Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” ––Job 1:21 Many of us have said things disrespectful of God when our life hasn’t gone as planned. Contrast this attitude with “a blameless and upright man named Job, who feared God and avoided evil” (Jb 1:1). Most likely, “you have heard of the steadfastness of Job” (Jas 5:11). Even in view of all the suffering Satan heaped upon him, “Job did not sin, nor did he say anything...

“Woe to the complacent!” –Amos 6:1 A lifestyle focused on comfort, entertainment, and enjoyment leads to complacency, that is, a selfishness because of which we don’t care that much about other people’s lives and salvation (see Am 6:4-6). Complacency is only one of the side effects of a pleasure-seeking lifestyle. A self-centered lifestyle gradually causes a spiritual blindness and deafness through which we become so hardened that even someone risen from the dead would not be able to touch our hearts (Lk 16:31). Because we naturally want a lifestyle that is as comfortable as possible, we are doomed to be...

The Son of Man “must first endure many sufferings, be rejected by the elders, the high priests and the scribes, and be put to death, and then be raised up on the third day.” –Luke 9:22 Early in His public ministry, Jesus told His apostles to keep it a secret that He was the Messiah (Lk 9:21). When He healed people and set them free from the devil, He told these people to keep it secret. One explanation for this may be that Jesus wanted to reveal His sufferings and death before publicizing His messianic power. Because the crucified Jesus...

“Nothing is new under the sun.” –Ecclesiastes 1:9 The author of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes is a wise man named Qoheleth (Eccl 1:1). He is wise, but he lived before the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. From his perspective, “all things are vanity!” (Eccl 1:2) Many people today are likewise pessimistic about living in this world filled with misery and tears. The New Testament recognizes this. Life “without God in the world” is definitely a life “without hope” (Eph 2:12). Apart from Jesus, we “can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). Yet the Good News is that...