Dementia for 2

My guest today is my personal friend Wiley Pinkerton. Wiley and his lovely wife Anne used to work with me and I feel very blessed to have gotten to know them.

I hope that you enjoy today's post and will stop by and visit Wiley's blog.

Your Master's Mark

Even if you're not a sports fan, you know that last weekend was a big weekend. Even I watched the game when under normal circumstances I would have been doing some important chore...like cleaning the grout in the shower! But even for someone like me, I could tell whose team each player was on by the uniform or “Mark” that they wore. The players didn't have to tell me that he was going to be trying to score for his team or defend his end zone. I knew. Not by what he said but by his “Mark”. Each player wore the uniform of their respective team so that no one would be confused about the goals that each player had and how they would act and/or react to certain situations.

In the Bible, Exodus Chapter 21 shows us what it took for a bond servant to claim his or her freedom. During the year of Jubilee, there were several criteria that needed to be met if the slave wanted to be set free. If on the other hand the slave wanted to stay with the master, he would be taken before the judges and the master would “mark” the slave by putting a hole in his ear with an awl.

Exodus 21:5-6 RV But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: (6) then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

From that point on, that slave wore the mark of his master...voluntarily. He couldn't go into the public square and try to pretend to be a free man or belong to another master. He wore his master's mark and everything that he did could and probably did reflect back on and to his master.

We wear our master's mark too. I intentionally used the lower case here. I would like to say that I ALWAYS wear the mark of Jesus Christ as my Master. But I am still in the flesh and fail more times that I'd like to think about. How many times have we literally swore at other drivers while behind the wheel? Or “commented” on the physical attributes of a passing woman...(or man, ladies)? Or boast of our relationship with Christ in one breath while cursing a customer in our business in another? I could go on, but I'm hurting MY feelings!

Wearing the mark of Christ doesn't mean that we're perfect and never fail or make mistakes. But it does mean that we seek Him in all that we think, say, and do. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 6:6-8 BBE Keep these words, which I say to you this day, deep in your hearts; (7) Teaching them to your children with all care, talking of them when you are at rest in your house or walking by the way, when you go to sleep and when you get up. (8) Let them be fixed as a sign on your hand, and marked on your brow;

Verse 8 tells me that in all that I do, “...a sign on your hand...”, and in all that I think, “...marked on your brow;” should be guided by the Word of God. It is impossible for us to completely and without fail to wear the mark of Christ. But the Bible says in Mark 10:27 KJVR And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Would you join me and strive to wear the mark of our Master...in all that we think, say, and do? If you don't have that mark, it's as simple as A-B-C...

Admit your a sinner. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 MKJV for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and in Romans 6:23 MKJV For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God who died for our sins and is the only way to the Father, the Bible says in John 3:16 KJVR For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And in John 14:6 KJVR Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Confess Jesus before man. The Bible says in Romans 10:9 KJVR That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.