Living in the Spirit
September 13, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 8:27-36

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? –Mark 8:34-36

What does it profit anyone to gain the whole world and lose his or her soul? Greed is such an integral part of our lives we do not even recognize it when it becomes the driving force toward whom we are becoming. Think about how much time we invest in looking at catalogues online, or the paper kind. Just browsing, not the time we spend trying to replace a broken or unfixable item.  There are so many new modern conveniences we might see, we think, I had better get one of those I could really use it. I have a whole drawer full of tools design to help open containers. I have never had a very good grip and it is getting worse with age.

Salad dressing caps with the little plastic ring around the bottom, which must be snapped apart along with the normal twisting are my greatest challenge.  None of those gripper things work very well on anything and they are no help at all on salad dressing bottles. After wrestling a jar of low cal Italian all over my kitchen trying to get it opened, I made a drastic move. Someone had given me a pair of pliers with a sliding locking mechanism that changes the size of the plier opening. I grabbed my adjustable pliers sized it to the cap and I barely had to apply any pressure at all. The cap came off. It had been in my draw all along. I just didn’t have sense enough to use it thinking something new would be better.

The love of God is all we really need. It is hard to take in but it is true. When we have our priorities straight the rest of life tends to take care of itself.

Prayer: Lord, forgive me from the greed that overcomes me at times and help me realize your love in all its shapes and forms. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.