Tagged: Bible Study

SIMPLY LOVE

“There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” –1 Corinthians 13:13 Life is simple. The meaning of life is love, for God is Love (1 Jn 4:16). All we have to do is to love God with all our hearts (Dt 6:5), love ourselves (Mt 22:39), and love our neighbors (Mt 22:39). God is easy to love sometimes (see Lk 4:22). But then He speaks the truth in love (see Eph 4:15), and we desire to throw Him over a cliff (Lk 4:29-30). Moreover, we live in the...

“CONSUMING FIRE” (HEB 12:29)

“My eyes have witnessed Your saving Deed displayed for all the peoples to see: a revealing Light to the Gentiles.” –Luke 2:30-32 Jesus is the Light of the world (see Lk 2:32; Jn 8:12). “He is like the refiner’s fire” (Mal 3:2). He is “a consuming Fire” (Heb 12:29). We are like candles. We give light (Mt 5:14) only through being consumed by God’s love. The Lord is lighting several people now with priestly and religious vocations. If you let the Lord light the candle of your life, your light will shine very brightly. Through your vocation as a priest,...

WORD-WORK

“A man scatters seed on the ground. He goes to bed and gets up day after day. Through it all the seed sprouts and grows without his knowing how it happens.” –Mark 4:26-27 Does God’s Word work? Does faith truly come through hearing and then hearing comes by the Word of God? (Rm 10:17) Is God’s Word living and effective? (Heb 4:12) If so, then why is the world in its present shape despite all the preachers, churches, and Bibles? God’s answer to these most important questions is that, as rain and snow always accomplish their purposes, so His Word...

GOD’S WORD FOR YOU

“Is a lamp acquired to be put under a bushel basket or hidden under a bed? Is it not meant to be put on a stand?” —Mark 4:21 The above Scripture verse instantly transformed my life. While attending a retreat forty-two years ago, a friend wrote an encouraging note to me (see Heb 10:24-25) and concluded it with the above passage. I was intensely shy, attending the retreat only to gain solitude for prayer. My friend observed that God had given me spiritual gifts and a calling to share those gifts with a hurting world. The letter touched me, but...

A SOW-SOW HARVEST

“What the sower is sowing is the word.” –Mark 4:14 In His parable of the sower, Jesus doesn’t mention anything about the farmer except that he “went out sowing” (Mk 4:3). However, we can conclude the following about the sower from Jesus’ parable: “God’s word is living and effective” (Heb 4:12). The seed, that is, the Word of God (Mk 4:14), grew regardless of the skill and holiness of the farmer. God’s Word is far greater than those who sow it. The only skill the farmer needed was to get out there in the field and put the seed out...