Monday -Mark 9:42-50

"Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." -James 1:22

We are working at changing our perspective this week. By trying different methods of Scripture reading, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to see if we can pick up insights we would have missed. The challenge is to use at least three different reading methods.

Here are six ways you can read this passage:

1) Read Mark 9:42-50 out loud and slowly. What did you hear?
2) Read Mark 9:42-50 silently and slowly. What did you see?
3) Write out a portion of the passage. What did you feel?
4) Listen to Mark 9. What did you hear?
5) Read Mark 9:42-50 in NIV? What did you see?
6) Read Mark 9:42-50 in NLT? What did you see? 

Questions about your reading:

What main insight do you have about this passage after reading it different ways?
After reading different ways, which method did you prefer? Why?
What are some other ways you could read Scripture this week?

Mark 9:42-50The Message (MSG)

42 “On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.

43-48 “If your hand or your foot gets in God’s way, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owner of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.

49-50 “Everyone’s going through a refining fire sooner or later, but you’ll be well-preserved, protected from the eternal flames. Be preservatives yourselves. Preserve the peace.”