verseoftheday

Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. Proverbs 19:27 NIV Does this proverb point us to Jesus? He had public ministry, talked to crowds, wherever he went people gathered to listen, to be healed. He had his team who he journeyed with, lived with, taught.  And then he would disappear. Go up to the mountains, wander off alone, to spend time with his Father.  So that he did not stray, would not get lost, not get picked off by the enemy, Jesus kept listening to instruction.  He quoted the Old Testament. Psalms. Isaiah.  Alone with the Father. This was Jesus habit.  I want to follow Jesus, and this seems like one of the simplest, easiest, low cost things that I can do to follow Him. So that I don't get picked off by the enemy, get lost, stray, I can choose to spend time alone with my Heavenly Father. #proverbs #wisdom #Godsgym #habits

Friday! Proverbs! Stop listening to instruction, my son,  and you will stray from the words of knowledge. Proverbs 19:27 NIV We're always listening to something. To someone. There's the culture, the place, the people we live with, work with, study with, the books we read, the images we consume, the expectations of those around us, the people we ask, the messages from the media we consume... then there's our own thoughts and the weight we put on what we hear... We're always listening to someone. Our enemy is called the father of lies.  And he is subtle. He weaves truth with lies, and touches on our desires. What we want. What seems good. In the things we hear, there are lies. A stray gets isolated, picked off, lost. Lost because we stop listening to the source of truth.  God's word doesn't always tell us what we want to hear, but His word is true. And became flesh. Lived with us. Embodied grace. Washed feet. Jesus voice is the one we need to hear, seek out, keep

And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10:16 NIV Jesus hugged the kids. Blessed them. The text doesn't say how he did this, but there's a bunch of parents with their young children, there's the disciples trying to shoo them all off, and there's Jesus. Maybe he's standing up and he bends down to pick up each child. Given the situation I think he is on his knees, stooped down to their level, and wrapped these kids in his arms, hugs them, blesses them, let's them totter off. And Jesus takes his time. These children are important to Jesus. They're small, and he made himself small. Jesus is giving his disciples (& us) an object lesson in love (that this is how we too should be). God bends down, makes himself small, comes with open arms, to bless, to speak life, to the small. There's no condemnation here, no waiting til you're good enough, no test, simply God bending down,  kneeling,  with us, arms open wi

When Jesus saw this, he grew angry and said to them,  "Allow the children to come to me. Don't forbid them, because God's kingdom belongs to people like these children." Mark 10:14 CEB This week I saw a clip of Justin Bieber talking about the gospel and his faith.  The disciples were deciding who fitted and who didn't fit into the Kingdom, who was worthy to come and see Jesus, that these children didn't fit. Jesus got angry at that. Don't get in the way of people coming to me, don't let your bias, your estimation of value, of importance get in the way.  I can be more like the disciples than I want to admit. I want to learn to see people more like Jesus does, the "important" in this world and the small, those with a voice, and those who do not.  Especially those who don't. #gospelofmark #wordsofJesus #heartsurgery #lovelikeJesus #upsidedownkingdom

People were bringing children to Jesus so that he would bless them. But the disciples scolded them.  When Jesus saw this, he grew angry... Mark 10:13-14 CEB What was the problem with bringing the kids? Children were not as important in the culture as ours are  Children had no power.  If you're building a kingdom, building a ministry who's got time for the small, the powerless, the voiceless, the less important? Jesus does. He got angry. His anger was not like mine, because it's usually about me, how I'm not being treated as I think I should be. Jesus was angry because the small, the powerless, the voiceless, the less important, were being mistreated.  My anger is often about me. Jesus anger here is an expression of love for the other. The other.  Them. The small, the vulnerable, the voiceless, the powerless, the less important. Love them. #gospelofmark #lovelikeJesus #lovepeople

Jesus answered,  "What did Moses command you?" They said,  "Moses allowed a man to write a divorce certificate and to divorce his wife." Jesus said to them,  "He wrote this commandment for you because of your unyielding hearts." Mark 10:3-5 CEB Jesus is using their theological question designed to trap him, to reveal their own hearts. This word is sklerokardia. A dry, hard unyielding heart. It's like the ground in my back yard. Dry. Unyielding. The grass is dying. You can't dig into it. If this is what your heart is like it's safer for a couple to be divorced - the law is an act of grace for the person in the relationship with less power when the person who's heart should be soft towards them, who should be a place of flourishing is hard, dry, unyielding, dying. I wonder where Jesus would say my heart is like that? A shower of rain does not soften hard ground, and a flood doesn't fix it. It needs consistent steady rain. Just like the Ph

