'call to serve' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” vss. 50-51 Luke 12:49-53 Often, we imagine that Jesus was a man of infinite patience and deep serenity. Today’s text presents a different picture, one that may surprise us. Jesus told his disciples that he was having enormous stress as he…
Daily Devotions
He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’” vss. 5-6 Acts 9:3-9 There are some who refer to this experience on the road to Damascus as the conversion of Paul, but that description misses the point. Paul was not converted, but remained a proud and faithful Jew, a man proud of his training and heritage.…
Daily Devotions
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” vs. 16 John 3:13-17 Most people have at least a passing familiarity with this most famous verse from John’s gospel. Even those who don’t know the words can recall having seen the chapter and verse. With that kind of notoriety, it’s unlikely that we’re going to discover anything new in its words. This…
Daily Devotions
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’” vss. 16-17 Mark 1:16-18 Mark is the action gospel. The writer doesn’t include much of Jesus’ teaching–there’s no Sermon on the Mount and only a few parables–and Jesus is always on the move. He seems to have been alone as he…
Daily Devotions
The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’” vs. 9 Matthew 21:1-11 Everyone loves a parade, and the crowd of pilgrims from Galilee who had gotten to know Jesus on the journey to Jerusalem for the Passover were no exception. When they moved down the steep slope from the Mount of Olives, through…
Daily Devotions
She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.” vs. 18 Acts 16:16-24 In the Roman world, slavery was a way of life. Paul likely encountered the practice everywhere he went–in fact, as he preached and his words were taken to heart, slaves listened too and some became a part…