verseoftheday

"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." Matthew 18:35 NIV Our heavenly Father knows we have a tendency to forgive from the surface. Real forgiveness is costly. It costs us our rights, to get even, to get compensation, to get anything... It means we absorb into ourselves the "sin", the words, the actions, the attitude, of the person we're forgiving. The Greek word here for heart is "kardia" - the very centre of who we are, the deepest part of our inner self. That's where Jesus says true forgiveness needs to come from... (Maybe forgiveness is not so easy after all) This is where we are forgiven from. The very heart and core of God! Where our sin was absorbed and payment made... #forgiven #forgive #kardia

Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' Matthew 18:32-33 NIV Jesus is using a story of a person who's massive debt was forgiven by the King, who then showed no forgiveness to someone else over a much smaller thing... I've been forgiven everything. But when I come to forgive, somehow I get stingy. I just don't want to. I still want my rights enforced, my debt to be satisfied... Jesus reminds me that's not the way of the Kingdom, to remember what God has forgiven me for, that Jesus paid the debt, and I'm free from that. And that knowledge should determine how I treat others. My rights are less important than grace. My being right is less important than love. #somethingtochewon #wordsofJesus #upsidedownkingdom #grace #forgiven #forgive

At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres. Nehemiah 12:27 NIV Songs of thanksgiving. The task was done. The wall was built. It was a good thing. It would bring unity, security, prosperity. We're often about the task. But with God it's about the heart. These weren't songs of victory, that we're now stronger than our enemies, that we won, but songs of thanksgiving. Of worship. Of making God bigger. Of ascribing ultimate worth to Him. They'd rebuilt the city, their community & the wall. All good things. But things that could also let them down or consume them if they became the ultimate thing. Family, friends, education, property, travel, work etc. All good things. But not the ultimate thing. #songsofthanksgiving

Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:4-5 NIV While welcoming children is good, in this account the child represents the powerless. And the powerless are often the poor. The marginalised. The outcast. Those on the fringes. The hurt, the lost, the lonely... Jesus says when you welcome, help, feed clothe, heal, bless, empower, promote, teach, house, encourage, free, one of these...that's worship #upsidedownkingdom #lovelikeJesus #sunday #worship #thisisourGod

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them... "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven..." Matthew 18:2-4 NIV This young child, in the middle of a gathering of men. Powerless. You want to be great in my kingdom? Are you prepared to be powerless? Like I did...gave up being God to become a baby. Vulnerable. Small Powerless There can only be one reason & one motivation that drives this...love. Only love. And if we're ever going to give up our power trips, our wanting to rule ourselves and others, to be great in the kingdom... we've got to give up the notion of greatness. And the only way that can work is when we love. Love like Jesus does Love God Love people #wordsofJesus #upsidedownkingdom #lovelikeJesus

Friday! Proverbs! The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. Proverbs 14:11 NIV Flourish. This word in Hebrew seems to mean to bud, to sprout, to shoot...new growth, new life, flourishing, thriving, growing... fruitful. The life God wants for us. The life Jesus died for us to get. The life that flourishes is tapped into the source of life - Jesus used the analogy of the vine. Those who are against God, while their immediate outlook may be good (they're in a house not a tent) that's all going to come to an end. But those oriented towards God, we have the first buds of new growth that will go on forever...we've just got to keep tapped in to the source of life. #jesusatthecentre #flourish #somethingtochewon

...love is kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV This is the law, or part of the law, that we are now called to live by. To be kind. The Greek word used in the Bible is chrésteuomai Definition: I am kind (full of service to others), gentle. Being kind means I think about how my words might affect you, how what I do might impact you. And I need to be gentle. Which may mean I've got to tap into patience, out your needs ahead of mine. Sacrifice even. But at the very least it's about being gentle with each others stories, recognising that we're all on the same journey, all have "stuff"... Lord I think I need your help to be kind today. Can you shift my heart in that direction. Thanks Amen #loveoneanother #inthistogether #walkingeachotherhome

