Theme: Weekend like Bernie’s

Verse: One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. (Luke 6:12)

Recently one of our devotional group members, Bernadine (or as we call her, Bernie), celebrated her birthday (of course, her 29th) by taking several days off to disconnect from the trappings of the world. No cell phones, No social media, No television, No e-mail. She said she used this time to re-charge herself and does so every year. It sounded like a good idea when I heard about it.

She was following a practice Jesus modelled for us two thousand years ago where He often disconnected from His ministry to pray alone. In Mark’s gospel, while Jesus was building his group of disciples the word of His ability to heal the sick was starting to spread. One particular night an entire town came out bringing their sick, so He spent an entire evening healing people of various diseases. Mark 1:35 describes Jesus’s actions the following day, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

Luke 5:15-16, records that, “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. BUT JESUS OFTEN WITHDREW TO LONELY PLACES AND PRAYED.”

In Matthew, after feeding the five thousand (with five loaves of bread and two fish) he withdrew to the mountainside to pray.

Analysis: If Jesus needed to withdraw to recharge, it’s probably a good practice for us to adopt.

So, thank you Bernie for modelling in modern day that time disconnected in solitude is a healthy thing.

Have a GREAT Week!