Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“My heavenly Father will treat you in exactly the same way unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” —Matthew 18:35 After Jesus fasted forty days, He came out of the desert “in the power of the Spirit” (Lk 4:14). After our Lenten fast, we too are to be moving in the power of the Spirit, in a new Pentecost. However, the flesh (our fallen nature with its selfish desires) will oppose the Spirit (Gal 5:17). Unforgiveness is the cause of many works of the flesh, such as “hostilities, bickering, jealousy, outbursts of rage, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions,...

“At these words the whole audience in the synagogue was filled with indignation.” —Luke 4:28 When the Lord does something for someone but not for you, do you compare yourself with the other person and feel slighted by God? Jesus told His hometown folk that, although many Jewish widows needed financial help during a three-and-a-half year famine brought on by the prophet Elijah, none of the Jewish widows were helped. Instead, a foreign widow received Elijah’s aid (Lk 4:25-26). Moreover, Israel had many lepers in Elisha’s day, but none of them was healed. God, however, healed the foreigner, Naaman (Lk...

“If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if one should rise from the dead.” —Luke 16:31 The human heart is so twisted and deceitful (Jer 17:9) that many of us, even in a world of instant communication, do not notice hundreds of millions of starving people at our doorsteps (see Lk 16:20). We have made our hearts so hardened that, even if someone were raised from the dead to warn us, we would not repent (Lk 16:31). If we ever change, it will be through God’s Word — from Moses’ Pentateuch...

“Such is the case with the Son of Man Who has come, not to be served by others, but to serve, to give His own life as a ransom for the many.” —Matthew 20:28 Most people recognize they have an inner desire to serve others. Millions are serving the poor, the sick, children, the elderly, the homeless, etc. At Christmas time, many people are even more conscious of their need to serve. However, service has a tendency to get out of hand. It feels good to serve, but it also hurts to serve. For example, Jeremiah was not only unappreciated...