verseoftheday

For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.  Romans 4:3-5 NLT Our being right with God has 2 components: 1. We're people, the object of God's love. 2. We put our faith in God.  Believe Him. Paul even uses a very modern example of the transaction that we make with society, employers, bosses, employees where we trade our labour and energy for income, and reminds us that faith in God is NOT like that.  Belief, faith counted Abraham as righteous. Right. OK  Accepted  Acceptable  And Paul reminds the church in Rome it's the same for them, the same for us. There is no transaction.  And in this space we get to experience Grace. Grace that steps towards, that makes a way.  What does that invite us i...

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, "This is my Son,  whom I dearly love. Listen to him!" Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.   Mark 9:7-8 CEB Peter, James, and John had been given a glimpse of something bigger, mysterious, powerful, deeper. A glimpse behind scenes. Behind the story that they were living in, they got a glimpse of the Bigger Story that holds it all... Behind the life that Jesus lived, there was more, there is more.  Sometimes with one another we get a glimpse into a person's inner story, or understand the bigger story of their life, and here Peter, James, and John get the curtain pulled back on something way bigger, a relationship, a reality, that must've been hard to grasp and understand. I read this account and don't understand it.  We are invited just like our brothers 2,000yrs ago were invited to glimpse, a Bigger Story, big enough to hold us, all that we might wreslte with...

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone.  He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus.  Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, "Rabbi, its good that we're here. Let's make three shrines - one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He said this because he didn't know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified.   Mark 9:2-6 CEB Six days after Jesus had been telling them about his death, asked them that question "who do you say that I am?", Jesus takes just three of his team to the mountain where they experience something mind blowing! We hear from Peter because we all respond to things differently, Peter is the one who says things out loud and wants to act, to move, to do something. James and John were terrified too. ...

Sunday Psalms; Psalms 15 CEB Who can live in your tent, LORD?  Who can dwell on your holy mountain?  The person who lives free of blame,  does what is right,  and speaks the truth sincerely; who does no damage with their talk,  does no harm to a friend,  doesn't insult a neighbor; someone who despises those who act wickedly, but who honors those who honor the LORD; someone who keeps their promise even when it hurts; someone who doesn't lend money with interest, who won't accept a bribe against any innocent person. Whoever does these things will never stumble. Psalms 15 CEB David's song seems to be him trying to figure out what it takes to be right with God. And he gives us a great list. There's lots of goodness in his list, and if I read it quickly enough there's days when I might even meet this "standard". But the reality is I can't even consistently manage the first thing on the list...which is one reason why we need Jesus. And His Grace. And His...

Romans 3:23-26 CEB All have sinned and fall short of God's glory, but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus.   Through his faithfulness, God displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his righteousness in passing over sins that happened before, during the time of God's patient tolerance. He also did this to demonstrate that he is righteous in the present time, and to treat the one who has faith in Jesus as righteous. Romans 3:23-26 CEB Paul reminds us that we're all in the same boat - all miss the mark, all of us.  I'm not sure which words jump out at you from this passage, but notice these: "freely" "freely by his grace" "faithfulness" "mercy" "patient" And notice the "direction" - it's God stepping towards us, making a way. Because Love. Love is who God is and what He does.  ...

Friday! Proverbs! The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD;  the knowledge of the holy one is understanding. Proverbs 9:10 CEB Verses like this one have been used as weapons to bring about some kind of external compliance with "the rules" - often wielded by someone with power (like parents wanting children to do something or not do something.) But Proverbs is not written to children.  Translating ancient Hebrew into English must be incredibly difficult - take this word "yir'ah", which is found 41 times in the Old Testament, and includes fear and reverence, and awesome. If Proverbs is about our heart, what does this Proverb invite us into or towards? Wisdom. Wisdom in Proverbs seems inseparable from God's character. Will we open ourselves up to knowing more of our God? That might include facing fears, and being reverent, and sitting in awe. This Proverb is also inviting us into a journey. Relationship with God is not static, it's moving,  vibrant, ...

John 21:6 CEB He said,  "Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." So they did, and there were so many fish that they couldn't haul in the net.  John 21:6 CEB I'm sure someone has written a book on the "7 principles of net casting for a successful life" from this passage, but I don't think that is what this is all about.  The disciples in the boat having been out fishing at night didn't recognise Jesus at all.  He was just some random guy on the shore giving fishing advice. It was the result of that advice that made them realise it was Jesus. This miracle pointed them to Jesus.  Through what happened they were able to see Jesus clearly for who he is. The Kingdom isn't pointing us to material prosperity, but pointing us to Jesus.  Our culture wants to make it about the fish.  The resurrected, back in his body, saviour of the world, fishing advisor, friend, conqueror of death, Jesus, that's who is at the centre of the...