Author: Dave M Price

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Oil and Whine

Daily Reading

Mark 14

Daily Thought

When a woman poured a flask of very expensive ointment on the head of Jesus, he accepted her offering as fitting and good, “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6), but some in the room objected, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor” (Mark 14:4-5). In criticizing the woman, they actually demeaned Jesus. The oil, they said, could have been put to better use. The woman thought it best used for Jesus, no matter the cost. Besides, you cannot waste love.

One of those in the room, Judas Iscariot, however, put a price on Jesus, and “went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. They were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him” (Mark 14:10-11). To Judas, Jesus was a commodity, worth 30 pieces of silver. He came to Jesus for what he could get out of Jesus. But the woman adored Jesus–to her, Jesus was her Savior and Lord, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. She looked to gain nothing, but to give her all. If the woman had any regrets about emptying her jar of perfume on Jesus, it would be that she did not have more.

Daily Prayer

My God and Savior, what is amazing is that You gave Your all for me before I cared. You poured out Your blood for my sake, an act of love I can barely fathom. I am learning more about You, knowing You better each day, following more faithfully, loving You more fully. It is a lifetime of growth, but there is no better life to live.

My desire, Jesus, is to empty myself for You, as You did for me; to give up my desires and replace them with Yours; to lose myself in Your love for others; and to worship You by giving myself to You completely.

Amen

Daily Question

When have you loved someone without any thought of what you get back?

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Image of God

Daily Reading

Mark 12-13

Daily Thought

Jesus had been telling stories, called parables, and in many of them the Jewish religious leaders fared badly–so badly, they wanted him gone, if not dead. To this end, they posed questions of him publicly to discredit him. Some Pharisees and Herodians came together (Pharisees and Herodians seldom come together–they do not like each other) to ask Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Mark 12:14).. The Herodians were pro-Rome, while the Pharisees were fiercely anti-Rome, and therefore pro-Israel. and there lay the trap of the question. Pay or not, either answer, Jesus would be picking one side and offending the other, so he said both. 

Jesus asked for a coin, “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it”  (Mark 12:15). He did not have one, but the religious leaders do, “and they brought one. And he said to them ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this? They said to him, ‘Caesar’s’” (Mark 12:16). They handed Jesus a coin with an icon of Caesar and an inscription that read, “Caesar Tiberius, Son of God Augustus.” One King, Caesar, owns all the money in the kingdom. His picture is on every coin. One King, Jesus, has nothing at all, not even a denarius.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.” ~Philippians 2:5-7

Noting the inscription and the image of Caesar on the coin, Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). It has his picture on it, so give it to him; likewise, give to God what bears his image. 

“So God created man in his own image, male and female he created them.” ~Genesis 1:26

Caesar can have his taxes. Caesars come and Caesars go, but there is a another…

And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed. ~Daniel 7:14

You belong to God.

“And the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” ~Revelation 17:14

Daily Prayer

Lord God, I look forward to Your return. I know when You come back, it will be as victorious Savior, King of kings. You will put all things in order. Sin, evil, pain, and tears will be no more. The world will be filled with Your glory, holiness, love, beauty. It will be good.

May I be a light in this world, illuminating Your Kingdom to a world that needs to see what is ahead. When You come, Lord, may You find me living a life reflecting Your glory.

Amen

Daily Question

How much of your life do you give to God?

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Chase What Matters

Daily Reading

Mark 10-11

Daily Thought

A rich man ran up to Jesus “and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). He is earnest, well-mannered, respectful. Jesus told him to follow the commandments and the man claimed he had since youth. He called Jesus good. He actually thinks he is good, too. His question was sincere, but really, he wanted Jesus to assure him he was safe, keep up the good work. “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me’” (Mark 10:21). Jesus loved him too much to give him the answer he wanted. Eternity demands everything, so Jesus told the man to give away the one thing he would not. “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22).

Chase Bank promoted their credit card with an ad showing a man standing inside a store, drooling before a big wall of big flat screens. In the background, the music blares with a song by Queen, “I want it all. I want it all. I want it all. And I want it now.” The scene changes, the man and his wife at home on their couch staring at what he bought with his Chase Bank credit card, “It’s perfect.” Appearing on the screen, big letters: “Chase what matters”

The rich man believed he obeyed the commandments, that he loved the Lord God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might” (Deuteronomy 6:5), but he would not love God with all his money.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ~Mark 8:36

Chase Bank has the right message, but got it wrong. Peter got it right, “See, we have left everything and followed you” (Mark 10:28). That is “Chase what matters!”

