Pastor Marcus Blair, Grandview Baptist Church
Mark 1:32-39
They called Jesus “Master.” That’s one of my favorite titles for him. Someone who is a master knows how something is done, and is skilled in it. I have a great friend in Oklahoma who is a master farrier.
He shoes horses. And that title he has, “Master,” is not just a title – he has mastery of the whole process. It doesn’t matter what a horse has been into, the condition of its hooves, any variable – he can expertly shoe the horse. To call Jesus “master” is to acknowledge his Lordship, but also to say that he has mastery over all he does. I’ll tell you one thing Jesus mastered, and that’s prayer.
The first thing we should notice here is that Jesus was BUSY. Are you busy? We happen to be a church with a lot of busy people. Busy with work, with activities for the kids, with church. Jesus knew what it was to be busy. It wasn’t long, once he started doing his miracles and ministry, that EVERYONE seemed to need something from him. He was giving, and giving, and giving. Sound familiar? You ever feel like people have taken so much from you, that you’re drained? It says in V33 that the whole city came to him!
So he met their needs, but then you know what he did? V35 – he had to get some time alone with God. When we are too busy, when we are too drained, when life is drawing too much out of us, we need to take a cue from the Master and learn to withdraw! Withdraw where? Well, that’s up to you. But for Jesus, it was very often a “desolate” or “solitary” place. Somewhere in the wilderness. A mountaintop. Wherever he was able to go and no one be with him.
I want to encourage you to spend solitary time with God, even if, and especially if, you are too busy to breathe. That’s the time you MOST need to carve out some time, some moments that are just between you and God, and you need to be alone with him. If you do not regularly have a quiet time – a point in every day where you meet with God and talk to him – I want to strongly urge you as pastor to do so.
Why? God will recharge, strengthen, and re-energize us. He will help us refocus. He will get us ready for whatever fight we face! But the world is going to compete for your attention. It’s going to seem like the last thing you should do is go withdraw and spend time with the Lord. And certainly your enemy, the devil, wants you to stay so busy, and be run so ragged, that you have a hard time being a Christian. So it’s an act of obedience and faith when you set everything down and say, “I must tell my Father. I must spend time with him!”
For the complete column, see this week’s edition of the Centralia Fireside Guard.
