'relationships' Tagged Posts (Page 3)
Daily Devotions: March 1, 2018
March 1, 2018 Psalm 19:7-14 … “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;” vs. 7 We Christians are a silly bunch sometimes. Having fallen in love with grace as the loving word from God, we are prone to be dismissive about the law. Often we imagine that the coming of Jesus negated the law of the Lord and that in Christ we are free simply…
Daily Devotions: February 28, 2018
February 28, 2018 Psalm 19:1-6 … “There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” vss. 3-4a Even though the psalmist likely believed that the earth was flat, his sense of God’s majesty is deep and profound. As he looked up into the heavens he realized that God was more than he could even imagine. By the light…
Daily Devotions: February 27, 2018
February 27, 2018 Exodus 20:12-17 … “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” vs. 17 The people of God have long agreed that there are ten commandments, though most would be hard-pressed to list them in the proper order. And there’s considerable debate about which commandments should be included in the list of ten. Most folks…
Daily Devotions: February 26, 2018
February 26, 2018 Exodus 20:1-11 … “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work…” vss. 8-10 The commandment on the sabbath doesn’t seem as significant as some of the others. We can understand the restriction on graven images as idolatry was always a temptation for God’s people. And it seems obvious…
Daily Devotions: February 25, 2018
February 25, 2018 Mark 8:34-38…“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 It’s become quite common in these times for people to identify themselves as followers of Jesus. For some, it’s a way to disassociate themselves from some of the negativity connected with the current depictions of Christianity as a political or nationalistic movement. In their…
Daily Devotions: February 24, 2018
February 24, 2018 Mark 8:31-33…“He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” vs. 32 As Mark took time to write his little account of Jesus’ ministry, he was careful to let his readers know that Jesus was quite open in talking about the suffering that awaited him, but the disciples had been reluctant to listen. They had their own expectations about how the journey would transpire and they weren’t about to consider…
Daily Devotions: February 23, 2018
February 23, 2018 Romans 4:18-25 … “Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’” vs. 22 According to Genesis, Abram’s introduction to the Lord was coupled with a request that his walk with the Lord be blameless. It’s hard to understand how Abram could possibly pull that off—even if his name did get changed to Abraham. From the stories about him that follow, it’s obvious that he didn’t do what the Lord required. He was pretty much a sinner…
Daily Devotions: February 22, 2018
February 22, 2018 Romans 4:13-17… “For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham…” vs. 16 Paul was writing to a mixed audience, some were Jews and others were Gentiles, and he wanted all of them to know that God’s promise of salvation came by grace through faith,…
Daily Devotions: February 21, 2018
February 21, 2018 Psalm 22:27-31 … “Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.” vs. 30-31 There are those who consider that one day the people of the earth will have had enough of God and be done with primitive origin stories. For them, it’s a matter of maturity and once science has revealed all its secrets, humanity will have…
Daily Devotions: February 20, 2018
February 20, 2018 Psalm 22:23-26 “For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.” vs. 24 The psalmist is full of thanksgiving as he joins the congregation in their prayers. The Lord has heard his cries and did not abandon him in his affliction. Sometimes when we read words like this we might think, “Well, good for him…but that’s not been my…
Daily Devotions: February 19, 2018
February 19, 2018 Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.’” vs. 1 According to Genesis, immediately after the Lord introduced himself, Abram fell on his face—a phrase describing his worship posture that tickles our ears. Think of it! How would we react if asked to be blameless in all of our affairs and doings? It seems almost overwhelming.…
Daily Devotions: February 18, 2018
February 18, 2018 Mark 1:9-15 “He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” vs. 13 Our forty days of Lent are meant to replicate Jesus’ post-baptism experience in the wilderness, and there actually are a few similarities. For one thing, we can pretty much count on being tempted by Satan. Oh it isn’t that the Evil One is trying to get us to sin—we do…