The Son is  the image of the invisible God,  the one who is first over all creation... Colossians 1:15 CEB Not only is Jesus God shrunk, reduced, confined in a body just like ours, he is first, the sovereign, the preeminent, the originator of all creation. He was not just there at creation, Jesus was the agent of it. And  He was born into his creation as a helpless baby, who could do nothing for himself, completely dependent on Mary and Joseph. He made himself small. And didn't just come and visit, didn't just get a taste of what it's like to be human and then zip back, he became one of us. Human. He entered in to the creation. He's not some faraway deity that has to be sacrificed to, to be made happy somehow, he is near. He knows.  He knows what it is to be human. He knows us. He knows me. He knows you. #crazylove #upsidedownkingdom #known #dearlyloved #sunday #worship #thisisourGod

...since you are my loved children.  This is why I've sent Timothy to you; he's my loved and trusted child in the Lord... 1 Corinthians 4:14,17 CEB Paul is loving people in the church as his children, wanting the best for them, wanting them to thrive, and this is his heart for people (even when he is doing some correcting). And he encourages the reader/listener to follow his example. Maybe your family example is great, and maybe it's not, the encouragement here is to love those in our care, to love those coming behind us, those who are under our influence in some way, to love them as the best parent you can picture. (That "best parent you can picture" is a glimpse of our Heavenly Father's heart for us.  He's never going to let us, His dearly loved children go.) #lovepeople #dearlyloved #childrenoftheKing

Friday! Proverbs! He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother is a son who brings shame and reproach. Proverbs 19:26 ESV I wonder what the author of proverbs would say to us today about elder abuse. I wonder what he would say about parts of our rest home industry, about the debate around euthanasia, how we see and value people. I wonder what he would say about how we treat people with less power than we have. How I treat people. What I say out loud about them. What I think in my heart. Both mum and dad in this proverb have less power than their child. They are the vulnerable ones. One of the last things Jesus did before he died was make sure that someone was going to look after his mum, the person in his life who was going to be left vulnerable. I wonder what the author of this proverb would say to me today? #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #lovepeople

Some Pharisees came and, trying to test him, they asked,  "Does the Law allow a man to divorce his wife?" Jesus answered, "What did Moses command you?" Mark 10:2-3 CEB This whole thing is about the heart. The heart of the Pharisees.  But it's not recorded here so that we can see how clever Jesus is or how far their hearts had moved from God's, but to help us, to help me, to see my own heart. The law was being used by the Pharisees to exercise power and control over others. My kingdom come. They added more rules. My will be done. Where am I on these things? Yes Lord, I'll serve you, (but when its not too inconvenient). Yes I'll love people (but not that person). The Pharisees were coming from their cultural standpoint. The law. What's ours? The individual? It's all about me. My.  The battle I have is to fully give my "My" to God. To truly and completely want His kingdom to come, His will to be done. Jesus promises that if we give up

Crowds gathered around him again and,  as usual, he taught them. Some Pharisees came and,  trying to test him,  they asked... Mark 10:1-2 CEB Jesus "as usual" is teaching people, and it doesn't seem to be in a building or a church, and he takes questions! It's OK to bring our questions to Jesus.  Bring them. These guys though didn't come with curious hearts or wanting to learn or try to understand. They came to test Jesus. The word for test also means to tempt. We don't know what Jesus was teaching, but my guess is that the question these men were about to ask was off topic. Designed to trap. To tempt. We also don't know how Mark knew their heart intent. Maybe it was obvious from their demeanor, or maybe it's from one of those talks Jesus had with his team we don't have recorded. Either way, God is interested in their heart motives. Just as He's interested in mine.  Yes bring our questions to God, but no matter what the question, our God is int

