Numbers 3-4 Mark 3:20-35

“But the teachers of the law from Jerusalem were saying, ‘Beelzebul is living inside him! He uses power from the ruler of demons to force demons out of people.’” (Mark 3:22)

Pure goodness is so contrary to the nature of society that people don’t understand it. Jesus experienced that reaction. His family thought He was out of His mind and sought to rescue Him from those who were taking advantage of Him. The Pharisees and Scribes, though, seeing the effect He had on their power, decided that He was pure evil. They let people know that He had power over the evil spirits because the Devil lived inside of Him. They must have imagined Jesus using some Machiavellian ploy to use His popularity in the world to gain ascendancy in the ranks of Hell. Jesus revealed the lie of that by letting them know how ludicrous the idea that the Devil would do anything to diminish his power was.

While the Christian Church is not pure goodness, we have the power to be a force for good in this world full of evil. We continue to speak about the need people have to connect with God in this world, which some speak of as evil. We continue to work for godly marriages and families which some also label as evil. We speak of the value of life from conception to natural death, which is scorned, attacked, and ridiculed. I could go on. In the face of such attacks, we have but one option: to keep on loving people, especially those who would attack us. We need to face up to our imperfections, no doubt, but we need to exalt the perfect: Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.

Lord, we live in a world consumed by evil. In our world, that which is evil is called good, and that which is good is called evil. Help Your church to be a powerful influence for good. Purify us and use us in Your Kingdom.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.