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The scripture for today, December 22, is 1st Samuel 12:22 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“For the sake of his great name, the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.”
Amazing love of God. It pleases him to make us his own. It pleases him!
We the lowly.
We the weak.
We the inconsistent.
We the sinners.
Let us reply, “My soul is overwhelmed with joy.”
#LoveOfGod, #MercyOfGod, #GraceOfGod, #Sins
The scripture for today, August 12, is John 8:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ “
Jesus had only about six months left to live. He knew the religious leaders were after his life out of jealousy. Before going to Jerusalem, he told his brothers, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me” (John 7:7). Knowing people were wanting to execute him, he slipped into Jerusalem after everyone else got there (John 7:10, 14). Then suddenly he appeared in the middle of the Temple complex ~ the size of many football fields. He knew he was safe as long as there was a crowd.
Jesus answered some private questions, and then “he cried out, ‘You know me! You know where I am from!’ ” (John 7:28).
Every day of this feast, a priest would ceremonially pour out some water to represent the water that poured out of the rock when the Jews wandered in the wilderness. But on the last day, the priest did not do this, for it represented their ancestors finally arriving in the Promised Land. It was on this last day of the feast that Jesus “stood and said in a loud voice… ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him!’ ” (John 7:38f)
First thing the next morning at dawn he returned to the Temple court. Maybe it was a beautiful sunrise. When the sun was up and the crowds returned, he shouted something else to everyone, “I am the light of the world!” (John 8:12).
He had compared himself to the water ceremony of the day before, and now he was comparing himself to the new dawn. There he was. God the Son crying out to humanity. Come to me! I am doing everything I can to help you! Won’t you come? Please listen to me! Please come! I can save you!!!
Such stubborn love.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: DID YOU EVER WARN SOMEONE OF A DANGER SO MANY TIMES THEY BECAME ANGRY AT YOU?
#Water, #Light, #Life, #Love
The scripture for today, July 11, is Matthew 7:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.
“If you, then, though you are ‘evil’, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
The Creator of the Universe our Father? The master-mind behind the intricacies of our bodies our Father? The One who can be everywhere at once our Father?
How unworthy we are. All we can do is fall at his feet and whisper, “You are so great. I am so small. I am overwhelmed by your love.”
The scripture for today, July 9, is Deuteronomy 7:9 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”
Our amazing God! He loved our great great grandparents and He will love our great great grandchildren. The average age of having children is 30. Therefore, if we took this literally, 1000 generations would be 30,000 years. In that case, we’ve only just begun.
If taken figuratively, 10 to the Jews meant all inclusiveness, and 1000 is 10 x 10 x 10 or all inclusiveness times all inclusiveness times all inclusiveness. This means God will love us all inclusive years, times all inclusive years, times all inclusive years ~ for eternity!
And God gives everything we ask of him if it is good for us. All he asks in return is for us to give the little bit that he asks of us ~ faithfulness and keeping his few commandments. What a grand arrangement!
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Jesus said this is the greatest of all the commandments (Mark 12:29). He didn’t say that any of the Ten Commandments were. He chose one of the over 600 commandments God gave to Moses in the Old Testament. It might have been lost in the crowd, but Jesus called it out and gave it special attention.
Although we no longer keep the Old Testament Law of Moses, we do have the New Testament Law of Jesus. There aren’t as any commandments, but there are some. Sometimes Jesus’ law repeats something in the Old Law such as the one above. But it was his choice what to carry over, not ours.
Some people don’t even know that they’re obeying any of the Laws of Moses. Well, then, all we have to do is read that Law and see if we recognize anything we’re doing.
Do we love the Lord our God enough to no longer keep even one of the commandments in the law of Moses, or do we say the church cannot function if it gives up certain ones? Do we love the Lord our God enough to keep all of the commandments of Jesus or do we say the church is too modern now to keep certain ones?
Let us not be like the clay telling the potter what to do. Let us love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, soul and strength.
The scripture for today, June 4, is Psalm 6:4 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.”
Sometimes we walk away from God and can’t figure out how to make a turnaround and get our life back on track. When this happens, look behind you. Though you are walking away from God, he is still on the right track. All you have to do is call for him to come get you.
“Turn, O Lord! Turn! Deliver me!”
Why would God be so good to someone walking away from him? Because he loves you and is always listening for your voice. His love is unfailing.
The scripture for today, May 25, is Galatians 5:25f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
When someone is better than us in doing something, do we pick fights with them as punishment, or spread gossip about them in order to get others to quit respecting them?
Perhaps we don’t do this all the time. But what about times when there is something we feel we are really good at, but another person not as talented gets the honor?
That’s when it’s hard to “keep in step with the Spirit.”
Whenever we envy someone, deep down we consider that person our enemy. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45a).
To many, loving our enemy is the most difficult command in the Bible. Perhaps one way to love our “enemy” is to realize that Jesus loved his enemies. Every time we sin, we become one of his enemies. But Jesus keeps right on loving us, even when we don’t want to stop doing whatever we shouldn’t.
Jesus demonstrates the love of the Son of God. And here he says, if we love our enemies, we are demonstrating what the sons of God do. And that is far more important than honor that goes to those we envy. Leaving behind conceit makes it much easier to love everyone.
The scripture for today, May 22, is Galatians 5:22f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
There are some people in the world who call people who practice these traits “losers.” They believe you have to stick up for yourself and get ahead of the pack or the world will trample you and pass you by.
They are a lot like drivers out on a highway who think they have to pass every car.
Once they do, there is usually a brief period when they are ahead of all the others. But soon they catch up with another pack of cars, and begin all over again to pass every one.
And so it happens over and over endlessly. They never relax, for they are never ahead of the others for very long.
Today, let us relax a little. Let us exercise self-control. There is no law against slowing down. And in the process find peace.
The scripture for today, May 14, is 2nd Corinthians 5:14a as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“For Christ’s love compels us….”
Jesus died both physically and spiritually in our place! (Remember when he said God had forsaken him?) He knew we couldn’t come back from either one on our own, so he did it for us. Such terrible things he went through for us!
Love is powerful! It causes us to do things for someone we love that we never wanted to do and never dreamed we could do.
How powerful is your love for Christ? Do you share the love of Christ with others? 1st John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.”
You must reach out to people who think Jesus will ruin their fun, or has too many rules, or could never forgive them, or wouldn’t stop a tragedy from happening to them. If not in person, tell them in a note, a phone call, email, even a song. There are ways. Reach out. You can and you will, for Christ’s love compels you!
The scripture for today, May 6, is Song of Solomon 5:6 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“I opened [the door] for my lover, but my lover had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer.”
Jesus is the lover of your soul. He opens the door for you, but perhaps you’re spending all your time thinking about material things. His heart sinks when you run away from him. Oh, how his heart aches with loneliness for you.
So Jesus goes out looking for you. He looks everywhere you go. He calls you by name. But perhaps your life is so full of the noise of doing and going and accomplishing, that you do not hear him.
Stop! Allow some quietness into your life. Then listen. Jesus is calling for you….
