'mercy' Tagged Posts (Page 3)
Daily Devotions: January 5, 2020
January 5, 2020 For full passage click: John 1:15-18 … “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” vs. 18 We are so blessed that the Christ was made fully known in the person of Jesus. Through that incarnation we have come to know that grace is the normative word of God for the universe. Obviously, humans have needed to invent laws of many…
Daily Devotions: September 12, 2019
September 12, 2019 For full passage click: 1 Timothy 1:12-14 … “But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” vss. 13b-14 While some question whether Paul actually wrote the letters to Timothy that are attributed to him, there’s little doubt that they give us valuable information about his background and call. Because of his strong religious convictions, he…
Daily Devotions: September 10, 2019
September 10, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 51:1-5 … “Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.” vs. 5 According to Hebrew tradition, this psalm was David’s response when Nathan, the prophet, confronted him after his dalliance with Bathsheba. Even if the writer wasn’t David, it was surely a person struggling with deep and profound feelings of shame and guilt. Many of us know what that’s like. For one reason or another we manage to…
Daily Devotions: September 9, 2019
September 9, 2019 For full passage click: Exodus 32:7-14 … “And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.” vs. 14 In this little story from Exodus, it appears that the Lord has flipped a gasket over the idolatrous behavior of the Israelites in the wilderness, and is ready to wipe them all out. Moses, aware of the Lord’s anger, has to use his best debating skills to avert disaster. What stands…
Daily Devotions: August 25, 2019
August 25, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 13:15-17 … “When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.” vs. 17 Public opinion was solidly on the side of Jesus in the Sabbath-healing controversy. Jesus had broken the proscription about healing, but he had won the hearts of the crowd. The religious authorities had been humiliated. Jesus had pounced on their hypocrisy, implying…
Daily Devotions: May 9, 2019
May 9, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 23:4-6 …“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.” vs. 6 We frequently hear the 23rd Psalm at funeral or memorial services; it’s the default Scripture choice for people looking for comforting passages. And it’s a good pick! There’s something about its familiar verses, especially in the King James Version, that soothes troubled…
Daily Devotions: May 1, 2019
May 1, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 30:1-5 …“For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” vs. 5 The psalmist loved his relationship with the Lord. And because he felt so personally connected, there were times he believed that his actions had angered God. Sometimes that’s how it is when we love someone deeply; we assume that our careless words and…
Daily Devotions: April 13, 2019
April 13, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 23:13-30 …“But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.” vs. 23 In a world where despots are in control, matters of justice are subject to the whim of the ruler. According to Luke, Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and had him crucified anyway. The demands and loud shouts of the crowd were all that mattered. As citizens, we have an interest in…
Daily Devotions: October 11, 2018
October 11, 2018 Hebrews 4:12-16 …“Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” vs. 16 Occasionally we run into folks who carry a heaven burden of sin. They’ve done or said things, mostly known only to themselves, that have left them with a giant dose of guilt. They know about forgiveness, but have the sense that it doesn’t apply for them; that somehow…
Daily Devotions: October 9, 2018
October 9, 2018 Amos 5:12-15 …“Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time.” vs. 13 These words from Amos seem a bit strange in their context. He’s been railing against injustice and taking shots at the excesses of the wealthy. We’d expect that he would encourage his listeners to speak up and join the crusade. But he doesn’t do that. Instead, he says that the prudent will keep silent in such a…
Daily Devotions: March 11, 2018
March 11, 2018 John 3:19-21 … “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” vs. 19 The contrast between light and darkness was an important one in the gospel of John. In his prologue he describes the Word as the light of the world, a light which darkness was not able to overcome. In this section, he tells his readers that even though…
Daily Devotions: March 10, 2018
March 10, 2018 John 3:14-18 …“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” vss. 14-15 We can wonder a lot about the writers of the gospels, who they were and why they were motivated to write. Obviously they never guessed that the simple stories they put together would face the unrelenting scrutiny of Greek scholars around the world. But…