verseoftheday

And they threw him out of the synagogue... When Jesus heard what had happened,  he found the man  and asked,  "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man answered,  "Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him." John 9:34-36 NLT Our friend who was born blind, rejected by society, was miraculously healed, simply told his story, and was rejected again.  If you're familiar with rejection then this is a story for you.  Jesus heard about what happened to him, and went to find him. The rejected. Jesus finds the rejected man and brings words of life, words of hope, words of a future. This person is rejected by the very people who should be wrapping him in, supporting and caring for him, and yet, even though he has done nothing to deserve being treated like that, the truth of his story was too confronting. If you know rejection, fear rejection, know that you're not too much for Jesus.  He is for you. #dearlyloved #childoftheKing

Friday! Proverbs! The rich rule over the poor,  and the borrower is slave to the lender. Proverbs 22:7 NIV This proverb I've heard used to make borrowing money some kind of evil, but God had already put some rules around that to forgive any debt after 7 years, so that puts the weight on the lender to be careful and to want the borrower to be able to pay back. It made borrowing and lending much more collaborative. If I don't pay my mortgage my bank takes everything. In God's kingdom it's the lender who loses (but clearly not everything). In our culture we personalise everything, but perhaps this is a commentary on the realities of the human heart reflected in the world: The rich rule, have dominion over, the poor. Power. Rich countries. Rich companies. Rich people. This is not the way it's supposed to be.  And there's places where I have power, where I am rich, and how am I using that?  Jesus literally had all the power in the world, yet came as a servant. He gav...

He lifted me out of the pit of despair,  out of the mud and the mire.  He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing,  a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord. Psalms 40:2-3 NLT God at work in us has a bigger purpose. His work in us is at least in part to work through us to make Himself known. When we sing that new song that God has placed in our hearts, others will see it. Kind of broadens the idea of what a song, what a new song, might look like...seems like any expression of change as a result of God's love and grace in our lives would count. Responding to someone who is not well and needs a meal.  Listening without interrupting. A hug. Doing your work with a great attitude. Leading with humility. Stepping into a new thing  Staying the course even when it's tough  Singing that new song could look like lots of different thi...

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair,  out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground  and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing,  a hymn of praise to our God.  Psalms 40:1-3 NLT The Psalms are songs, poetry, so they're supposed to speak with pictures and emotions, just like songs written today. Maybe one of those pictures in this song resonates more strongly than others. It could be where you're at (eg feeling like the ground is shifting) or what God is doing (moving me to solid ground). "He has given me a new song to sing" also paints a picture of our hearts, the importance of the songs we listen to, the songs we sing, the language of our hearts. "A hymn of praise to our God". Our healing, our growth, often needs this sighting of who our God is, looking up and seeing our Creator, and when we hold songs about Him in our hearts and min...

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair,  out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground  and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing,  a hymn of praise to our God.  Psalms 40:1-3 NLT We love a good redemption story.  And there is one here, but the psalmist knows too what it's like to desperately want to hear from God, and there's silence. He knows what it's like to cry and it seems not be heard. To feel alone. To feel stuck. To feel like you're walking in mud. To feel like the very ground is unstable, to feel like you could topple over. He knows what that's like. And this Psalm, this song, is in our Bible to let us know that those feelings are OK to have and and OK to express.  If any of that is your experience, you're not alone. Maybe someone you know is experiencing these things. Let them know that they're not alone.  We don't alwa...

The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents. They asked them,  "Is this your son?  Was he born blind?  If so, how can he now see?" His parents replied,  "We know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don't know how he can see or who healed him.  Ask him.  He is old enough to speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That's why they said,  "He is old enough. Ask him." John 9:18-23 NLT Can you see how much power the Jewish leaders had, how important being part of the synagogue was, that their social and probably their financial standing was tied up together here, so much so that they were prepared to leave their son on his own. This culture, this society, was supposedly built on two principles: Love God Love your neighbour ...

