Posts from October 2023 (Page 2)
Daily Devotions
For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.” vs. 4 Isaiah 25:1-5 As a prophet Isaiah regularly took the people of Israel to task for behaviors unbefitting the people of God. He pointed out their sin and called them to repentance, but those words of judgment should not imply that he believed God to be angry and vengeful. Indeed, Isaiah…
Daily Devotions
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” vs. 43 Matthew 21:42-46 The scribes and the high priests may not have gotten the point when Jesus told the parable of the unjust tenants, but they had no doubts about his interpretation. As he had many times in his ministry, he makes it plain that God doesn’t care a fig about our fine…
Daily Devotions
Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” vs. 40 Matthew 21:33-41 The chief priests and the scribes were able to answer the question that Jesus asked at the end of his parable about the vineyard. It was easy, like the questions a pastor asks during a children’s conversation. The problem is that the question wasn’t the point of the story–it was a trap. Their answer was an indictment of themselves. It had…
Daily Devotions
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” vss. 13-14 Philippians 3:8b-14 Because Paul knew Christ Jesus he had confidence that one day he would share in the resurrection to new life. But having said that he hastened to tell the…
Daily Devotions
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” vss, 7-8a Philippians 3:4b-8a For many, success in life is measured by net worth at the time of retirement. They want to have enough socked away to ensure a comfortable lifestyle throughout their golden years. With that as a goal they choose lucrative jobs or…
Daily Devotions
Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?” vs. 12 Psalm 80:8-15 Like Isaiah the psalmist uses the metaphor of the vineyard to describe Israel. But the questions asked are different. Isaiah asks “Why did the beautiful vineyard yield wild grapes?” but the psalmist asks “Why did God break down the vineyard’s walls?” Isaiah the prophet implies that Israel had disappointed the Lord, but the psalmist seems to have…
Daily Devotions
Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” vs. 7 Psalm 80:3-7 When things were going bad for the people of Israel, something that happened with some frequency, it was not unusual for their prophets and psalmists to yearn for restoration. In recent years we’ve even seen that theme used as a political slogan as some have lifted up their voices to urge that America be made great again. Such persons remember a…
Daily Devotions
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” vs. 4 Isaiah 5:1-7 Isaiah’s love song on behalf of the Lord in chapter 5 has a country western quality to it. The lyrics speak of unrequited love, the devotion of the beloved as he pours all of his energy in constructing the finest vineyard imaginable, and the devastating disappointment which…
Daily Devotions
“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.’” vs. 31b Matthew 21:28-32 It must have been hard for the chief priests and the elders to hear these words of Jesus. They had understood his parable about the two sons asked to work in the vineyard – they knew which son had done the father’s will. But they likely didn’t realize the story was about…
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