Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Trips You Up? | New Testament | Mark 9

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

What would make you stop following Jesus? Your lust? Pride? Selfishness? Jesus knows exactly what it is that could trip you up in your faith. In today's episode, Patrick uses Mark 9 to share the danger of living in sin. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Mark 9

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. My wife told me that when she was a little kid, her dad thought it was a lot of fun to playfully trip her, and I get it now because it is kind of fun to trip my daughter, and we have a great laugh about it. But I'm not sure my wife thought it was very fun at the time. And the truth is, there are other stories of people tripping that are not funny at all.

In 1984, Joan Samuelson won the Women's Olympic Marathon. It wouldn't be another four years before she finally ran in the New York Marathon. At that time, Greta Vites was the reigning champ and knew the course like the back of her hand. But once the New York Marathon got going, Joan took the lead early on and made it even longer as the race endured. It looked like she was going to be the winner until an overzealous water station volunteer stepped in front of her on the roadway and sent her to the pavement. Greta Vites won the race. Joan Samuelson got third place and never won again. I want you to fast forward your life by 20 years and imagine that you're no longer following Jesus.

Can you guess why? Do you know the thing that is most likely to step into the roadway of your faith and send you to the concrete and stop you from finishing the race? Is it lust, greed, pride, selfishness, your allegiance to a certain tribe or party, gossip, materialism, status, the divorce you're contemplating? Jesus has a lot to say about tripping and stumbling. In Mark 9, verse 43, we read, If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better that you enter life maimed with two hands than go into hell where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the

kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched everyone will be salted with fire salt is good but if it loses its saltiness how can you be made salty again have salt among yourselves and be at peace with each other when people think of jesus like a pleasant teddy bear who only says nice calming gentle things and a soft tone i wonder how much jesus they've really read i get it i would prefer if jesus sounded more like Joel Osteen or one of today's self-help gurus. We might like the idea of Jesus saying, look, if you see a problem in your life,

don't get down on yourself too much. Empty out the negativity. Come up with a plan to fight the problem. Do your best. And if you can't change, fight to accept yourself as you are. Fight to feel good about yourself as you are. But Jesus isn't like that. Jesus is sober about the risks of stumbling, of tripping.

The risk isn't temporary. Stumbling can turn into fall. and following can become our eternal trajectory. So Jesus says, focus on the big things. It's better to have eternal life than have your feet, eyes, and hands. So if your feet carry you into sin, cut them off. If your hands cause you to do evil, chop them off. And what about those eyes? We'll pluck them out. Now, of course, this is hyperbole. And I don't think Jesus really wants us to do that. But his hyperbole, his exaggeration is intentional. He's exaggerating to make his point crystal clear. Jesus, Jesus knows the things that will stop you from finishing your race and enjoying internal life with him,

and he loves you enough to call you to do the hard thing. So what do you need to cut off right now? Maybe you're allowing an inappropriate relationship to blossom at work. Cut it off. Maybe you're battling with a pornography addiction. Get software like covenant eyes that monitors your computer and phone and holds you accountable. Cut it off. Maybe you're battling obsession over stuff and status, having the right clothes, car and house. Cut it off. Delete the shopping apps. Try sobriety for a month. Buy no clothes. Don't look at Zillow. Don't look at cars or whatever it is for you. Or maybe it's your allegiance to a political tribe or party. Cut it off. Stop reading the news. Leave the Facebook group or text chain. In the very next passage, Jesus warns about divorce.

If you're not getting divorced because of sexual immorality or abuse, divorce can be the thing that makes you crash and fall. Cut it off. See a counselor together. Confess your part. Forgive your spouse. Fight to stay together. Because Jesus has a question for you. Would you rather have your political tribe or eternal life with Jesus? Would you rather have new clothes or eternal life with Jesus? Would you rather have porn or eternal life with Jesus? At the end of the passage, Jesus says that everyone will be salted with fire. And I think his point, though subtle, is really important. He's saying we will either experience the fire of God's judgment or we will experience the fire of God's purification.

Fighting sin is a fiery, painful process because it's a furnace. It gets hot. But the end result of purification is not destruction. It's refinement. It's transformation. Today I want you to reflect. What can make you fall down one day? If it's in your life right now, confess it to Jesus, receive his forgiveness.

Ask him how he wants you. to cut it off. Jesus may say hard things, but he is a kind and gracious king who welcomes us not because we are perfect. He welcomes us because he is perfect, and he is perfectly committed to making us more like him.