Am I a Messenger?

"This is Jan, from ______________'s office." This is my opening line when I make telephone calls at work.  I use my relationship with my employer to build a relationship with the person I am calling.

When I read the first verse in the Gospel of Mark, I jotted in my journal one of my personal "pearls of wisdom", Life is about relationships.  It's not what you know but who you know.  I've gained more in  life through the people I know than my knowledge and education.  The relationship creates the opportunity.  My knowledge and experience "closes the deal."

Verse one of chapter one in Mark identifies Jesus as God's Son.  It also tells us that this is the beginning of any potential relationship.  The basis of a relationship with God is Who Jesus is and to Whom He belongs.

A few days ago my husband and I were discussing the next section of my blog.  I'd  told him I had chosen Mark.  I wanted the next book to be in the New Testament and I wanted a gospel to get to know Jesus more.  We talked about how Mark was written for the Roman mind.  My first thought of the Romans was they were the pagans, so unspiritual.  Yet they were spiritual because they had many gods and probably believed that the gods controlled everything, nature, destiny, fate and even their own lives. 

I think too many people in the world we live in are also pagan and worship many gods.  Too many people worship these modern pagan gods thinking they keep control of their own life and the lives of those around them when we were made for a relationship with Jesus, The Son of God.

Life, the real Life, begins, continues and ends, with a relationship with God's Son, Jesus.

The second verse in Mark continues to build connection with God through the prophet Isaiah and with the messenger sent to prepare the way for Jesus.  Isaiah has numerous references to Jesus' arrival including the comfort of the coming King who will make the world right.  Mark quotes the verse from Isaiah that describes the role of the messenger (Isaiah 40:3-4).  It starts in the desert and the messenger calls for a straight highway for God through the wilderness. The messenger is to make the path straight so God can come to us but a straight path also makes it easier for me, and others, to come closer to God.

I read the verse prior to and just following Isaiah 40:3 which is a normal study habit for me.  I like to get the verse in a bit of context.  Verse 1 in Isaiah starts with "Comfort..."  This world needs comfort through all the valleys and mountains of Life.  Verse 5 promises that the Glory of God will be revealed to all.  Through it all, God is in control and He will prevail.

I've been known as Dick's wife, Adam's mother's, Jim's daughter.  Occasionally, my husband has been known as "Jan's husband."  He'd been surprised to hear it the first time.  He'd entered "my world" while teaching a seminar at a women's conference.   I'd prepared the way for him.  The women enthusiastically welcomed him because they knew to whom he belonged (me!).  They trusted him because they knew him through me.

Today I ponder: 

The messenger is to make the path straight so God can come to us but a straight path also makes it easier for me, and others, to come closer to God.

In this desert of a world in which we live,

Do others see to whom I belong, the benefits and opportunities?

Do I make it easy for others to know the Son of God? 

Do others know of Him through me so they will also trust Him?  

Does this pagan world see that I believe God controls everything, nature, destiny, fate and even my own life?

Do others know that comfort, real comfort awaits in a relationship with the God who will prevail?

Am I a messenger?