Useful

 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
2 Timothy 4:11 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/2ti.4.11.ESV

Faithful Luke was the only one of Paul's ministry team who was left with him towards the end. Paul asked Timothy to get Mark and bring him to him. If we know some of the Acts of the Apostles by Luke, we might raise an eyebrow at this.

Mark was famously, alongside Luke, a writer of a gospel. He had become part of Paul and Barnabas's mission team, but ran away when the going got touch. Paul then 'sacked' him from their ministry team, in sharp disagreement with Barnabas.

Thankfully, Mark running off wasn't the end of his story. He was evidently restored to fellowship with Paul, as this verse illustrates. We should never write someone off.

From inauspicious beginnings, Mark would become a gospel writer who was useful to Paul in his ministry. He must have got on with Luke too, despite the fact he immortalised his infidelity in Acts. We should always be prepared to restore and to be restored to faith.

'Heavenly Father, we thank You for the encouraging story of Mark. If there was hope for him, there's hope for us. Please help us to be useful in Your service, for Jesus' sake, amen'

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mercy

  For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. Deuteronomy 4:31 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/deu.4.31.ESV Jesus Christ is Lord. That's why they crucified Him, for claiming to be God and King: blasphemy to the Jews and treason to the Romans. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. So the same Jesus of yesterday is the Jesus of today. He was merciful yesterday, and He'll be merciful today and forever. He doesn't just turn around and decide to destroy people He's lavished His mercy upon. If we've received God's mercy, or if we receive it now, or before Christ returns, nothing can separate us from the love of God. If we want God's presence in our lives, and we cry out to Him for it, He's not going to abandon us in the wilderness of our sin. If we claim God's Bible promises for ourselves in faith, we are safe in Him. God promises never t
Read more

Power

 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.Exodus 9:16 ESVhttps://bible.com/bible/59/exo.9.16.ESV  Secular historians point to the lack of extra-biblical evidence of Hebrew slavery in Egypt and ensuing exodus. But here in this verse, God describes how this anonymous Pharoah has been immortalised in the annals of the Hebrews, so that God is proclaimed in all the earth. The mighty men of the world might think they can stand against God and win, but resistance is futile!  The more stubborn Pharoah was, the more the Lord was able to display His power. The more insistent Pharoah was of keeping his slaves, the more unreasonable he appeared. It was a battle of wills, and the will of Yahweh prevailed.  In the end, Pharoah will have been broken by the plagues. In the final plague, his own firstborn son was killed, the next in line to the throne of the world superpower. He might have tried to put a brave face on it, but he
Read more

Opposition

  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 2 Timothy 3:8 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/2ti.3.8.ESV Jannes and Jambres are the names of the Egyptian magicians who tried to persuade Pharoah not to let God's people go. It wasn't hard for them to encourage him. They might have been able to replicate some of Moses' miracles, but miracles alone are not necessarily signs of divine approval. The devil has power to work deceptive miraculous signs that point people away from God instead of towards Him. Sadly, some charlatan, counterfeit 'Christians' claim to perform miracles (that tend to be fake). Truth is that faith in God is the real miracle for sinners like us. Moses was seeking to lead God's people to the promised land. Jannes and Jambres wanted to keep them in slavery in Egypt. Jesus wants to free us from slavery to sin. Satan wants to keep us out of God's prom
Read more