Jesus left that place and went beyond the Jordan and into the region of Judea.  Crowds gathered around him again and,  as usual,  he taught them.  Mark 10:1 CEB We have more freedom than ever to move, to go to another place.  Jesus was on the move again, but unlike us, where it's often all about our comfort or improving my "life" in some way, Jesus was moving because it was part of his mission. I move house/job/town/church because it's better for me (& then add a sprinkle of God's will or something on top) Jesus was on mission first.  As usual, Jesus taught. I wonder what Mark would say about my "as usual" if he lived with me, followed me around? We were at a funeral last week and that's where you get reminded of a person's "as usual".  Sayings, habits, idiosyncrasies, the annoying, the funny, the beautiful, the inspiring, the sad.  Will my "as usual" reflect more and more the One who I claim to follow. It's less about

In this kind of situation, what is expected of a manager is that they prove to be faithful. I couldn't care less if I'm judged by you or by any human court; I don't even judge myself... 1 Corinthians 4:2-3 CEB Tim Keller wrote a short booklet called "The freedom of self-forgetfulness" based partly on these verses, unpacking the marks of a heart radically changed by the gospel, and this is one; I'm not worried about what you think of me. I'm not worried about what the world thinks of me. I'm not even concerned  about what I think of myself. My own internal critic.  As we are faithful to God, to his two great calls to love God and to work that out in the world by loving people, the gospel centred humility that flows from that is "not thinking  more of myself or  thinking less  of myself, it is thinking  of myself less." This is the direction Paul is encouraging us in, being radically faithful to Jesus, so that, we think of ourselves less. There

He is the image of the invisible God... Colossians 1:15 ESV If we want to know something about God, who we cannot see, look at Jesus. He is the representation of God in our world.  If you want to know what God values, look at what Jesus values. If you want to know what God doesn't like, look at what made Jesus mad, who he pushed back on big time. If you want to know God's mission, what he is about, look at Jesus. He came to make a way, to become the way, to restore us back to God  He pushed back on those who thought and taught that their own performance was enough. He valued people.  Loves people. Filled with compassion towards people, encouraged, taught, healed, blessed, people. Gave his life up for us. He heard our cries, stepped into our broken world, and gave himself for us, became sin, became death, because he loves. Because he loves. You & me. #dearlyloved #sunday #worship #thisisourGod

Strike a scoffer  and the naive may become shrewd,  But reprove one who has understanding  and he will gain knowledge. Proverbs 19:25 NASB The second part shows an alternative way to change. Be a wise person, and when you get corrected you learn something from it. Nice. That's me too. Sometimes. Sometimes I'm the scoffer, the naive becoming shwred, sometimes the wise, sometimes in the audience.  I think the point of this proverb is to remind us that we're all complicated,  in different circumstances or times of life we can be any of the people in this little story, that we like to pigeon hole people and they just won't be contained in a category. People. You and me. We're much more complicated, fun, glorious, deep, simple, obvious, obscure, hurt, healing, beautiful, wonder full, &  potential full than any category can contain. #lovepeople

Friday! Proverbs! Strike a scoffer  and the naive may become shrewd,  But reprove one who has understanding  and he will gain knowledge. Proverbs 19:25 NASB We have a scoffer. Someone who hits the scoffer. The naive person/people The wise person. And the narrator. And the audience. 6 characters in this little story, written in and to an ancient Middle Eastern culture, and it's in the Bible so is there for us for a reason, and somehow is part of God's redemptive story... The naive or simple person learns from seeing the hardship of someone else (the scoffer). But what is learned?  To be shrewd so that they don't get beaten like the scoffer was. There's change, but not at a heart level, not because what the scoffer did was wrong, but from fear of the consequences. That's an OK way to learn when it's not a moral issue, but when it's about what's right & wrong, truth & error, good & evil, then it's not a healthy way to change, because it just

A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God. 1 Corinthians 4:1 CSB Paul seemed to be fighting against the tendency for people to put their teacher, their Rabbi, on a pedestal. That there was greater honour in following one person over another. Is our celebrity culture any different? Even in the church.  We so easily elevate talented, gifted people, singers, worship leaders, preachers. Not only do we elevate them, it's easy to think that's what a successful Christian looks like, and it's a short step to that's what I should look like and I don't measure up. Paul says just don't. We're servants.  Look at me as a servant - someone you don't even look at.  Someone you look past because it's the master who is important. #keepoureyesonJesus #followJesus

