'faith' Tagged Posts (Page 3)
Daily Devotions
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’” vs. 5 Hebrews 13:1-8 As the writer to the Hebrews concludes his letter to the Jews who had become Christians, he has some directions for how they shall live their lives. After mentioning the mutual love which binds them together, he advises hospitality toward strangers, a concern for those in prison and…
Daily Devotions
If you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the Lord,” vss. 13b-14a Isaiah 58:13b-14 Those who have spent a lifetime worshipping on a weekly basis probably do so for a variety of reasons. For some it’s simply a habit and they don’t really think too much about it. But…
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
And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises…” vss. 32-33 Hebrews 11:29-40 The writer of Hebrews believed that all the heroes and heroines of Israel had lived by faith, just as had the ancestors of them all, Abraham and Sarah. It was a proud history. Yet even though those people had been commended for their…
Daily Devotions
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.” vs. 8 Hebrews 11:8-16 Since Abraham and Sarah are mentioned first among the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Hebrew people, it’s not strange that the writer of Hebrew makes them prime models of faithfulness for his readers. In fact, they get top billing! But as he refers to…
Daily Devotions
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” vs. 3 Hebrews 11:1-3 Most ancient peoples have wild and convoluted stories about the creation of the world. In these tales’ gods and goddesses engaged in mythic struggles for power and position and in the process all things now seen came into existence. By contrast the Hebrew creation stories seem tame and orderly.…
Daily Devotions
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” vs. 22 Psalm 33:17-22 There is a lot of talk about love among people of faith. After all Jesus commanded his disciples to love both God and neighbor, and from the beginning his followers have done their best to do just that. And even John Lennon jumped on the bandwagon with his hit single, “All We Need Is Love.” There’s probably not a sermon that…
Daily Devotions
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.” vs. 12 Psalm 33:12-17 The psalmist believed that the children of Israel were God’s chosen people. This sentiment appears regularly in the Hebrew scriptures and has continued to be the foundation of Judaism. Even today the nation of Israel sees itself as having that special relationship to the Lord, and there is a credible scriptural basis for that belief. Of course, those…
Daily Devotions
And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” vs. 6 Genesis 15:1-6 It’s just a single verse from one of the ancestral stories in Genesis, yet these few words have had an outsized importance as believers have put together their story of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Paul used them as the linchpin of his letter to the Romans in his attempt to show that our salvation doesn’t depend on our obedience to works…
Daily Devotions
I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.” vs. 14 Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14 Hebrew people, and its writer, self-described as Koholoth or Teacher, takes on the persona of Solomon, a man described in the first book of Kings as the wisest person in the world. He says that he “applied (his) mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.” What…
Daily Devotions
For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” vs. 10 Luke 11:5-13 Jesus doesn’t seem to have any problems with what we might call “unanswered prayer.” In his estimation, that’s virtually unthinkable. Oh, he’s certainly aware of what it’s like to imagine that somehow God has abandoned us or gone on vacation. He knows what those feelings are like. But he knows something about God that we sometimes…
Daily Devotions
He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom comes. Give us each day our daily bread.’” vss. 3-4 Luke 11:1-4 The disciples had observed that prayer was an important part of each day for Jesus. Most of the time he did it in private early in the morning, but sometimes they could see what he was doing–and they were curious. John had taught his disciples to pray but so far Jesus hadn’t given…