...Moses...went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. Exodus 2:11-12 NLT Moses. One of the heroes of our faith. Epic fail. He must've been angry...but he took time to make sure no other Egyptians were around. Time to reconsider his actions and take a different path... But he didn't. Not only was Moses a murderer, but a murderer on the run. Yet God's grace was big enough to absorb and overcome even this. He can do that in our lives. And in the lives of people we care about. Jesus didn't give up. He went all the way for us, to make a way, become the way...no matter who we are, no matter what we've done... #grace #forgiveness #restoration #walkingeachotherhome

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) John 18:10 NIV Poor Malchus. Just doing his job, but it's Peter this is about. Three years of living travelling & studying with Jesus, and he still gets it wrong. Still makes a mistake. Still lets everyone down. This gives me hope, as I get it wrong, make mistakes, let people down... Peter in the end was restored to ministry and became the rock on which the church was built; for us too there can be restoration as we journey together, help each other when we stumble, support when needed, and carry one another if we have to...as we walk each other home. #bekind #inthistogether #oneanothers #walkingeachotherhome

"We're all just walking each other home" This quote brings a number of images to mind... Of kids walking home together after school... Of someone not wanting to walk alone... Of a journey... Of a warm and welcoming destination... Of walking together...in step... Of choosing to walk together... Of one person going out of their way for the other... Of kindness. Community. Love. There's more than enough pride, anger, bitterness, discord already in this world...and we all feel it, know the hurts, bumps & bruises, but there's room for more forgiveness, restoration. Love. None of us get it right all the time, but we're just walking each other home. #inthistogether #oneanothers https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rMNXnfHp5yalZKVXVBM2JCTFU/view?usp= drivesdk

The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. Proverbs 14:10 ESV It's Jesus who suffered alone. It's his heart his disciples struggled to get. It was Jesus abandoned by God the Father. But not only that...his disciples, his family, they never really got his joy either...until after... They never really got what he was about...until after. He was abandoned for us. Rejected for us. Drunk the cup of bitterness for us. Because He loves. And one day we're really going to get it, to see Jesus unfiltered. The restorative, cleansing healing love will flow unhindered into our lives... unmistakeable unstoppable For now, we get just a glimpse... #sunday #worship #thisisourGod #onedayallwillbemadenew

...Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:37-40 NIV Profit, wealth, where we live, what we drive, education, appearance, health, popularity...what we do... Measures of success. But Jesus measure is how we treat the poor, the marginalised, those without resources... being agents of grace in the world, showing love, giving, treating people with respect, giving a hand up, getting involved... You may not have even realised it...but He sees the love and goodness, the grace you & I share with those in front of us... #upsidedownkingdom #lovepeople #agentsofgrace #dfc2017

Friday! Proverbs! The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. Proverbs 14:10 ESV We had a friend who after asking how you are, look you in the eye and gently ask "how're you really?" I actually care. For most of us there are things at the core that we may never have told anyone - a bitterness, a hurt, thoughts, loss,  fears...that only our own hearts know. If you have someone you trust then share your heart, your real heart with them. And as the psalmists do, share it with God. He can take it, hear it, absorb it, and return grace, forgiveness, healing...love The heart knows it's own bitterness, but healing can come. #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom  of heaven..." Matthew 18:2-5 NIV What are children like? Innocent Inquisitive Open Searching Trusting Looking Touching Discovering Growing They also belong not because of anything they've done...they aren't loved for their performance, what they can do. They're loved. Because. You're loved. Because. #upsidedownkingdom #wordsofJesus

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7 NIV This is a letter to the church. And if I read it as being written to me in my church today...how does it read? Be more like Jesus. Don't use your authority for your benefit. Church is not a place to consume, but to serve. It's in serving that you become more like Jesus. "In your relationships with one another...", this is the important thing about church. People. Relationships Serving one another #church #somethingtochewon #lovepeople

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:1-4 NIV So easy to focus on the differences between us, the small things... Paul says absorb it, absorb it in love. Jesus absorbed our sin, took it all on board, humbled himself...so if he is my example, of how to value others, that's what I need to do too #valuepeople #humblemyself #inthistogether #lovepeople