Salt is good... Mark 9:49-50 ESV Jesus is with a group of adults, with a small child wrapped in his arms. He's been telling them how to be great, by loving the small, the vulnerable, and he's been very clear about the seriousness of trapping, using, abusing the small and vulnerable for our purposes.  And then he gives the way forward: to be salt. Salt is a preserver. Salt is a healer. Salt gives flavour. Jesus calls us to be life preservers with one another. How does that look for you? For me? What does bringing healing look like where you and I live? Is my touch healing or hurtful, are my words healing? What I say, what I post, is it healing, life preserving? And then there's flavour! Salt brings out the flavour in others, the goodness, the differences and enjoys them. No matter what the flavour is, if there was only one, life would become very bland very quickly. Salt looks for the flavour that others bring, looks for the goodness, and celebrates drawing it out. How can w

So dont boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you - whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 NLT Paul was telling the church not to lose sight of God's truth in the noise of the culture. Not to get bound up following a person. Because what you already have is bigger than all of that, it's already covered. Someone described it this way: Hold up your right hand. Tuck your thumb into your palm Close your fingers over your thumb. This is your life wrapped in Christ. Now take your left hand and wrap that around your right with your thumb tucked in. This is your life; Wrapped in Christ; Wrapped in God. You belong. Safe Secure The clamouring noise of the culture, the measuring up to others, even those we might look up to in our faith, kind of fade in importance when we see our life held in Je

Don't you know that you are God's temple and God's Spirit lives in you?  If someone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person, because Gods temple is holy, which is what you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 CEB All that the temple of God was in the Old Testament, that is what you are. Important. That is what you are Specially crafted. That is what you are From the best materials, hand made That is what you are The place where God dwells That is what you are The place where heaven meets earth That is what you are The place where God is dwelling on earth That is what you are The place of Gods mercy, justice, grace and love That is what you are The place where God's Spirit lives. That is what you are Tough day ahead? Challenging week? Difficult circumstances? Step in to this week as the living, breathing, temple of  God. When the world tries to define you, squeeze you into it's mold, stand firm. #monday #thatiswhatyouare #templeofGod

I planted,  Apollos watered,  but God made it grow. Because of this,  neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,  but the only one who is anything  is God  who makes it grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 CEB I have some favourite authors who I'd love to meet, some fave Bible teachers, and it's easy to tie my walk with God to these people, to any person. Paul, as the celebrity pastor, is saying no. God is at work in you, not me. Don't put me or anyone else in God's place, growth in grace comes through God. Yes people have a part to play, but the real agent of change is not a church service, conference, worship time, or a particular person.  Lean into God, dig into His Word, commune with His Spirit, keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, and in that, sing, pray, listen, learn, share, bear one another's burdens. In all that God wants us to grow, not to stay the same, but to be transformed to be more like Jesus. With all our stuff  Wit

"If anyone causes one of these little ones - those who believe in me - to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea." Mark 9:42 NIV Jesus is not given to dramatic warnings, but he gives one here.  It seems that he has continued teaching with this small child wrapped in, so this is likely spoken quietly, measured, yet unmistakable. The word here to stumble is "skandalizo", which also means to set a trap. You only set a trap for something you want to capture or kill, to take something from. You want to set a trap for the small, vulnerable, disadvantaged, for a child, to take something from them, to use for your own purposes in some way, to trip them up, you're in deep trouble. To trip someone is deliberate, to use your power against someone smaller. In God's economy, He calls us to use our power to help the small, the vulnerable, the marginalised, to bend down and scoop them up, just

Friday! Proverbs! The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, But will not even bring it back to his mouth. Proverbs 19:24 NASB What is this doing in the Bible?!? Is this an over the top description of laziness? Seems to be. Could anyone actually be that lazy? If it's a communal food bowl, does the person just not care about others who need food.  The word "sluggard" here also means indolent, someone addicted to a life of pleasure. If we ramp that up to society, to the world, am I one of those who has my  hand in the bowl, and don't care about the hungry? We corner resources and don't use them or share them. We create goods for pleasure while others go hungry...maybe that's what the writer wants us to think through. When we allow corruption to flourish, the people who benefit get addicted to the pleasures of life at others expense. This proverb was written to an ancient audience, but it's in here for us to ponder too, to think about how we live, what's i