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” ~Matthew 6:33

Chase what REALLY matters–and you get it all, all that matters.

Daily Prayer

God, I think about what Your Son left to come to me. He did not consider being God something to hang on to if it meant He could save me. Your Son allowed my sin to break His relationship with You, His Father. He left what was closest to Him and became sin. He took my sin because of His love for me.

I release my hold on everything, God. May nothing stand between me and You. May my love for You be complete and full. Most of all, I give up myself. I am off the throne, and You are in charge. I die to myself, and the life I now live is Yours.

Amen

Daily Question

What are the things that compete with God in your life for what really matters?

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Blessed to Bless

Daily Reading

Mark 8-9

Daily Thought

At the beginning of Mark 8, Jesus feeds a crowd of 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. It was a miracle, but if you have been following along, you might be thinking, “Wait a minute. haven’t I heard this one before?” You would be right. Almost. In chapter 6, Jesus fed 5,000 people. Now he feeds 4,000, and everything is just about the same. Mark is the shortest Gospel, yet he tells the same story twice. 

Why? Because there is a difference that matters.

To the Jews there were two types of people, Jews and the unclean non-Jews called Gentiles. For centuries, Israel followed a system of purity, including a special diet, some food was clean and some unclean. This kept them holy, set apart from the non-Jews. But a few days earlier, Jesus had called the disciples together “and said to them, ‘Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.’ Thus he declared all foods clean” (Mark 7:14-15, 19). 

They did not understand.

Now the feeding of the 4,000. Everything is the same, except they are “in the region of the Decapolis” (Mark 7:31), where lived many Jews and many more Gentiles. Jesus is feeding the unclean the same way he fed the clean, except when Jesus fed the 5,000 Jews, it was the disciples who noticed the hunger. Here, it is Jesus, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat” (Mark 8:2). The disciples, even after 3 days, do not mention the need. 

Jesus cares for people the Jews did not care about and Jesus treats them the same.

After the feeding, Jesus and the disciples returned to the Jewish side of the sea, and were met by the Pharisees, who “began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him” (Mark 8:11). Prove yourself, they demanded. Jesus sighed, refused, and instead, “left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side” (Mark 8:13), back to the people you are not supposed to care about. In the boat, Jesus explained, “When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:19-21). 

Not yet.

“For God so loved the world…” ~John 3:16

Daily Prayer

My God–but not just mine–You are the God of the heavens and the earth, and all who live in this world. My love for You is displayed by my love for others–all others. When I feel blessed, I must remember why I am blessed–to be a blessing, going overboard to care for those most unlike me. Build in me that kind of love.

I’m so glad You have that kind of love, God, because without it, I would never know You. I was most unlike You, doing what I wanted, following my ways and rebelling against Yours, and You loved me and You found me. Thank You for caring.

Amen

Daily Question

Do you care about people who are more like you or more unlike you? 

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Jesus of Nazareth

Daily Reading

Mark 6-7

Daily Thought

His miracles, his teaching, his kindness, and his confidence set Jesus apart and above the typical celebrity and left people astonished and in awe, and then Jesus went home. You would never know of Nazareth had Jesus not grown up there. Population 500, it was a little place, 25 miles southwest of Capernaum, in the middle of nowhere. Jesus came home “and they took offense at him” (Mark 6:3). They knew Jesus and his brothers and sisters and his mom, and they do not mention his dad because it is a small town and there were rumors about his birth. He was not what they expected of a prophet, let alone a Savior. They sought majesty, he was ordinary, too ordinary to be extraordinary. They deserved better, “and he could do no mighty work there” (Mark 6:5).

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, ~Isaiah 53:2-3

Later, far from home, outside Israel, a woman fell at his feet. “Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter” (Mark 7:26). Jesus is Israel’s Messiah, the Savior of God’s children, and he rebuffs this foreign woman, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27). I do not know how to make that not sound rude, yet the woman accepts her role as dog, and still insists on her food, “she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs’” (Mark 7:28). She is not allowed at the table, she is not of the tribe of Israel, she does not worship Israel’s God, she does not read the Bible, she does not follow the Law. She knows she is unclean and unworthy in the eyes of Israel, and so she does not ask Jesus of Nazareth to give her what she deserves because she is good; she asks Jesus to give her what she does not deserve because he is good. “And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone” (Mark 7:30).

