Continue reading “Sustained By God”Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one brought him anything to eat, did they?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.“ John 4:31-34
New English Translation
Birthmarks: Part 2 – Good or Sinful?
Continue reading “Birthmarks: Part 2 – Good or Sinful?”God saw all that he had made—and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31
New English Translation
Birthmarks: Part 1 – Known By Love
“Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
New English Translation
Remember that song that goes “they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love”? I mean, how could a person forget it after the first time they hear it… after all, it does have a habit of getting stuck in people’s heads. You’re welcome for the earworm.
Continue reading “Birthmarks: Part 1 – Known By Love”Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Continue reading “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness. And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil. Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness—the one who does not love his fellow Christian—is not of God. 1 John 3:4-10
New English Translation
Love Him Back
Continue reading “Love Him Back”For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. John 3:16-20
New English Translation
He Knows What It’s Like
Continue reading “He Knows What It’s Like”Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted. Hebrews 2:14-18
New English Translation
Defining Blessed
So many people have so many definitions of “blessed,” Christian and secular alike. Generally, their idea of the word revolves around some concept of things going right or getting something you wanted. Yet, when we look at scripture, Jesus seems to give the exact opposite definition of someone who is blessed.
Continue reading “Defining Blessed”Does God Care About Clothes?
Continue reading “Does God Care About Clothes?”“You are to clothe them—your brother Aaron and his sons with him—and anoint them and ordain them and set them apart as holy, so that they may minister as my priests. Make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked bodies; they must cover from the waist to the thighs. These must be on Aaron and his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they bear no iniquity and die. It is to be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants after him.” Exodus 28:41-43
New English Translation
Beyond My Understanding
It’s easy to get focused on what we can see and what we desire. It’s easy for our prayers to be influenced by what we understand, our human wisdom. I think that’s why there are so many people who insist their prayers haven’t been answered. The prayers were relying so much on human wisdom and understanding of the situation that anything other than the perfect formula demanded by the person praying is considered their prayer being unanswered. However, this denies the fact that God’s wisdom is greater than any human understanding.
Continue reading “Beyond My Understanding”Be Intentional
Continue reading “Be Intentional”Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people, because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24
New English Translation