He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms,  he said to them,  "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me..." Mark 9:36-37 NIV At the very least Jesus's day was interupted. He could've been doing important work like preaching in the temple, but here he is giving a child a hug. And he is telling his team, and me, that this is what greatness in the Kingdom looks like...seeing the small, the voiceless, the vulnerable, and at the very least, allowing your day to be interrupted by them. Two final things to think on about Jesus lesson here... 1. The child is not his. We might find it easy to give and give to someone in our family, but someone who's not?  2. This child, who represents the small and the voiceless can't give anything back.  And Jesus says to welcome this one in, scoop them up.  At the very least it may be inconvenient. Jesus saw us, vulnerable, small, without hope, and entered in to our wor

But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16 CSB Paul and Sosthenes have just written this long speech about the mysteries of God, how the Spirit of God has a role in knowing God's thoughts, and ours, and how the Spirit of God is different from the spirit of this world...and then he drops this in: But you have the mind of Christ. This really is swimming in the deep end of the mystery pool. In Colossians 2:2 Paul tells us that all the mysteries of God are hidden in Christ. And we in some (small and incomplete) way have his mind.  As we get to know Jesus, understand his heart, as we commune with God, as we allow the Spirit of God reign, the mind of Christ becomes more and more ours. Bit by bit our thinking changes, what we value changes, what we choose, how we live, how we love others. And it changes how we see ourselves. The lies that clatter around in our heads get squeezed out by the immeasurable worth that God places on us as his chosen, dearly loved, children. #mysteries #

He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms,  he said to them,  "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me..." Mark 9:36-37 NIV A couple of weeks ago it was the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. A survivor of that horror quoted Elie Wiesel who said "the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference". This survivor gave a warning about us being or again becoming indifferent to minorities. Minorities by definition are small. Just like the child in Jesus arms. Don't become indifferent to the hurt or suffering of others just because we may not understand it, or its outside of our experience, or it makes us uncomfortable. You can't wrap someone in your arms and then be indifferent to them. To wrap someone in your arms you have to get close. This is how Jesus called us to live, what greatness in the Kingdom looks like. And it's how Jesus lived. He came close. Lived among us. And his

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you,  I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness,  in fear, and in much trembling. 1 Corinthians 2:1-3 CSB At church yesterday the person preaching started by saying they'd felt unusually anxious and a bit wobbly so would sit on a stool to preach and said "just keeping it real" Weakness,  fear & trembling.  And real & vulnerable & beautiful. We can place a high value on performance. Our pastors, preachers, worship leaders...and if we seem like we don't measure up to some "ideal" well, we're just not enough. Paul says no. Keep Jesus at the centre and come as you are.  You're enough. Love doesn't say I'll love you when you look like X, sound like Y, dress like Z. Love says I love you. I love you because I love you.  With and in all our weakness and fe

He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms,  he said to them,  "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." Mark 9:36-37 NIV In that culture small children had no voice,  no choice, no power. Jesus bent down. Down to this child's level, and either stayed there, or scooped the child up into his arms. Jesus said if you want to be great in my kingdom, in my economy, then see those who are small,  see those with no voice,  bend down, and hold them,  scoop them into your arms, into your life. Welcome them in, in Jesus name (not even for our own honour) and in that, we will discover, uncover, find, the wonder of the upsidedown kingdom. Jesus did it for us. He bent down & scooped us into His arms... #sunday #worship #thisisourGod #upsidedownkingdom #loveGod #lovepeople

Brothers and sisters, consider your calling:  Not many were wise from a human perspective,  not many powerful,  not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise,  and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 CSB Do you remember being at school and there's a game or contest and 2 captains are chosen, and they get to select their team, one by one. Who is chosen? And who is left to the end? But God has chosen those who seem foolish and weak. If what you do seems foolish in the world's eyes, goes against it's version of success, if it seems weak in our culture, not Instagram worthy, but is reflective of Gods heart for this world, for people, then you're in good company. Don't stop. What the world sees as weak, God chose. Lean into Him today, whether successful or not, strong, from a great family, healthy...or not...lean in Jesus and let Him work in and thru our weakness... #chosen