, and that is where our focus is at, we’ll see these challenges in a completely different light. Rather than being some daunting or horrible obstacle, we’ll begin to see them as opportunities for growth, as opportunities to remain faithful to God, no matter what!

You may be saying “sounds great, but how?”. There’s many ways I’m sure, but for me personally it’s going to involve more time in studying my Bible and prayer. That’s how I connect with God the best, and I would dare say that would hold true for any of us. The more time we spend communicating with God, either through bible study or prayer, the more He is able to mold and shape us into the people that He wants us to be. I once heard someone say that God is a gentleman, and He will not force His way into our lives. He stands at the door and knocks softly, waiting for us to invite Him to take His proper place as the priority in our lives. The really exciting thing is once He is given that place in our lives, He’s able to being working in ways we never before imagined possible!

So my challenge, to myself as well as you, is let’s make 2010 a Spiritual New Year! Let’s commit to taking our devotion and service to Him to a brand new level! Let’s open that door and allow God to take His proper place in our lives. When we do, great and wonderful things will happen!

By: Melinda Bellamy

Faith is one of the fundamental elements of our Christian lives. It is by faith that we are saved, justified, and cleansed. Faith is how we please God, admit our reliance on Him, and incessantly rely on His grace and mercy.

Faith helps us to evaluate the present through the light of eternity by giving us the courage to trust. Faith does not free us from living in the world. It does not exempt us from the trials or tribulations of the world, but it does bring a realization that there is more to life than earthly matters. When we have sound conviction about the spiritual world, then we began to develop a perspective that would allow us to begin enjoying eternal life with God right now.

Every time we display faith in God, we are fulfilling our side of the covenant. God has already promised us many things such as healing, answers to prayer, receiving blessings, deliverance in a trial, etc., but it is our duty to contend for the promise – doing our part by trusting that God will keep His word. What does this mean? It means using our faith to claim a specific promise God made to us – staking our claim on the promise regardless of circumstances around us – perseverance.

However, no promise of God can be claimed unless we know what the promises of God are, which is why it is important to find out what God says about a situation before making a judgment. The easiest way to do that is to open the bible and read it. Now that is a pretty simple thing to do but many christians do not do it enough. Instead, we react first and then later think ‘oops, I should have consulted God on that one.’ This is not the way to lead a successful Christian life. Always consult God first!

When we use our faith by claiming good promises God already has in store for us, we can come up with a powerful and positive vision for our lives. We do not have to settle for what our lives have become. God wants us, to use our faith, to enjoy all the good things that he has just for us.

It will not be easy though, when we begin to claim the promises of God for ourselves, situations and circumstances arise to the contrary of what we believe God for. This is where the battle of wills begins. Whose report will we believe? Are we going to be consistent in our faith and trust in God’s word no matter what?

Or will we fall prey to the destructive nature of the world around us and believe in our mitigating circumstances? These are the questions that, when answered, will determine what our destiny will be – success or failure. Many readers may be thinking ‘Wow this all sounds so serious.’ It is!

When our faith is strong, it can withstand all the heated situations and every type of fiery dart thrown by the enemy. Then, how do we remain a person of the faith when everything surrounding us exudes doubt and unbelief. Let’s face it; we live in a world full of broken promises and negativity – to put it mildly. This doubt and unbelief seeps into our consciousness day in and day out and is often even projected through some of the people we are in close contact with daily. And then, after absorbing this poison all the time, it’s no wonder that it is easier to believe in the negative things and doubt good can even happen.

Yes, it is not easy, but we must stay strong in our faith and contend for the promises of God. It is what faith is all about! Trust in God, not in man, not in circumstances, and most certainly not in the Devil! We can also influence others to want what we have if we show them by example. Plus, that’s not all, the more we exercise our faith, the more we increase the level of faith that we can use. In order to grow, we must do our faith exercises everyday on purpose. The following are some practical steps to take in order to whip that faith into get shape:

Dream big! – Write down the vision and make it plain.
Make the right confessions consistently and do not waver.
Find scriptures to support it and read them over and over.
Make steps toward the dream and keep your focus on achieving this dream.
Look for uncommon favor and expect God to make things happen!
Be patient and consistent – All good things will happen in God’s perfect timing.
Pray for strength to endure the journey to your destiny.

Always remember, faith is like a muscle, to get it to function properly, it must be exercised everyday!

