verseoftheday

Mark 10:48-50 NLT "Be quiet!" many of the people yelled at him.  But he only shouted louder,  "Son of David, have mercy on me!"   When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, "Tell him to come here." So they called the blind man.  "Cheer up," they said. "Come on, he's calling you!" Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. Mark 10:48-50 NLT Bartimaeus moved from ignored to included because Jesus heard him. The crowd seemed to think that all this blind man living on the edge of society wanted was some attention.  Cheer up. Jesus has noticed you.  The crowd had missed him. Still didn't see him as worthy, worth including. "Come on, your getting the attention we're guessing is what you want". Bartimaeus who needed the permission of the crowd and the invitation of Jesus had the barriers to Jesus removed. And he jumped at the opportunity. I wonder how often I'm part of that crowd who keep Jesus to ...

Psalms 32:3, 10-11 CSB [3] When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. ... [10]...but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him.  Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;  shout for joy,  all you upright in heart. Psalms 32:3, 10-11 CSB David had no way of testing the brittleness or otherwise of his bones any more than I do, but what his metaphor recognises is that our behaviour, emotions,  thoughts and physical well-being are connected.  This is not some modern idea but one that was clear to David 3000 years ago...we are an embodied soul and completely connected. And his pathway forward is found in v10 - trust in our God, and then our story, our circumstances, our thoughts, emotions, bodies, our well-being is "surrounded by Unfailing Love". The redemptive strand is right here for us to cling to no matter what is in front of us today. #psalms #songs  #unfailinglove  #redemptivestra...

Sunday Psalms; Psalms 32:1, 3, 5 NLT [1] Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven,  whose sin is put out of sight! ... [3] When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. .... [5] Finally,  I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.  I said to myself,  "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord." And you forgave me!  All my guilt is gone. Interlude Psalms 32:1, 3, 5 NLT In this song of David's the redemptive strand is found in forgiveness. Forgiveness that comes from confession. Confession that comes from the internal realisation of David's that his choices or thoughts, words, were doing not in line with how God has called him to live.  There was an internal battle going on.  And change came on the back of confession. David doesn't tell us how long it took him to get here, but to write a song about it indicates it took some time... If he's anything like me, I'm not that keen on ackn...

The one who follows instruction is on the path to life,  but the one who rejects correction goes astray. Proverbs 10:17 CSB When we look for Jesus in this Proverb he is the one who followed instruction, lived out the plan, listened to, sought out the conversations with His Heavenly Father. And that path led him to places of joy, community, miracles, healing...and disappointment, loss, grief, rejection, abuse, Court, and the Cross...and to resurrection and the fully aliveness of life with the Father... When we follow Jesus that too is our pathway. Along the way glimpses of fully aliveness, holding hope for all that we were meant to be will one day be fully revealed... #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep  #speaklife #fullyaliveness

Friday! Proverbs! The one who follows instruction is on the path to life,  but the one who rejects correction goes astray. Proverbs 10:17 CSB Mmm so easy this morning to see how this applies to others! But if these types of Proverbs are not weapons, but tools to inspect my own heart, I'm invited to ask where do I reject correction, direction, advice, reasoning, or reproof? Maybe it's just me who doesn't like being told what to do, where I might be missing the mark? My guess is that we all want to be on the "path to life". The word for "life" here is "chay" or "chayah", to be alive, so to be on the path to aliveness, to being fully alive! Our culture every day is pushing it's ideas about what fully aliveness is and where it's found, so I'm wondering on this chilly morning what instruction, what wisdom, what truth, our God is inviting me to step towards, to follow today, that will lead to a little more fully aliveness? What ...

Mark 10:46-48 NLT Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him.  A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" "Be quiet!" many of the people yelled at him.  But he only shouted louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Mark 10:46-48 NLT I wonder how often in my life I have been one of the crowd who may not have said it out loud, but certainly said it inside "just be quiet". Bartimaeus was on the margins of society. He wasn't included in the group - he was on the roadside. Begging to survive. Living with disabilty. Alone. Not like the group.  And somehow he knew about Jesus. He had enough connection with others to know Jesus royal line, and that somehow Jesus might be able to help him.  Perhaps he had a perspective about Jesus that others didn...

Romans 9:2-3 NLT My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed - cut off from Christ! - if that would save them.  Romans 9:2-3 NLT We've just seen in Ch8 of Paul's letter that nothing can separate him from God's love, so what he is offering here can't really happen - it's like a saying, a metaphor, for wanting something so desperately, so intensively for his people, that he'd give his most treasured thing. This is love. And this is the love that Jesus did live out for us - gave up what was most precious for us. And this is the love that saves us. And it's the love we're invited to live out too...however sporadically and incomplete it might be, but to love others and want to see them follow Jesus too. To know Him And to be known (Whether we feel it or not, know it or not, even believe it or not, we are, Beloved) #letters #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #weareB...