Our Daily Bread 11 November 2022 (Friday Message)
Welcome!!! Read Our Daily Bread Today’s Devotional for Friday. The word of God is food to the spirit man. Read and digest the word of the Lord for today and see how powerfully it will impact you.
Our Daily Bread Ministries is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread.
Today’s Topic: The Source
Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 50; Hebrews 8
Key Verse: Create in me a pure heart, O God. Psalm 51:10
Today’s Scripture & Insight: Mark 7:14–23
In Mark 7:13–17, we encounter three groups of people. In verse 13, Jesus directed a pointed message at a narrow subset of people—the teachers of the law. Christ plainly saw the gigantic loopholes these experts had created through which they could violate the spirit of God’s law and said, “You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.”
Having established His case, Jesus turned to the crowd and said within hearing of the teachers of the law, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles them” (v. 15). Beginning with verse 17, Christ’s disciples approached Him privately and asked about His teaching. He reiterated His point that what goes into the stomach isn’t what defiles a person. Mark then notes parenthetically, “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean” (v. 19). By: Tim Gustafson
ODB 11 NOVEMBER 2022 (FRIDAY MESSAGE)
It was 1854, and something was killing thousands of people in London. It must be the bad air, people thought. And indeed, as unseasonable heat baked the sewage-fouled River Thames, the smell grew so bad it became known as “The Great Stink.”
But the worst problem wasn’t the air. Research by Dr. John Snow would show that contaminated water was the cause of the cholera epidemic.
We humans have long been aware of another crisis—one that stinks to high heaven. We live in a broken world—and we’re prone to misidentify the source of this problem, treating symptoms instead. Wise social programs and policies do some good, but they’re powerless to stop the root cause of society’s ills—our sinful hearts!
When Jesus said, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them,” He wasn’t referring to physical diseases (Mark 7:15). Rather, He was diagnosing the spiritual condition of every one of us. “It is what comes out of a person that defiles them,” He said (v. 15), listing a litany of evils lurking inside us (vv. 21–22).
“Surely I was sinful at birth,” David wrote (Psalm 51:5). His lament is one we can all voice. We’re broken from the beginning. That’s why David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God” (v. 10). Every day, we need that new heart, created by Jesus through His Spirit.
Instead of treating the symptoms, we must let Jesus purify the source. By: Tim Gustafson
Our Daily Bread 11 November 2022 (Reflection & Prayer)
- In what ways might you be treating symptoms instead of letting Jesus clean up the source? How can you share the good news of what Jesus did for you?
- Heavenly Father, guard my heart and help me be attentive to Your Spirit within me.
