Category: Bible Reading & Meditation
“Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. –Hosea 14:2 Because there are such things as good and bad, because we all sin, and because we all have consciences (even if they may be malformed and suppressed), we all have guilt to some degree. We can minimize guilt by either accepting God’s grace to live a good life or by suppressing our consciences and hoping we die before reality reactivates them. However, some guilt is part of being a human being. We can benefit from guilt rather than run away from it. We can...
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“They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts.” –Jeremiah 7:24 If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts (see Ps 95:7-8). We can have hardening of our hearts for years, even for generations (Jer 7:26). For centuries, we can ignore God and become progressively worse than our fathers, who were worse than their fathers and grandfathers (see Jer 7:26). The hardening of hearts can be chosen not only by individuals but by nations (see Jer 7:28). Hard and hardening hearts can be generational, epidemic, deteriorating, and international. They can become so hard that we kill God’s prophets,...
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“Whoever fulfills and teaches these commands shall be great in the kingdom of God.” –Matthew 5:19 During Lent, we especially try to imitate Jesus when He was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert. There Jesus overcame the temptations of the evil one by using God’s Word. We also should use God’s Word to have victory over temptations. However, to do this, we must deeply believe that the Bible is much more than “the word of men, but…truly is, the word of God at work within [we] who believe” (1 Thes 2:13). We won’t use God’s Word in our...
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“Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me Your paths.” –Psalm 25:4 God first taught His ways to His people by giving them His Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1ff). His people lost their way, so God “tried again” (Jer 18:4). He sent them prophets to teach them His ways, and promised to write His laws and ways upon their hearts (Jer 31:33). God’s people struggled to grasp His ways (Is 55:8-9). God’s next step was to send Jesus as a Teacher to teach us His ways and paths (Jn 3:2). Jesus taught us that God’s way is to forgive...
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“But his servants came up and reasoned with him.” –2 Kings 5:13 Naaman was blessed with humble servants who pleaded with him and reasoned with him. Where was the voice of reason who would calm the angry crowd in the Nazareth synagogue? It may have only taken one voice of reason to still the Nazareth crowd and prevent Jesus’ very own townspeople from carrying out their murderous intentions. The disciples and Peter corrected the powerful Sanhedrin. “When the Sanhedrin heard this, they were stung to fury and wanted to kill them” (Acts 5:33). Nevertheless, Gamaliel, the one voice of reason,...
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