Mark 1:2-6 Jesus is the Center of Our Lives

The Text

Mark 1:2-6 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,

the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

The Devotion

Matthew 22:34-40 (CSB) When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Several hundred years before Jesus stepped foot on the earth, there was a man named Isaiah who was charged to foretell or prophesy about Jesus. But within that prophecy was another prophecy about a man named John that would "pave the way" for the Lord.

John was special in that he was the last prophet before the coming of Christ. But he was no more special than any believer in the Bible that is called to point our words, actions and our lives back to Christ.

Romans 12:1-2 (CSB) Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 (CSB) So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

If we are saved by God, we are saved then to God. Our lives are to be about God.

Matthew 16:24-28 (CSB) Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each according to what he has done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”