The scripture for today, September 11 (9/11), is Matthew 9:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”? ‘ “
Jesus did not make friends with people who could lift him up. He made friends with people that he could lift up. We are not divine, so we need both. It is true that our closest friends should be Christians. However, many of us brag that those are our only friends and that isolates us from the lost.
We must make some friends among the lost in order to show them God’s love and try to lift them up. They can be people at work, in a club, in your neighborhood, someone we stand next to waiting for a bus, or even someone we meet by accident while waiting in line at a store.
Always be on the lookout. Always be prepared to become more than just casual acquaintances when they need you. Always be prepared to get “up close and personal” with some of your friends when they feel friendless.
Jesus did it. He was our example.
“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.”
“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
“As for the other events of Jehoram’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?”
“I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice.”
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.”
The scripture for today, August 7 (8/7), is Hosea 8:7 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“Yet for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord [Word], Jesus Christ, through whom all things came [by a Word] and through whom we live [by the Word]. But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols.”