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Weekly Devotional

July 16, 2012

God’s Peace be with you all.

Mark 1:2-8   ² As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;  ³ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"  ⁴ John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  ⁵ And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  ⁶ Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  ⁷ He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.  ⁸ I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

            Yesterday our Gospel text was about the beheading of John the Baptist.  During the children’s time, I mentioned that John was not Jesus, but instead he was a witness to who Jesus was.  I also shared with them that we too are witnesses to Jesus.  That got me thinking.  How are we witnesses to Christ?  Even though we may not walk around in camel hair (ok, you got me, I actually wear that on my day off when I go to Lowe’s, LOL), we still witness to Christ.  But we are also Christians living in a high-tech world.  So, how do we use the everyday items that we have to witness to Christ?

            Those of you that text (or maybe have kids that text), have you ever used that as a witness?  What about email (such as this one)? What about using a cell phone?  I read a statistic that more smart phones were sold in 2011 than laptops.  How many of you have Facebook?  I have 900 friends on Facebook.  Perhaps I should try putting up a simple message and inviting people to church.  Have you?

            The point is this:  we live in a world where things are not spread necessarily by word of mouth.  In an instant, we can send a message across the world to multiple people at the same time.  Perhaps living as modern day witnesses means that we should take some of our modern day conveniences and using them to spread the good news of Jesus.  Just a thought, and hopefully something you can think about as well.

In our prayers this week:  Bobby, Ann, Jim A., Mike C., Wayne C., and the family of Pat Morton

God’s Peace,