February 4 Untie the Gospel

Untie the Gospel

Mark 3:22-28 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” 23 So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.

LOOKING for a way to discredit the demon-driving-out miracles Jesus is doing, the teachers of the law claim he is Satan. After all, Satan is the only one who could cause the demons to go away.
Jesus’ reply is essentially, “That’s ridiculous. A house is divided against cannot stand.”
Let’s shift the view and look at the church and ask, “What, too often, holds back the purpose of the church?” There are many influences that can stop a church “dead” in its mission. Unfortunately one of those mission-killing factors is how we “tie up” Jesus, the “strong man”.
Think how God’s house is too often divided against itself with, “I want things my way?” or “I’m too busy to help.” or “We never did it that way before.” Ministries are left undone because we “tie up” the God we claim to worship with, “Later.” and “Not me.” God cannot work on hearts tied to their own preferences. He needs hearts untied for him.

Pause and consider your heart. Is it bound by “me”, or in Jesus is it free?