verseoftheday

I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat.  But if someone believes it is wrong,  then for that person it is wrong.  And if another believer is distressed by what you eat,  you are not acting in love if you eat it.  Don't let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died. ... For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too.  So then,  let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up. Romans 14:14-19 NLT Paul is still going on about the food - this must've been a hot topic in the church community at the time! When we peel that topic back though, we hear Paul's heart for his community: 1. Be others oriented.  Notice what is important to others, consider others, make choices that take ot...

So why do you condemn another believer?  Why do you look down on another believer? Remember,  we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For the Scriptures say, "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.'" Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. So let's stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. Romans 14:10-13 NLT Don't know what was going on in the church in Rome but Paul spends a lot of time on this "looking down" on others, seeing other believers as "less than" and tells them to just stop it. Stop it because we all get to stand in the same way before God. Stop it, and choose to live in ways that don't trip others up - now that's a bit of a challenge in our increasingly individualistic culture - that I might need to look at my lifestyle and choi...

Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don't argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.  ... So why do you condemn another believer?  Why do you look down on another believer? Romans 14:1, 10 NLT When I read this my mind immediately went to "I don't do that" and then "what about that person who..." Paul's examples in the verses between 1-10 seem to be about preferences (meat v vegetables, what people eat, what holy days they recognise) not about actions that harm others. But something in me doesn't like being told to "not look down" on another person, another believer, not to judge them, like I have some kind of right to do that.  Learning to put down that response is tough work. Fortunately, Paul gives us the mechanism a little earlier in his letter to the church in Rome:   "Don't just pretend to love others.  Really love them.  Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.  Love each other with genuin...

But my enemies say nothing but evil about me.  "How soon will he die and be forgotten?" they ask.  They visit me as if they were my friends,  but all the while they gather gossip,  and when they leave, they spread it everywhere.  All who hate me whisper about me... Even my best friend,  the one I trusted completely,  the one who shared my food,  has turned against me.  Lord,  have mercy on me. Make me well again,  so I can pay them back! Psalms 41:5-10 NLT This psalm was written 1000 years before Jesus, but from our place in history can you see Jesus in this poem? Betrayed. Gossiped about. Lied about. Rejected. Betrayed even by those closest to him. Jesus knows what all these things are like, how betrayal feels.  It's impact. The difference is in the last sentence - David wants to get well to get even, with Jesus it's all open arms, wanting to forgive, to give another opportunity, and that is how much we are loved. The times I ...

Sunday Psalms: But my enemies say nothing but evil about me.  "How soon will he die and be forgotten?" they ask.  They visit me as if they were my friends,  but all the while they gather gossip,  and when they leave, they spread it everywhere.  All who hate me whisper about me,  imagining the worst.  "He has some fatal disease," they say.  "He will never get out of that bed!" Even my best friend,  the one I trusted completely,  the one who shared my food,  has turned against me.  Lord,  have mercy on me. Make me well again,  so I can pay them back! Psalms 41:5-10 NLT Betrayal. Deceit. Gossip. Illness. Loss of relationship. Maybe there is something familiar in David's story, maybe something comforting that even something as ugly as betrayal finds it's expression in the Bible. And guess what? This psalm doesn't end with forgiveness or some kind of resolution, David gives honest voice to his heart in the moment: "Lord,...

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.  Dont copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think... ... Owe nothing to anyone - except for your obligation to love one another. ... The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here.  So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see.  ... Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Romans 12:1,13:8, 12-14 NLT Our thinking matters. Our heart orientation to love matters. And our choices, our actions matter. Paul encourages his readers to move with urgency...to "put on the shining armour of right living".  T...

Friday! Proverbs! Fear of the Lord lengthens one's life,  but the years of the wicked are cut short. Proverbs 10:27 NLT Easy to read this as some kind of promise about how long different groups of people will live  - and then it can be weaponised to guilt people into living to some standard...but if Proverbs is more about the heart, my heart, then maybe this Proverb is about something a little different... Biblehub shares this meaning of the word translated "cut short" here: "(qatsar) spans the concrete act of cutting grain and the figurative idea of being "shortened" or "impatient." Found about forty-nine times, it moves from fields of barley and wheat to the inner life of the soul..." The Message captures it this way: The Fear-of-God expands your life; a wicked life is a puny life. Proverbs 10:27 MSG This is the opposite of what our culture says, which tries to tell me that following Jesus leads to a small, a "puny" life. What abo...