One of the disciples, when he was first told of Jesus, asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Another answered, “Come and see.” (John 1:46).

Daily Prayer

My God, You are righteous and good, but more than that, You are full of grace. I do not deserve Your favor, I am neither righteous nor good, and yet You looked upon me with love, and sent Your Son to bring me back into Your family. Thank You.

May I look at others as You look at me. May I see each person as a special creation, lovingly made by You, and give them the grace and the goodness You have shown me.

Amen

Daily Question

What is your favorite Jesus story? Why?

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Death Can Wait

Daily Reading

Mark 4-5

Daily Thought

The daughter of Jairus is at death’s door. “Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live’” (Mark 5:22-23), What an opportunity, to save the daughter of a prestigious man. This would do much to advance the mission of Jesus. You would think. “And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him” (Mark 5:24).

Then, from the crowd, a woman (we don’t even get her name) “came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment” (Mark 5:27), and she was made well. For twelve years she had a bleeding illness no doctor could cure, but one touch healed her. And Jesus stopped. Jairus and his daughter and death would have to wait. “And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my garments?’” (Mark 5:30). 

“Everybody!” thought the disciples. “You are in a crowd. Hurry up Jesus. You have to get to the home of Jairus. This is important,” but the immediate is never more important than the eternal. “The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease’” (Mark 5:33-34). Jairus’s was not the only daughter who needed the touch of Jesus.

While Jesus is not hurrying, while he is taking valuable time to talk to this woman–who is already healed, by the way–the news Jairus feared arrives: “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” (Mark 5:35). 

But the limits we place on God are not God’s limits. 

“Overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’” ~Mark 5:36

A little girl on the edge of death seemed to be what was urgent, but Jesus was interrupted by a woman. Death could wait while Jesus paused to heal this woman, but death did not wait and the little girl died. No matter, the King of kings is the Lord of life. “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:42), and she did.

Daily Prayer

My Great God, what an amazing story, Your Son born a baby to Mary. No earthly father, but a Heavenly Father, a poor family, peasant shepherds announcing His birth, a Friend of sinners and outcasts, and yet Jesus is King of kings and the Lord of lords. Big things come in small packages.

You came humbly and changed the world. You defeated all enemies, including the last enemy – death. You have established an eternal kingdom of peace and declared the good news of salvation. I’m listening and believing, and my life has been changed forever. Thank You, my God and Savior.

Amen

Daily Question

Is your schedule organized more by what is important or what is urgent? What’s the difference?

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Immediately

Daily Reading

Mark 1-3

Daily Thought

Mark writes a fast-tempoed, action-oriented Gospel of Jesus Christ. In it, everything happens “immediately” (Mark 1:10, 12, 18, 20, 21, 23, 29, 30, 42; and that’s just chapter one). 

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” ~Mark 1:9-11

The pace of Mark’s Gospel creates an urgency, not of action, but of choice. Jesus calls his disciples and says, “‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:17-18). Jesus healed many, cast out demons, and preached in the synagogues, and in no time at all, “people were coming to him from every quarter” (Mark 1:45). No good deed goes unpunished, however, and immediately the religious leaders put their own spin on Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons” (Mark 3:22). They did not like Jesus.

God’s command, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” was a favorite of the Pharisees; “On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8, 10). The Pharisees listed 39 categories of work, no cooking, no washing, no harvesting, etc.; then added one for Jesus, “No healing.” There were six other days to heal, so Jesus could easily avoid conflict, but Jesus always demands a choice. It was the Sabbath and he immediately found a man with a withered hand. “Come here,” he said, and brought the man in front of the Pharisees. “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” Are you for me or against me? But they were silent (see Mark 3:3-4). They made a choice, because silence is choosing. They were against him, and “the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him” (Mark 3:6).

Jesus begins in Galilee “proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” ~Mark 1:14-15 

Now is the time to choose.

Daily Prayer

God, the desire of my heart is to follow You, to reflect You in all that I do, and to declare You in what I say. I will not be silent, or silenced by others, but I will stand for You and declare the wonders of knowing You and living in Your creation.

Your Law teaches me to love You and care for others. May my actions speak as loud as my words, but may that not stand alone. I serve in Your Name, but no one will know that unless I tell them. Strengthen me, God. Keep my heart soft and gentle, but bold.