The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, "He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!" Some of the Pharisees said, "This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath." Others said,  "But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?" So there was a deep division of opinion among them. John 9:15-16 NLT There's power in the simplest of testimonies. This man born blind who could now see simply said what happened to him. He simply said what Jesus did.  Not everyone got it, and that's OK. Simply saying what Jesus has done in our lives is enough. When we hear what Jesus has done in someone's life it gives hope.  Hope that these things we are facing, wrestling with, weighing us down, are not permanent.  This person's simple testimony says that hope is real. That change is possible. The Pharisees knew Jesus was no ordinary person, but many of them, despite the evidence, didn't s...

Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him.  The Pharisees asked the man all about it.  So he told them, "He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!" John 9:13-15 NLT Ah the Sabbath. Working on the Sabbath. Jesus wasn't against the Sabbath, but he was against the systems and rules that had been developed so that people believed if they kept those, they'd be good enough for God.  That they're own actions could save them.  And in their passion to enforce the rules they created a society where a person born blind had to beg to survive. I wonder what Jesus would have to say to me, to my church, to our culture...what he would say about those who remain on the margins, unseen, about systems that oppress, about injustice, about my self-salvation project, my striving to be enough. May we, may I, allow Jesus to apply his mud to my face today, to sit with that...

Friday! Proverbs! Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. Proverbs 22:6 NLT When we were young parents this proverb was wielded as a weapon, to "train up a child in the way he should go..." as if there was a magic formula to parenting that guaranteed success and if this child was not on the right path then you must've done something wrong. But the context of these last couple of Proverbs is about the path, the direction of travel.  And the Hebrew word here is "chanak" which is to train, to dedicate, and it seems to be used in the context of using oil to encourage a baby to breast-feed, or mushed up dates to encourage a child in what is good to eat. So this is not some weapon to wield at parents but an encouragement to gently show a child where nutrition is, goodness is, and to start that as early as you can.  And this proverb is not aimed directly at parents, so all of us can be part of encouraging children on a...

For we are his workmanship,  created in Christ Jesus for good works,  which God prepared beforehand,  that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 ESV Have you ever considered that you are God's workmanship? We can see that in others, but me?  We can see God at work in others and thru them. We can see God shaping and changing people. But me? This verse is as true for you as it is for anyone else. You are God's workmanship. The word here is "poiéma" which simply means something made, a work, workmanship. This word developed into poem.  A poem isn't just a random collection of words but is the deliberate, careful, creative work of the poet. It's so easy to focus on the damaged and hurt and corrupted parts of ourselves and we miss the carefully crafted creative work of God in us.  Maybe today someone you know needs to hear about the good, the beauty, the strength, the gifts that God has crafted into them.  There is no exclusion here: you are God's workmans...

For we are his workmanship,  created in Christ Jesus for good works,  which God prepared beforehand,  that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 ESV If you could create something new, what would it be? A piece of music, art, a business, a solution to a problem, a new or better way of doing something.... (maybe you should get on and do it!) I imagined creating a new car (as a young child I remember my cousin was an artist who drew pictures of fantastic cars).  The purpose of that car could be a specific journey, to travel to Invercargill, or it could be to take me to...places. My car is built to travel.  We've been created for a few things like relationship.  Relationship with God, with people, with God's creation. We've been created to work out those  relationships in love, creatively, making new things and new ways of doing things. We are God's workmanship, made with and on purpose, made for good works, and the Bible is full of clues about how that s...

For we are his workmanship,  created in Christ Jesus for good works,  which God prepared beforehand,  that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 ESV Somehow, God has got things for us to do.  From before time. A number of versions of the Bible seem to end this verse with "things to do" or something similar. This seems to imply that there's a personal set of plans that God has intricately laid out for us, that if on Tuesday July 20, 2021 I have a divine appointment to meet someone in my class, at work, at the gym, and if I miss that their eternal destiny is at stake. But the word here is "peripateo" : to walk. This is about how I live my life.  There's a freedom here. God knows us, seen us in his imagination from before time, and knows there's good things for us to do. And it's a way of walking in this world, a way of living. Love God. That gives us God's heart and priorities. Love people. This is where that is worked out,  walked out, lived out....

