Living in the Spirit
September 22, 2018
Scripture Reading: Mark 9:30-37
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. –Mark 9:30-32
The job of parents is to prepare their children for adulthood, to leave home and make a positive contribution to the world whatever that might be based on their skills and interest. Parents also set the stage for their children to prepare the next generations to do the same work. In the above scripture, Jesus is preparing the disciples for their role in advancing the Kingdom of God. He enabled them to become trainers for Jesus’ future followers and we are still challenged with that call today.
All types of skills and interest are needed in the developing Kingdom of God. Paul outlines some specifics in 1 Corinthians 12 where he discusses spiritual gifts. Exodus 31: 1-11 describes how integral art was to in worship and how the Spirit of God was gifted to people to provide the special touch of art. All have gifts and all gifts provided by the Spirit are important to the furtherance of the Kingdom of God.
This scripture also describes Jesus’ intensity of training as he knew his time was short. While we may hope for a long life and people now are routinely living to be over 100, our need to fast-track the Kingdom comes from the longing to live as many of those years as possible in a world ruled by love that we are called to build.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for leaving us a roadmap to the Kingdom of God and ancestors in faith who shared it with us. Enable us to do our part now in making the Kingdom a reality and passing your training on the future generations. Amen.