'Christ' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ “vs. 9 Matthew 25:8-12 We have to look hard to find any kindness or grace in the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids. The wise refuse to share their oil and the door to the wedding banquet is locked tight when the foolish finally arrive. Fortunately, this is not a parable about…
Daily Devotions
I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.” vss. 23-24 Philippians 1:21-26 While in prison Paul began thinking about death and then shared his reflections in this letter to his friends in Philippi. Knowing that death was not the end and that there would be new life for him in Christ, he wasn’t afraid to die.…
Daily Devotions
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” vss. 4-5 Galatians 4:4-5 Early Christians had a lot of figuring out to do when it became apparent that the Jesus who had been crucified had been the long-anticipated messiah. Paul had had a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ that had…
Daily Devotions
Christmas Day And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” vs. 14 John 1:1-14 Christmas is the day chosen to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and the name was chosen quite deliberately. It would not have been adequate to call it Jesusmas. Not only would that name have been clumsy to say, it wouldn’t have come close to expressing the…
Daily Devotions
He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” vs. 17 Colossians 1:17-20 Early Christians came to believe that the Christ who had been made visible in Jesus of Nazareth was the incarnate Word of God, described in the prologue to John’s gospel. Through the Christ, present in the Beginning, all things had come into existence, and the writer of Colossians adds that, “in him all things hold together.” In other words, Christ is the…
Daily Devotions
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” vs. 1 Hebrews 11:1-3 Whenever a loved one dies and we proclaim with conviction that they rest in peace or are safe in the arms of Jesus, we’re making an important statement of faith. We have no way of proving what we say and rationalists would likely scoff at our words, but we keep on making the claim because it’s the core of our faith.…
Daily Devotions
And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him…” vss. 21-22 Colossians 1:21-28 There are many people today who would just as soon eliminate the cross from the Christian faith. For them it’s bloody and gruesome, and reeks of a sacrificial theory of the atonement that they think we’d be better off without. They…
Daily Devotions
that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” vs. 19 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 Most of us regularly and faithfully affirm our faith in Jesus as the Christ, and that’s a good and wonderful thing to do. But as we make our confession we should not imagine that Jesus was the first or only Christ–we simply cannot limit our understanding of Christ to Jesus…
Daily Devotions
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.” vs. 16 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 Followers of Jesus love to explore his humanity–they read books about the historical Jesus and have debates about what he was really like. Some go on tours to the Holy Land to follow in his footsteps and see the places where…
Daily Devotions
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” vs. 18 2 Corinthians 3:17-4:2 Sometimes amazing truths are hiding in obscure passages of scripture that we may not even have read before. Who would have thought that Paul, writing about the veiled face of Moses, would pass on…
Daily Devotions
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” vss. 3-4 Ephesians 1:3-10 There are some who teach and believe that humans have a heritage that stretches back to the very beginning, that we were created as spiritual children of God long…
Daily Devotions
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” vs. 8 Luke 2:8-14 Christmas Eve Tonight there will be worship services at the Shepherd’s Fields, just outside of Bethlehem. The crowds will be small–Israel’s borders remain closed to foreign visitors. But worshippers will be there, huddled outside against the chill on a dark hillside with the lights of Jewish settlements just across the valley. Aside from a small beautifully adorned modern chapel,…