Mark Reading Plan – W9D5
Week 9 | Day 5 | Mark 9:42-50
Check out all the previous readings here.
Pray
Pause and breathe for a minute. Then ask God to open your eyes and your ears to his Word
Bible Reading (read these verses three times slowly)
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to 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 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 make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
Reflection & Questions
When gangrene is found in part of a body, amputation follows. There’s a ruthless removal of that part in order to save the rest of the body from the disease. In today’s reading, Jesus is saying the same goes for things in our life. If there are things that are causing us to stumble, we’ve got to get serious about removing them from our lives. Better to remove them, than for our soul to be condemned. What might need removal? If alcohol is a problem, remove it. If news is distracting, stop watching it. If that website leads you down a problem path, block it. If social media causes you to sin – get off it. Jesus says be ruthless. It’s time to burn the ships.
- Are you living with any compromises? What do you need to do about it? Is there someone you need to talk to?
- You fill in the blank: _________________ leads me to sin, so I’m going to ___________________.
Pray
Talk to God about things in your life that might need to be removed. Ask for His Spirit to guide you on what to do.
Worship Song
In response to today’s reading, you could use this song to worship Jesus and to commit to “burning the ships” on things that need to be removed from your life.
Bible Reading
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to 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 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 make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
Reflection and Questions
Alright Jesus, are you telling me that if I get mad and say something mean to my mom, that I need to cut off my tongue?? WHAT?? Or if I get mad and slam my door, I have to cut off my arm?? WHAT?? This is NOT the type of Jesus I know!
Hold your horses, and wait just a second – I promise that Jesus doesn’t actually want you to cut off your hand if it causes you to sin. And yes, you get to keep your tongue after saying something you shouldn’t have. But what Jesus is trying to tell us is that there is nothing on this Earth that is more important than our relationship with God. There are definitely things in all of our lives that keep us away from God, things that we know we shouldn’t do, but still do. No matter what it is, or how much you might like it, God is still more important. We need to make sure that we are not letting anything on Earth become something that we love more than God. If we do, get rid of it! It’s not worth it, and that’s a promise.
- Do you have anything in your life that you might love more than God? How can you try and work on that to fix it?
Prayer
Pray and ask God to help you love Him more than anything else.
Bible Reading
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to 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 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 make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
Devo Focus
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 be thrown into hell. Vs. 47
Devo
There are some STRONG words in today’s reading about stumbling blocks.- Jesus is not messing around!
When gangrene is found in part of a body, amputation follows. There’s a ruthless removal of that part in order to save the rest of the body from the disease. In today’s reading, Jesus is saying the same goes for things in our life. If there are things that are causing us to stumble, we’ve got to get serious about removing them from our lives. Better to remove them, than for our soul to be condemned. What might need removal? If alcohol is a problem, remove it. If news is distracting, stop watching it. If that website leads you down a problem path, block it. If social media causes you to sin – get off it. Jesus says be ruthless. It’s time to burn the ships.
- Are you living with any compromises? What do you need to do about it? Is there someone you need to talk to?
- You fill in the blank: _________________ leads me to sin, so I’m going to ___________________.
Prayer
Talk to God about things in your life that might need to be removed. Ask for His Spirit to guide you on what to do.
