A Thankful Life
Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church
Mary Magdalene was thankful. Her life needed changing and Christ changed her life. Thoroughly. Inside out.
She had gotten caught in the oldest swindler’s scheme. Hold the Devil’s hand just long enough to get out of a tight spot and then she would let go of him when the trouble cleared and her pain eased. The Devil never let’s go on his own. Instead his grip tightens.
So she trusted him again to ease her pain and he just tightened it all the more. All total she did this 7 times. She became known as the woman “bound by 7 demons.” Her life became that proverbial “living hell”, with hell being understood as the seeming absence of God.
But while we live on earth, God is never absent. He is ways listening to our prayers and waiting for us to enter into that teachable moment when we will trust His presence, lean into His power, and walk forward in His ways.
Mary did just that. Consequently she became a THANKFUL person. Mary Magdalene became one of Jesus’ greatest disciples. She followed & supported Him (Luke 8:1-3). She stood in solidarity with Him on Calvary’s hill while He was crucified (John 19:25). She did not abandon Him but walked in procession to where He was buried (Luke 23:55). And it was to Mary that Jesus first appeared after His resurrection (John 20:14-16).
Boldly, Mary then hurried around to announce for other’s benefit that Christ had - overcome death, defeated hate, and turned despair into hope.
Mary showed her GRATITUDE by how she lived her life.
Pastor Les Hollon
The Parable of the Sower
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church. For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.
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