Posts by Rev. Steve Holm (Page 65)
Daily Devotions
But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.” vs. 23 Luke 23;13-30 According to Luke, Pilate had conducted some sort of judicial examination of Jesus and had found no reason to keep him imprisoned–he was not guilty of the charges against him. But that made no difference to the crowd–they had been convinced by the lies of the religious leaders and demanded that Jesus be crucified. That’s still how it is…
Daily Devotions
They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’” vs. 2 Luke 23:1-12 The accusations against Jesus were baseless and contrived, and they were made by the chief religious authorities of the Jewish people in order to get the backing of the Roman governor. And they knew the charges were false–they had made them up to get rid…
Daily Devotions
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” vss. 5-7a Philippians 2:4-11 In the first creation narrative of Genesis the writer noted that humans were created in the image and likeness of God–they were wired through their DNA to be connected to…
Daily Devotions
For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.” vs. 10 Psalm 31:9-16 We don’t know what was going on with the psalmist, he doesn’t give any details about whatever it was that had been tormenting him. We can only imagine–and make some guesses based on our own periods of dismal existence as we’ve made our way from spring to winter in the course of…
Daily Devotions
The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens—wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.” vs. 4 Isaiah 50:4-9a According to Luke, after Jesus entered Jerusalem he went directly to the temple and raised a ruckus with the money-changers. He then spent his days in the temple precincts teaching the people and debating with the scribes and Pharisees.…
Daily Devotions
As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen…” vs. 37 Luke 19:28-40 It was a long trek for pilgrims to make their way from Galilee to Jerusalem, and the last leg from Jericho (far below sea level) to the Mount of Olives involves a 3500 foot change in elevation in…
Daily Devotions
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” vs. 8 John 12:4-8 Judas had weighed in on Mary’s extravagance by cynically suggesting that it would have been better to sell the perfume and give the money to the poor. But Jesus doesn’t bite. Instead he suggests that the poor will always be hanging around, but that his own time is limited. Ironically his words are often repeated by people who see no point in…
Daily Devotions
Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” vs. 3 John 12:1-3 Mary had gotten her brother, Lazarus, back from the realm of the dead, and her deep anguish had been replaced with overwhelming gratitude. When Jesus came to visit and reclined at her table for dinner, she anointed his feet with costly perfume and wiped them with…
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 3:10-14 Whatever we may think of him, Paul can always be counted on to provide a unitary model for our life in Christ without falling into the trap of dualism.…
Daily Devotions
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ…” vss. 8b-9a Philippians 3:8-9 Paul knew what it was like to have a righteousness that was based on the law. He had spent his entire life paying attention to the details…
Daily Devotions
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more…Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.” vss. 4b, 7 Philippians 3:4b-7 It’s no accident that Paul was a recognized leader in the early Church–he had exceptional qualifications and was brimming with confidence. And he certainly had no ego issues–he was proud of his ancestry and never backed away from controversy. Yet as he sat in prison, thinking…
Daily Devotions
Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.” vss. 4-5 Psalm 126 Many of us have learned through bitter experience that when our smart phone or computer is malfunctioning, the first step in recovery is to reboot, to shut it down completely and then start it up again. Occasionally that works! Service is restored and we are ecstatic! The psalmist seems to have been looking for…