All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.  So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly... Nehemiah 8:1-2 NIV The wall had been rebuilt, the big project that they'd all committed to was finished...and now they wanted to rediscover how they should live...what God had to say We were at a birthday party yesterday and Philippians 2v1-11 was read out loud Re-discover God's word. Nehe's crew would've started with Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God... Eternal. Outside of space & time We started with Jesus. How should we live? With a heart like Jesus. Love. Real love #rediscoverGodsword #howshouldwethenlive #loveGod #lovepeople #sunday #worship

When word came to...our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it... Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono." But they were scheming to harm me; Nehemiah 6:1-2 NIV It looks like Nehe's project is going to be successful & his enemies have moved from ridicule to luring Nehe out for a meeting. He recognised the motivation and said no. Sometimes "no" is OK. Recognising the enemy is the thing. The thinking of this world, our own corrupt motivation, or the work of the devil...the enemy is subtle and cunning and like Nehe we need to be wise to that The restoration project was too important to slow down or put at risk. Jesus said to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves as you're going out like sheep among wolves. God's restoration project He has called us to is too important... #bewise #sometimesnoisok

Friday! Proverbs! Fools make fun of guilt, but the godly acknowledge it and seek reconciliation. Proverbs 14:9 NLT Your not guilty unless you get caught. How much can you get away with. Sadly it's some of our politicians and leaders who seem to be the worst... Or maybe it's the "don't feel guilty about that - everyone does it" "You're no fun" Subtle messages that make fun or light of the guilt we feel for doing wrong...or not doing what's right...until we no longer feel it. Wisdom says no. Acknowledge it and make it right. Jesus was THE picture of making it right, of dealing with guilt once and for all...but it was our guilt not his. So we are free from the peanlty of sin. Guilt then helps us see our behaviour in the light of the gospel and want to make it right, because we love God, grateful for what Jesus did for us, & wanting to live right... #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon

...Out came the man who had been dead... with a [burial] cloth wrapped around his face... John 11:43-44 AMP Out of the grave. Unbound. What's left? His eyes. His eyes were covered. As the burial cloth is removed from his eyes Lazarus would see the world differently, look at people differently. The gospel changes everything. We've all been given that second chance to see differently, to see through eyes of grace, of redemption, of eternity...of love. Let's not waste it. May our eyes be opened, the burial cloth removed, may the light of Jesus grace flood in...and shine out... I have a future My eyes are open You called my name And I ran out of that grave Out of the darkness Into Your glorious day #called #released #dearlyloved #myeyesareopen #hymns

...Out came the man who had been dead, his hands and feet tightly wrapped in burial cloths (linen strips), and with a [burial] cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, Unwrap him and release him. JOHN 11:43-44 AMP Out of the grave...but still bound. We may have found faith, stepped from death to life, but are still bound up by something... Things we've done. Guilt. Things that have been done too us. Shame. Fear of rejection, fear of failure...fear of not being good enough... Jesus said unwrap and release. A task for the community around Lazarus to love him - to gently remove what was binding him up - and set him free. Maybe you need that release... or maybe your job is to do that for someone else. That's what church is... When I was broken You were my healing You called my name And I ran out of that grave Out of the darkness Into Your glorious day #called #released #dearlyloved #hymns

...He shouted with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" Out came the man who had been dead, his hands and feet tightly wrapped in burial cloths (linen strips), and with a [burial] cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, Unwrap him and release him. JOHN 11:43-44 AMP Jesus called him out of the grave. Are you stuck somewhere? Stuck in the mire, the muck...bound up like Lazarus? Stuck in a sin? Stuck in a way of thinking? Jesus calls us out of the dark...out of our grave...into His light! Just got to listen for His voice... I was breathing but not alive All my failures I tried to hide It was my tomb Till I met You You called my name And I ran out of that grave Out of the darkness Into Your glorious day #called #heknowsyourname #outofthedark #hymns https://youtu.be/Hukv7EBc030

