A Better Life

A Better Life

Herodias

Read: Mark 6:21-24

Nothing had prepared the young woman for the feelings that flooded through her each time she looked at her newborn daughter. With all her heart, she wanted to be a good mother, but could she? She had run away at age sixteen to escape an abusive home. For several years she had lived hand to mouth, proud of her independence, but not always proud of what she had to do to get by. Now, there was someone else to think about. I don’t know how, but I promise you this—I’m going to make a better life for us, she vowed to the sleeping baby.

Apparently Herodias didn’t harbor such maternal thoughts for her daughter. Herodias came from a messed-up family background. Herod had divorced his first wife to marry Herodias, the daughter of his half brother Aristobulus. At the time, Herodias was married to Philip, Herod’s other half brother, who was also Herodias’s half uncle. The family had a reputation for cruelty and depravity. Instead of wanting a better life for her daughter, Herodias used her to take revenge on John the Baptist. When she sent the teenage girl to dance before Herod and his drunken birthday guests, did she suspect that he would offer to reward her?

Good parents willingly make sacrifices so that their children will have the best lives possible. We want them to be well-fed, comfortable, and well-educated. We try to shield them from hurtful experiences. Our heavenly Father also wants his children to have the best lives possible. We may feel like prisoners of our lifestyle, unable to rise above a sinful habit or addictive behavior such as promiscuity, drugs, or alcoholism. Jesus sacrificed himself to shield us from sin’s harmful effects. No matter what has a grip on us, God wants to give us better lives.

We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation.

Hebrews 6:9