Tagged: message of the day

“Return to the Lord.” –Hosea 14:3 Like the prodigal son, we may have run away from home (Lk 15:13), done our own thing, and collapsed through our guilt (Hos 14:2). We are sick of seeing pigs live a better life than we do (see Lk 15:16-17). Finally, we decide to get out of sin and ask the Lord’s forgiveness. The Lord rejoices to see us, for He wants to heal our defection and turn His wrath away from us (Hos 14:5). The only problem is that the Lord wants to love us freely (Hos 14:5). He wants to love us...

“O, that today you would hear His voice: ‘Harden not your heart.’ ” –Psalm 95:7-8 There’s a lot of attention these days on hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis. The arteries clog and harden to the point where the flow of blood can be almost completely blocked. This can lead to sudden death. In a similar way, a hard heart, stiff neck, and turned back lead to spiritual death. That’s why we bend our knees in worship and bow our heads in prayer. That’s one side effect of the various patterns of standing, sitting, kneeling, processing up to Communion and back,...

“What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” –Deuteronomy 4:8 “God is Love” (1 Jn 4:16). Accordingly, He wants to give people the best, the greatest. Therefore, He raises up great people to do great things. God calls us to greatness because He is Love. We will be great and our nation will be great if we: observe God’s law carefully (Dt 4:6-8; Mt 5:19), teach God’s commands (Mt 5:19), and serve people (Mt 20:26). This obeying, teaching, and serving is so demanding that, like Jesus,...

“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,...

“He turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him.” –2 Kings 5:12-13 Proud Naaman was surrounded by humble servants. His wife’s servant girl, a young Israelite whose country Naaman had raided, swallowed any national pride she may have held and pointed Naaman to the source of healing. At the house of the prophet Elisha, Naaman’s humble “servants came up and reasoned with him,” leading him to healing in the Jordan’s waters. Such humility was not an automatic response for a servant, as Elisha’s servant Gehazi tragically proved shortly after Naaman’s healing (see 2...