Amen

Daily Question

Is there anything God wants you to do now that you are putting off until later?

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Crucify Him!

Daily Reading

Matthew 27-28

Daily Thought

From where he sat in a prison cell, Barabbas could not hear Pilate speak, but only the shout of the raucous crowd in the courtyard. “Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’” (Matthew 27:17). It was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by this crowd, and the crowd cried, “Barabbas” (Matthew 27:21). Barabbas, in chains, in prison, a rebel, a murderer, and a thief, heard his name shouted from the crowd. “‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:22).

Alas, all Barabbas could hear, over and over, was, “Barabbas! Barabbas! Crucify him! Crucify him!!” Imagine, then, his astonishment when he was set free. “Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26); and an innocent man was crucified on the cross of another, one who was guilty and deserved the punishment Jesus would endure. 

The horror of this is I find my place in the crowd and the criminal, and it should and would have been on the cross, but, there, Jesus took my place.

Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed. ~Isaiah 53:4-5

Replace the name of Barabbas with my own and I begin to grasp the wonder of the salvation. 

Daily Prayer

My Father in heaven, I am not forsaken. I deserve to be, but You loved me by death, death on a cross. Your Son took what I deserved. He took my place and my penalty and set me free.

I show someone the smallest amount of grace and I pat myself on the back–as if I’d done something grand. You demonstrate Your love in this, that even while I sin, and keep sinning, and delight in sin, you died for me.

Now, how can I keep sinning? I must not. I must embrace righteousness because I have received grace and mercy. I am newly born, a saint. Thank You, Jesus.

Amen

Daily Question

How much do you like your sins?

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Perfume for the Savior

Daily Reading

Matthew 26

Daily Thought

A woman approached Jesus with a flask of top-shelf perfume and poured it on him, and the disciples objected, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor” (Matthew 26:8-9). But this is Jesus, “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). The Son of God became Son of Man, was born in a manger to die on a cross for the sins of the world. In “two days,” Jesus tells his disciples, “the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified” (Matthew 26:2). Thus, Jesus also tells his disciples, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me” (Matthew 26:10).

Look what everyone else did. 

The religious leaders hated Jesus and “plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him” (Matthew 26:4). They enlisted one of Jesus’s disciples, Judas, to betray Jesus into their hands, “and they paid him thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 26:15). They put Jesus on trial before a jury of the Jewish council, and declared him guilty; “he deserves death” (Matthew 26:66). The rest of the disciples abandoned Jesus, and Peter, with a last chance to defend Jesus, denied him instead, “I do not know the man” (Matthew 26:72, 74).

But “a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table” (Matthew 26:7) and worshipped her Savior; and she got it right. “Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world,” said Jesus, “what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13). 

It just happened again.

Daily Prayer

My God and Savior, You ask for my worship, nothing more, yet nothing less than to love You with all my heart and and soul and mind and strength. To give You my all, just as You gave yours.

May I simply follow You, every step, every day. I want to do grand things for You, God, but the simple are harder, and I must begin there, to be content, to tell the truth, to serve others, to love my neighbor. This is the perfume of worship that pleases You. May my life smell good.

Amen

Daily Question

How do you worship Jesus?

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Thy Kingdom Come

Daily Reading

Matthew 24-25

Daily Thought

A theologian named Harold Camping was setting dates and making all sorts of noise about the second coming of Jesus. It would on May 21, 2011, he announced. Those who listen to Jesus rather than Harold went on with life as usual that day, not because they do not believe Jesus is coming back, but because they do not believe Harold knows when; “See that no one leads you astray, concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:4, 36).

Followers of Jesus do not expect Jesus to return on a certain day, they expect him any day and that makes anticipation a part of every day, which makes a difference in life as usual. Life as usual, then, for those always prepared for the second coming of the King of kings includes giving food to the hungry, drinks to the thirsty, welcoming strangers and clothing naked people, and visiting the sick and those in prison. 

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” ~Matthew 25:35-36

This is the true surprise about the return of Jesus, not that he is coming back or when he is coming back, but that he has been here the whole time.

“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” ~Matthew 25:37-40

More important than anticipating Jesus could return at any time is knowing Jesus is already here all the time.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, You came to save the world, and You told the world You will return. God, may all find Your salvation so that all will be prepared when You come back. Even though I don’t know the day, may I live everyday anticipating your coming, that great day of the Lord.

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen

Daily Question

Are you ready for Jesus to return?