The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! – Mark 1:15

The Israelites had a lot of competing influences when Jesus was born. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots all had different opinions. They had to follow the laws of the Old Testament, plus the traditions of the elders. There were Roman soldiers oppressing them and local puppet governors taxing them into poverty. There was pressure to conform to Greek culture. And there were evil spirits tormenting them.

Maybe you feel like that. Too many “bosses” to please. At one job I counted 13 people or departments that thought my team worked primarily for them. Impossible to keep them all happy, but no alternative other than to try harder. Maybe it’s your family or church or friends that all want you to do different things. Or maybe it’s all the conflicting priorities in your own head.

It can be a weary world.

Don’t you sometimes wish there was just one boss? One goal. One purpose. A way to actually succeed instead of disappoint people all the time?

The good news for the Jews was that God fired all those authorities and set up Jesus as the only ruler of this earth. One person to follow. One kingdom. One Lord.

It’s the same good news for us today. We can surrender all our competing demands to Jesus the actual King, and just do what he says. This is of eternal value.