Today's Devotional

December 30, 2002

Subject:  With Friends Like These

Mark 3:20-21 - "And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him:  for they said, He is beside himself."

Jealousy and envy are two very evil twins.  The worst part about both of them is that they tend to come from people that are closest to us.  I mean we look at "movie stars", professional athletes and other famous people and want their autographs, but when it's friends or family, we often despise their success or achievements.  It's kind of like the biblical quote about a man being without honor in His own country.  Well it should be no surprise to us because this is exactly what happened to Christ.

In the passage above, Jesus had just done some healing and a great crowd began to follow Him and the disciples.  In fact, it was such a huge crowd following Him that He and the disciples couldn't even eat.  Who knows?  Perhaps they were signing autographs or something.  At any rate, look at what happens next.  His friends heard of it and then decided that they must bring Him down or "lay hold on Him."  Why?  Because, "He is beside himself."

Yeah, some refer to this as the "crabs in a bucket" mentality.  When you begin to move up, there are plenty where you came from who will try to bring you down.  Whatever it's called, it's ugly and evil.  It's really ugly when it comes from your friends.  Today, let's ensure that we are not one of those friends to those around us.

Carlen