Listen

Early in the morning, well before sunrise, Jesus rose and went to a deserted place where he could be alone in prayer. Simon and those with him tracked him down. When they found him, they told him, “Everyone’s looking for you!”

He replied, “Let’s head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too. That’s why I’ve come.” He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and throwing out demons.

Mark 1:35-39

Think

It is so easy to get caught up in fame. People everywhere are yelling your name and clamoring to see you. To touch you. Get close to you. It is hard to not start thinking that it’s somehow all about you. Celebrities face it. Athletes face it. Anyone in a starring role faces the challenge of getting caught up in celebrity and forgetting why they’re doing what they’re doing.

It was like that for Jesus too. People who had seen or heard about him performing miracles were eager to be near him, to get their own healing, or to just see for themselves. Even Jesus found it necessary to disconnect from the crowd and re-connect with God. He was on a mission to show off God, not himself. He was on earth to do the work God had given him to do: to share the good news of salvation, to stay on task, so that the people would not focus on the works he performed, but that they might look to God and be saved.

Kathy Culmer

Pray

Let me not become so distracted, O God, by the many things happening around me, that I take my focus off you. Help me to make a priority of spending time with you. Give me the desire and the ability to hear your voice above all other voices and above the noise of the world so that I can stay focused, so that I can know and do your will. Amen.

Go

When we trust God, we do not have to face life’s challenges alone.

It is through our weakness, the things we cannot do on our own,

That God’s strength is made known.