No Division

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

NO DIVISION

Mark 3:22-30

22 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. 28 I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." 

30 He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."

NIV

This is rest of the narrative regarding everyone thinking Jesus is out of his mind plus this accusation he is the prince of demons. This is so inflammatory and Jesus cannot let this kind of statement go unanswered. But he goes beyond the singular response of being called the prince of demons. Yet there is so much truth in this concept that a house divided cannot stand that we should consider it first. Could the reason the church universal is not as effective in the world as it could be, be because it is divided? Is all the perceived or maybe actual infighting between denominations seen as being divided and therefore cannot take its full stand in the culture of today? Maybe this is even related to the statement Jesus includes about blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Although Jesus is God, or one of the three aspects of God, at this point he is also fully man, human and the power he displays in healing and driving out demons is due to the Holy Spirit, at least which is what appears he is saying as it relates to this accusation. Refusing to accept the ability and power of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of Jesus is unforgiveable. Could we make that leap to our lives today? Could we say that if we refuse to accept the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, refusing his ability and power in our lives is in fact blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and is thus unforgivable? If we refuse to accept his gifts, saying they are not for today, would fall into that category, wouldn’t it? Is that in a sense saying we do not believe the Holy Spirit is presence today in the world? Maybe we accept his work as far as convicting men of sin, but we are unwilling to go the distant regarding all his gifts and his power in our lives. Would that sort of be like a house divided? We believe some things, but not other things seem to fit the definition of divided. That surely fits when we talk about denominational beliefs, but is may also fit when we talk about our personal beliefs. Could the lesson for us today be all about being united both denominationally and personally? Could it be we must believe all of the truths in the Bible? Could the Holy Spirit want to be using us to heal and drive out demons today or doing some many other things we have not even come close to doing? Do we believe or not? Do we partially believe or fully accept all that God wants to do in our lives? We cannot be divided on this. There should be no division.