'judge' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’” vs. 27 Matthew 13:24-30 Most of us live pretty sheltered lives. We have our secure neighborhoods, filled with people who are pretty much like ourselves. We have faith communities for worship and fellowship, again the people are almost identical to ourselves. But occasionally we have the opportunity to “mix with the unwashed…
Daily Devotions
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.’” vss. 11-12 Matthew 9:9-13 All people have been made righteous in Christ! This is a basic tenet of Christianity 101. But an astounding number of people seem to believe their righteousness derives from their own acts and decisions.…
Daily Devotions
Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors!” vs 9 James 5:9-10 When people are in a waiting mode it’s not unusual for them to become irritated with one another. Even when there are no overt expressions of hostility there is likely to be an undercurrent of grumbling, and that’s what James was facing in his little community. He wanted it to stop, and not surprisingly…
Daily Devotions
He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…” vs. 4a Isaiah 2:1-5 In reading the Hebrew scriptures, it’s easy to get the idea that God was an advocate of war and encouraged the people of Israel to engage in ferocious combat in defense of their land and to subjugate their enemies. More than that, it’s often implied that the Lord assisted in those…
Daily Devotions
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” vs. 13 Luke 18:13-14 While Jesus frequently lashed out at the Pharisees in his parables, he didn’t believe they were bad people. On the contrary, his love for them was deep, but he feared that their arrogance would ultimately leave them isolated from God. The more they trusted in their own righteousness,…
Daily Devotions
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” vss. 5b-6 Amos 8:5b-8 Amos may have been from the hill country of a poor nation, but he understood how the market operated in Israel during its “golden years.” His investigation didn’t take long and his report was scathing. Everything had been engineered to…
Daily Devotions
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” vs. 5-6 Psalm 1 When the Pharisees that Jesus encountered made distinctions between the sinners and the righteous, and encouraged strict separation, they weren’t just making stuff up. Those ideas had been around for a long time and were even embedded in their holy scriptures.…
Daily Devotions
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” vs. 4 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 Paul uses dualistic language here to describe those forces present in the world that contrive to keep us from recognizing the presence of Christ, either in ourselves or in the world. While we might not call those powers the…