Thoughts from Within

Often times, I wonder if there is a greater opportunity somewhere to spread the gospel. Daily I'm surrounded by people who claim salvation and already know about God and his plan for redemption. It's not like I can share Christ with my lost co-workers because, in the ministry, a personal relationship with Him is a job requirement. We tell our students and their parents daily about God and his goodness. Most of them claim salvation, so I wondered, is there somewhere else God can use me so I can be more effective in sharing the message of salvation to those who need it? Several days ago, my daily Bible reading brought me to Mark 12:28-34. Here Jesus is answering a group of Sadducees who are adamantly trying to trap Him with His words. Jesus admonishes them to uphold God as their first love and to love their neighbors. These, He says are the greatest commandments. Then one scribe acknowledges Jesus' superior answer by reiterating Christ's words, directly correlating th...

The Gospel of Luke tells a fabulous story of a thankful heart. In chapter 17, as He made way to Jerusalem, Jesus came to a small village in the midst of Samaria and Galilee. While there, ten lepers stood afar off and cried out to him. They were unclean and as a result, were to avoid others for fear of infecting them. Verse fourteen says Jesus saw them and told them to visit the priests (for they had authority to declare them clean), and “as they went, they were cleansed.” Notice the word used by Luke is not healed or made whole ; rather, they were cleansed . What is the difference you ask? Well, it just may be that their cleansing was temporary. Strong’s Concordance defines the word cleanse as: to clean or make clean (the idea of temporary removal of impurities). The word whole is defined as: to save, deliver or protect (the idea of permanence). We find that of the ten lepers who were cleansed, only one returned to Jesus. This one “turned back, and with a loud voice ...