Article Source: http://www.articles.narrowisthepath.com

Please visit my site www.faithwalkonline.com

I found this article today and had to post it! It’s so very true! I’m ashamed to say I can honestly see myself in this short article. It really makes me wonder why we would ever say something like this from a sense of defeat or helplessness! We’re going to God, the Creator of All Things afterall!

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I’ve heard it a thousand times. I’ve probably said it a thousand times myself. Someone bares their soul to me, and the situation is terrible, painful, difficult … far beyond the reach of anything I can do – or anyone can do – to help. And then those six words slip from my lips:

“All I can do is pray.”

Even as I write the words, I can hear the defeat resonating from them. Properly translated, what I far too often mean when I say those six words is, “I’m sorry I can’t do anything to help. I don’t have the resources you need. I wish I did. I’ll pray about it, but I know that’s just a drop in the bucket to what you really need. I don’t expect anything to really happen as a result of my prayers.”

Then one day as I said it, God rocked me back on my heels. I realized how much I was cheapening God by the attitude behind my words. Think about it:

“All I can do is pray. I’m sorry – all I can do is call upon the sovereign Lord of the Universe, the One who holds all resources, all grace, all power, all hope in his hands. All I can do is ask the loving God who sent his Son to die for us and then raised him from the dead to help you out. All I can do is ask God to demonstrate his divine character in your life through his unending providence, generosity, love, miracles, presence, and care. Sorry I can’t do more.”

It comes down to a question of attitude and a recognition of adequacy. As Paul writes in II Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming form ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” Our attitude should be one of humility, recognizing that our adequacy to meet any need or act in any situation is from God alone.

Once we assume that attitude and understand that our adequacy comes from God, we will no longer despair when we are faced with situations that are beyond our control or help. We simply turn in the same humility to the God who is more than adequate to meet every need – and call upon him for deliverance.

With the right attitude and an understanding of where our resources always and only ever come from, we can truly reach out and say with confidence and trust, “I can’t help you. I wish I could, but I simply don’t have the resources you need. Fortunately, I know the One who does. All I can do is pray – but I know that God will take care of everything else.”

© 2009 Paula Marolewski

Article Source: http://www.articles.narrowisthepath.com

“And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.” Mark 1:9-13 KJV

The obvious question that this passages forces us to face is Why was Jesus baptized? Clearly it was not for the remission of sins, as He was sinless! Mark really does not address the reason for Jesus’ baptism, but if we look at Matthew 3:15 we find Jesus’ answer to this very question. As we see in Matthew, John was reluctant to baptize Jesus, no doubt having the same question we’re facing now. But Jesus answered by saying “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt 3:15 KJV)

In addition to fulfilling righteousness, there are other reason’s that Jesus chose to be baptized. First, He was in essence giving his stamp of approval on John’s ministry. By subjecting Himself to the water baptism, he was quite clearly supporting the ministry that John was performing. Second, He was identifying himself with those that he came to save. Although Mark doesn’t expound on this, it is quite likely, based on other texts, that Jesus was confessing sins on behalf of others, as the great prophets of old had done. Third, He was giving us an example to follow, something that He would continue to do throughout His ministry. If we are to truly follow in His footsteps, then clearly water baptism should be part of our service to Him. And lastly, He was initiating His earthly ministry. This was the beginning of Jesus’ redemptive work on Earth.

As soon as the baptism itself is completed, we get our first glimpse of the Trinity at work. The Son was obedient and submitted to the rite of baptism. The Spirit descended from heaven, and the Father spoke, stating his pleasure at what the Son had done. Although Mark’s description is, typically, short and to the point, we still see all three aspects of God together. What joy the Father’s words must have brought to Jesus! As we see throughout the Gospel’s, Jesus lived to do the Father’s will. We too should live our lives with the ultimate goal of pleasing God. How different our lives would be if we truly put forth that level of effort! And how exciting, and dare I say humbling, will it be if one day we stand before Him and He says to us “I am pleased with you”!

The next two verses briefly discuss the temptation in the wilderness that Jesus went through. In typical Markian style, there is very little detail provided here. But we know from other Gospel accounts that Jesus fasted for forty days (in and of itself quite a feat!) and was then tempted by Satan. If we take nothing else from this short passage, we should recognize that even Christ was tempted by the adversary. We certainly should expect nothing less. But we can also take comfort in the fact that temptation in and of itself is not sin. Jesus was tempted, yet he remained sinless. When Satan comes against us we can resist the temptation and remain steadfast in our walk with God. It may not be easy, but it can be done!