The CROSSroads: Personal Lessons from Mark's Gospel by Rev. Mitch Schultz

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:34:20utc

Lesson Three: LIVING WITHOUT DISTRACTIONS (Mark 1:1-8)

"John wore camels hair… and ate locusts" vs.6

It is crucial that believers see the world as it really is and most often, if not always, this is only possible when we live outside the world away from its trappings and distractions. God is often not viewed very clearly when our surrounding is the world. Some years ago our family took a trip into the highlands of Malaysia where the night sky offers a riveting view. I laid a blanket on the ground outside the cottage and my children and I sat back captivated by the overwhelming number of brilliantly-shining stars above us. It was an experience we could not have enjoyed from the city where artificial lighting dims the view of the galaxies.

There are two reasons why God placed John the Baptist in the wilderness and kept him there. The wilderness served as a good picture of the spiritual wilderness in which people lived and John's plea was that they leave their spiritual wilderness and come to Jesus. The parallel with Israel's wilderness wandering is rich here. But the wilderness was also good for John because here he was able to view God as he really is, living and growing away from the world's distractions.

I have a friend who some years ago chose to take the radical step of discarding his television set. This conviction stemmed from his own admission that he could not always control what he watched. Some five years passed and I recently asked him if he had since purchased a set assuming that time would have slowly relaxed this conviction. He has firmly held to it, treasuring the freedom of living without this distraction. Knowing him well, I observe that his view of God is better because of it.

While I do not personally feel the need to take such a step (I enjoy the news and sports too much!), I admire deeply those men and women who have taken specific measures to live un-cluttered lives, and I seek to learn something from them. Men such as John, who did not choose to live out his faith on the fringe of the world's lures, but completely outside of them. He chose the wilderness as his home and there he lived simply, so that his devotion to God would remain pure and undiluted. He simply wore what he needed, and ate what was there. And therein lies the secret to living pure lives where the view of God is good. It is not in what we wear or what we eat, but in what we expose ourselves to, and often what we are exposed to depends on the environment we live in. It is difficult to keep your life pure if you live constantly in front of the television set. Keeping our thoughts and focus on God will not come easily if we are flirting with the world. How is your view of God?

If you are in with God, you are at outs with this world. -Gypsy Smith