And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn - Zion! God in full view! Psalm 84:5-7MSG Our hope. God in full view! We are hope driven people aren't we...and it's the hope of the destination that makes the sometimes lonely, sometimes arduous journey OK. Then there's the tasters along the way, the cool streams on a hot day, the glimpses of heaven we get... "... who's lives become roads you travel..." Help us to re-discover you Lord, re-discover your gospel & live it out...to become the road You travel #psalms #psalm84 #betterisonedayinyourcourts

Remember me with favor, my God, for all I have done for these people. Nehemiah 5:19 NIV Sometimes leadership is a thankless task. Your mistakes are magnified, the unhappy voices are loud, and the good things, the wins, well they just seem to be accepted as business as usual... This last sentence from Ch5 feels a bit like that. After all the sacrifice and work I hope you've been watching God... Jesus knew what this was like...his team denied him, slept when he needed them most...but His Love was unquenchable, His Grace unstoppable... Ours not so much. Your pastor, church leader, coffee maker, cleaner, office person, worship team member...sound & lights...the people on mission, those manning the wall in the community... that person who is there for you, has shown leadership or love or an example to follow... who's that person I can thank & encourage today #sunday #worship #grateful #encourageoneanother

"We will give it back," they said. "And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say." Nehemiah 5:12 NIV Nehe had given them a sermon, reminded them of what God said, showed them how they're behaviour and choices were hurting others, & showed the way forward. And they immediately saw he was right and agreed to  put things right and change going forward. I wonder how many sermons I've heard, even ones I've agreed with, & yet never changed. Never put things right. I think I'm afraid to lose something...afraid to lose what the world says is important to gain what Jesus says is important... #nofear #loveGod #lovepeople

Friday! Proverbs! The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception. Proverbs 14:8 NIV Deception. Not by others, but self deception is the folly of the fool. The prudent, the wise, think about their choices, lifestyle, what's important, where they're heading. This word "way" in Hebrew seems to include way, road, distance, journey, manner. The wise think about not just where they're heading, but the manner, the "how" they're travelling. What success looks like. And as we're masters at self deception, we need two things: -The mirror of scripture -The input of others That will shape our "way"... #easyadvicetogive #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon

Moreover...when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah...neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors...placed a heavy burden on the people... But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Nehemiah 5:14-15 NIV Nehe didn't take his salary.  Even tho he was entitled to it. He'd already recognised that he had poorer & wealthier people in his team, and while God's rules helped ensure that they weren't exploited, he went further. Reading this chapter makes me uneasy about some aspects of our society, but Nehe is entirely consistent with Jesus and NT thinking...it's not about rules & "you must", but how you and I choose to live and operate and represent God and His values and love for people wherever we are. The responses we make. The leadership we show The way we choose to serve God and his people. #choose #loveGod #lovepeople

...They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say... "We will give it back," they said. "And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say..." Nehemiah 5:8, 12 NIV The wealthy were overcharging the poor. Their business practice was outside the principles God had laid down for his people. And when Nehe pointed that out, they immediately accepted that and changed what they were doing. They loved God more than their financial gain. This is one of the taboo areas in our faith communities... how we run businesses, how we make money. Are we exploiting anyone? Do we care enough about where our clothes are made? Those shoes? Who stitched them? A child labourer? Do I care if the coffee grower got a fair price? The people cried out and one person heard. One person responded. And change happened. What do I do when I hear the cry of injustice? #nehemiah #listen #lovepeople

Lord , do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Psalm 6:1-3 NIV While this doesn't read like a song in English that's how it was written. And if we're looking at lyrics from a song we're trying to understand where the writer is at...this is a song of the strongest emotions...he's realised that he's offended God, & the waiting...it's affecting his physical health and his mental health... If we think sometimes that God doesn't understand how we're feeling, just read this again... It seems that guys are allowed to have strong emotions...just sayin. Even tho David isn't getting the answer he wants when he wants it, he doesn't turn away from God...but to Him. #faith #evenwhenitshard #psalms #psalm6