Mark 3:7-12

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him. -Mark 3:7-12

---

Do you love the gifts God can give you or do you love God?  As we can see in this passage, so many people wanted to seek out Jesus because of what he could do for them.  He had the power to heal them and to cast out demons.  Many of the same people who are “following” Jesus here would later abandon him when they realized that there’s a cost to being a Christian.  They eventually abandoned Jesus because deep in their hearts their love was not for Jesus but for what Jesus could do for them.

I’ve noticed that I could fall into this trap of loving the gifts more than the giver.  A few years ago, there was an AYL student whose dad was really sick.  A group of us got together with him to pray for his dad every single day.  God answered our prayers and healed his dad!  But right after his dad was healed we stopped praying together.  We didn’t even get together to pray to thank God for the healing!  Did we really love God or did we just love what He could do for us?

Some of you just received acceptances from colleges.  Some of you just got involved in a relationship you’ve been praying for or desiring.  Some of you are getting fantastic grades through virtual learning.  Some of you are blessed with incredible athleticism.  Some of you are really good looking (Hi, Maria!).  All of these things are great gifts from God, but do you care about them or even love them more than Jesus?

Take some time today to do a heart check on yourself.  Think of all of your blessings and ask yourself, “Do I love these gifts or do I love the Giver of these gifts?”