Mark 3:28-30 Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 11, 2018, Mark 3:28-30
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
I tell you with certainty, people will be forgiven their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven, but is guilty of eternal sin.” For they had been saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
(Understanding the Verses) I tend to avoid these verses partly because it is one of the only places that says we will not be forgiven, and I tend to avoid scriptures like that. Ananias and Sapphira is another story I avoid thinking about. When I first read this scripture years ago, I worried because it seemed like blaspheming the Spirit might be as simple as a false accusation or saying a curse word. Since then, I have learned that it is more complex.
The first sentence is actually a promise. We will be forgiven our sins, and we will be forgiven our words. There is actually a contrast here between blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and speaking blasphemies. It does say that this was referring to what the scribes had been saying about Jesus having an unclean Spirit, but it has more to do with the fact that they had to have known and been convicted by the Spirit that Jesus was the Messiah promised from the scriptures, and they knowingly rejected that conviction. They were choosing not to listen to the Spirit speaking to them.
(Revelation of God) The eternal sin is to remain separate from God. The Spirit living in us connects us to Jesus. By denying the Spirit, we deny connection to Jesus. It is only through our connection to Jesus that we are saved. Thus the sin that cannot be forgiven is the refusal to be connected to Jesus through the Spirit. There are always people who harden themselves so that God cannot reach them through the Holy Spirit. I do not know which people those are, so I must simply keep treating all with love and let the Spirit worry about planting the seeds that will result in a connection to Jesus.
(Application) Adventists don’t preach hellfire and brimstone sermons, but they try to do the same thing by preaching you could-die-tomorrow and blaspheming-against-the-Holy-Spirit sermons. I am always uncomfortable in the blaspheming sermons. I’m not sure why because it is not that I worry about blaspheming anymore. Those sermons just feel wrong to me like false doctrine, but I cannot pinpoint any false doctrine in them. The only reason I can figure out (and I know that this is not the whole reason) is that leading someone to Christ through fear, driving them to Him, is not comfortable to me. I feel like fear of failure should not be the reason we join with Christ, but rather, we should be drawn to Him because He is worthy and out of love. Yet, I cannot say that the sermons are wrong because I do not understand my rejection of them. Maybe I am wrong about something, but I know that in the past, when something felt wrong, I usually learned the reasons why later. I should trust my feelings on this.
(Application) The important message for myself is to stay connected to Jesus, to always focus on Him. I need to actively nourish my relationship with Him. The Bible says that fruits come from enduring. When interpreting the parable of the sower Jesus said, “But the ones on the good soil are the people who hear the word but also hold on to it with good and honest hearts, producing a crop through endurance” (Luk 8:15). The weed-choked seeds grew up but were choked before they produced fruit. The message is that fruit comes with endurance. It takes time to see the fruit develop. The important message is to simply abide in Jesus and grow in Him. The results come naturally in time.
(Prayer) Teach me so that I can understand the best way to present the messages of the Bible to others. There are wrong ways and right ways; help me to always present Your word in the right way. Thank You for the promise that my sins will all be forgiven. Keep me closely connected with You, and help me to encourage others to be closely connected with You.