Verse of the Day 10/25

Verse of the Day 10/25   

Mark 3:5-6  And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.  English Standard Version (ESV)

As I read this passage this morning in my devotions I thought how unfathomable it was for the Pharisees to have held the healing of this man against Jesus   as if it were sin.  The man with a "withered" hand, I'm sure had been relegated to being an outsider in society, unable to function in many normal  capacities.  Jesus showed him mercy.  It seems that the greater the thing that Jesus did, the more it riled the pharisees.    My son Jeffrey has hands that don't function and I don't care what day of the week it would be, if he were to be healed, all I, our family and friends   would do would be to praise God for His mercy.  After his accident we have prayed for years for healing and it continues to come and while he is still   disabled and bound to a wheel chair, we can praise God for answers to prayer and for his mercy extended to Jeff.  Jeff's speech is just one of those   mercies that we never thought we'd have.    My wife just posted on Facebook what she experienced the other day while driving to a doctor's appointment, Jeff heard a song and began singing these   lyrics to a Jason Gray song at the top of his lungs:   Hold on,    Is this really the life I'm living?  Cause I don't feel like I deserve it.  Every day that I wake, every breath that I take you've given,   so right here, right now while the sun is shining down    I want to live like there's no tomorrow love like I'm on borrowed time it's good to be alive, yeah...    Day by day, Jeff praises God for this life, "this wonderful life" in his words.  I'm sure not matter what the Pharisees said, the man with the withered  hand would have sang those same words had the song been written it his time.      Today, be thankful that you're alive and live "like there's no tomorrow love like I'm on borrowed time" to the praise and glory of the merciful God  who has given us this wonderful life.     --   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Mark 3The Message (MSG)

Doing Good on the Sabbath

3 ^1-3 Then he went back in the meeting place where he found a man with a crippled hand. The Pharisees had their eyes on Jesus to see if he would heal him, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath infraction. He said to the man with the crippled hand, "Stand here where we can see you."

⁴ Then he spoke to the people: "What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" No one said a word.

^5-6 He looked them in the eye, one after another, angry now, furious at their hard-nosed religion. He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." He held it out—it was as good as new! The Pharisees got out as fast as they could, sputtering about how they would join forces with Herod's followers and ruin him.