verseoftheday

Friday! Proverbs! [16] The labor of the righteous leads to life, The wages of the wicked to sin. Proverbs 10:16 NKJV Read this Proverb in different versions and there's a wide range of expressions in English. I wonder if we try too hard to find literal meanings, or connections that make direct sense in our culture 3000 years since these were written. Perhaps Proverbs like this are here to invite us to think about the things we do that lead to Life, and the things we do that take us away from Life? What goes on in our hearts, our minds, that moves us from Life? And what moves us towards Life? Where can I make a shift today? Towards Life for me? For those around me? For those in my community? Where can I speak Life today? #proverbs  #wisdom  #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #speaklife 

Mark 10:43-45 NLT "But among you it will be different.  Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:43-45 NLT Today I'm wondering where in my life, my day, leadership might take the form of serving? Where does the "serving others" get expressed? Why does it feel so hard sometimes to even think of others let alone serve? If Jesus said being a servant is what he is about, and I'm a follower of Jesus, then being a servant of others should be easy shouldn't it? Given that disciples didn't get it, and they were living with and travelling with Jesus, maybe it's OK if it takes a while for us to get it too, to not be "perfect", to expect that living in the upsidedown kingdom isn't always easy... #gospelofMark #GoodNews  #invitation ...

Mark 10:41-45 NLT When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said,  "You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.  But among you it will be different.  Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:41-45 NLT "But among you it will be different". Welcome to the upsidedown Kingdom! "But among you it will be different". Where is Jesus calling you and me to different today? Where is He inviting us to hold a different value to that of the culture around us, that is pushing it's agenda? "But among you it will be different". Jesus was first calling his team to be different together, in their r...

Mark 10:38-40 NLT But Jesus said to them, "You don't know what you are asking!  Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?  Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?" "Oh yes," they replied, "we are able!" Then Jesus told them, "You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left.  God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen." Mark 10:38-40 NLT This is a sobering statement from Jesus. Not sure I'd be too keen on sticking with Jesus if he said that to me! I wonder what Jesus was talking about here? Having to face death? Was it specific for James & John? Does it flow down to us too as followers of Jesus? One thing that is clear is that there is a deeper story at work, a deeper conversation and work of the Father that goes on. Isn't this what faith is,...

Mark 10:35-39 NLT [35] Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him.  "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do us a favor." "What is your request?" he asked.  They replied, "When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left."  But Jesus said to them, "You don't know what you are asking!  Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?  Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?" "Oh yes," they replied, "we are able!" Mark 10:35-39 NLT It's too easy to look at James and John  and blame them for a poor attitude, poor motivation. But we're not them.  We're not living in their culture, their shoes, their story.  I wonder what I would be thinking if I'd left my business, my family, to travel around with this Rabbi who is now famous, ...

Sunday Psalms; Psalms 30:1, 6-7, 11-12 NLT [1] I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me.  You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. ... [6] When I was prosperous, I said, "Nothing can stop me now!"  [7] Your favor,  O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain. Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered. ... [11] You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.  You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, [12] that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.  O Lord my God,  I will give you thanks forever! Psalms 30:1, 6-7, 11-12 NLT There's a story beneath this song of David's. Read the whole song and there seems to be an underlying drama or event in David's life he is reliving in this song. A story that included enemies, illness of some sort (stress related?), prosperity - and believing that prosperity would save him - loss, and a return to God who may not have changed David's circumstances, but shifted things in him th...

The wealth of the rich is their fortress;  the poverty of the poor is their destruction. Proverbs 10:15 NLT The story Jesus told recorded by Matthew in Ch16 of his Gospel account of the rich young man who asked Jesus what good thing he needed to do to get eternal life. The conversation led to Jesus inviting this person to give away his wealth, and to follow Jesus. And at that moment anyway, he couldn't do it.  His wealth had moved from being a fortress, to being a prison, a barrier to the fully aliveness that Jesus was offering.  His wealth made him poor.  Welcome to the upsidedown Kingdom... Jesus invites us to follow him - I wonder what I'm holding on to today that stops me from stepping towards fully aliveness with Him? #Proverbs  #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep