'faith' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” vs. 9 Mark 10:2-12 The Pharisees regularly accused Jesus of being lax about matters of the law, but Jesus wasn’t really lax about anything. Of course he thought their rules about healing on the sabbath were malarkey, but he maintained that the law itself was corrupt. In the case of marriage Deuteronomy allowed a man to divorce his wife if he found something objectionable about her. Jesus told the Pharisees…
Daily Devotions
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.” vss. 1-4 Hebrews 1:1-4 After Jesus’ death and resurrection, it took a couple of generations for his followers to sort out their differences and arrive at some sort of common understanding of his significance. Initially the greatest conflict…
Daily Devotions
Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.” vss. 40-41 Mark 9:38-41 Jesus wasn’t nearly so fussy about boundaries as his disciples seem to have been. John had gotten all bent out of shape because he had seen an outsider casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It was as though this interloper was…
Daily Devotions
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” vs. 16 James 5:16-20 Because the world is good, and broken, the healing that comes with forgiveness will always be a central part of our life together. That’s why so many of our congregations will take time for confession of sins in each weekly worship service. It’s a moment, scarcely long enough, for…
Daily Devotions
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” vs. 14 James 5:13-15 When we feel sick we will likely go to an Urgent Care Center or to an emergency room for treatment, and usually some sort of healing will follow, sometimes quickly, but often after a period of time. James presented his readers with another option. Since medical…
Daily Devotions
He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’” vs. 35 Mark 9:33-37 We can only imagine how disheartening it must have been for Jesus to pour out his heart to his disciples about the cost of discipleship, and then have them engage in a great debate about which of them was the greatest. They had completely missed the point of his teaching! The only…
Daily Devotions
But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” vs. 32 Mark 9:30-32 Mark indicates that after the disciples had acknowledged that Jesus was the messiah, it became more difficult for them to understand his teachings. Evidently he was teaching them that the path of discipleship led through suffering and death, and did not provide them a direct route to triumph and glory. We can understand their difficulty. Even though we know the gospel…
Daily Devotions
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” vs. 34 Mark 8:34-38 Jesus certainly didn’t try to lure people into becoming his disciples by offering them promises of financial gain or material success. Instead he tells them that the way to new life was through self-denial. In order to save their lives, they would have to lose them.…
Daily Devotions
For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.” vs. 2 James 3:1-6 In a moment of candid reflection our old friend James hints that perhaps even he makes mistakes in the course of living a Christ-centered life. His problem, as with so many of us, seems to have been his mouth, but his own struggle with his tongue doesn’t keep him…
Daily Devotions
The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffereddistress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, I pray, save my life!’” vss. 3-4 Psalm 116:1-9 It’s hard to believe that 23 years have passed since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It’s a date that hangs on in our memories as a moment in which our realities were shattered.…
Daily Devotions
The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.” vs. 5 Isaiah 50:4-5 Not only had Isaiah listened to the call of his Lord to teach the exiled people of Judah, he now continued to listen to the daily word that came to him in the stillness of his meditation. That’s what happens when we take some of the precious time allotted to us in the course of every day to be…
Daily Devotions
Happy are those whose hope is in the Lord, who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry, and sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, he lifts up those who are bowed down; The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow.” vss. 5,7, 8a, 9a Psalm 146:5-10 When the psalmist warned his readers not to trust mortal rulers and to put their hope in God, he…