Daily Devotions – Make Up Your Mind!

Daily Devotions – Make Up Your Mind!

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

Matthew 11:16-19 (NIV)

16 “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: 17 “‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

In Jesus’s day, children played in the marketplaces while their parents shopped. They might play “wedding” or “funeral” just like kids today play “house”. Using this illustration, he is essentially calling the people that have rejected John the Baptist (the funeral) and Him (the wedding) spoiled little brats! They want people, especially Jesus, to play their games by their rules. The problem is that He is the one ultimately in charge, not the religious elite, not spoiled kids, not us. We, too, must be careful not to make Jesus play by our rules thinking that Jesus is a liberal/conservative, communist/capitalist, or pro/anti-union, etc. Jesus is the full revelation of God hidden in human flesh. Let us pray that Jesus would use us for His agenda rather than the other way around and give praise to God for His grace and forgiveness when we have rejected Jesus and His will.