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works... Ephesians 2:10 CSB Inherent in our design and construction is the ability to do good. It's built in. It's who we are. The wider context here is  "saved by grace" so this "created in Christ Jesus to do good works" has something to do with our redemption too. As a Christian we're not doing good for ourselves, to make ourselves feel good (though let's be real that can still be a motivator), & we're not doing good works under some moral obligation to make ourselves right with God (though let's be real I still do things because I "should"). We do good works because of Grace.  Because we've been redeemed.  There's nothing to earn. There's nothing to earn. There's nothing to earn. As we get to know more of God, love Him, imitate Him, allow His character to become ours little bit by little bit, as we let Grace seep into our souls, we express that by lo...

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves;  it is Gods gift - not from works, so that no one can boast.  For we are his workmanship... Ephesians 2:8-10 CSB We are his workmanship. You are his workmanship. I am his workmanship. I, _________ (Insert your name here) am his workmanship. Does your mind immediately go to the negative? If only you knew me, knew who I am, what I've done, my thoughts, what was done to me... Paul says 'read my story, the things I did, who I was, who I still am, but I'm saved by Grace. And I am God's workmanship'. Think about what that could mean, that there is the image of God in me, in my design, my purpose, my character, my heart.  Yes it's not perfect.  And Grace. You are God's workmanship. And Grace. You are God's workmanship, not to boast in, but to rest in. We are His workmanship together, we're in this together, need one another, and together are  His workmanship. And Grace. Do you see be...

Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them. Proverbs 22:5 ESV Thorns that catch us, grab hold, snares grab hold, hold us down, hold us captive, and their found in the way of the crooked.  But that's not me. Well, actually, it is. As soon as I think that somehow I don't sin, that I'm "better than", that I wouldn't fall in that trap, get caught in that snare, then I've lost sight of the reality that I am a sinner.  Yes saved by grace, but not yet free from the corruption of sin.  So a few thoughts on guarding our souls then: 1. Acknowledge that I'm just as vulnerable, just as susceptible to the thorns and snares as anyone else. 2. I'm saved and redeemed not by what I've done, but by what Jesus did, and putting my faith in Him. 3. Jesus said to Love God and love my neighbour. Love God first.  Spend time with Him. Read His word. Regularly. Often.  Every day.  Pray into it, let it shape our thoug...

Friday! Proverbs! Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them. Proverbs 22:5 ESV Thorns that catch on your clothing, grab hold, snares grab hold, hold us down, hold us captive. What are the things that grab hold? Take us captive, trapped? This isn't about the deceitful actions of others that can trap us, this is about where we've  chosen to walk, and let our guard down. The word here "guards" is "shamar" -  to keep, watch, preserve, guard, bodyguard. This proverb is encouraging us to actively look out for our own soul. Guards. Bodyguards. Keepers. Watchers. Preservers. Of our souls. Maybe it's people, conversations, places, thoughts, desires, things we read, watch, consume, think, dwell on, that grab us, snare us. Your soul, you, your personhood is important.  Important enough for Jesus to enter the story and love. Important enough for him to go to the cross for. So put up your guardrails to protect, k...

His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, "Isn't this the one who used to sit begging?" Some said, "He's the one." Others were saying,  "No, but he looks like him." He kept saying,  "I'm the one." So they asked him,  "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered,  "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So when I went and washed I received my sight." "Where is he?" they asked.  "I dont know," he said. John 9:8-12 CSB This is one guy I want to meet. Just so straight forward. He got asked again and again about whether he was the guy. And when asked about what happened, there's no big drama, just the facts. And he didn't even know who Jesus was - he just knew him as "the man called Jesus". And yet he received this gift of the creation of sight. I wonder if I'm not even aware of the blessings an...

The man went and washed - and saw.   Soon the town was buzzing.  His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying,  "Why, isn't this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?" Others said,  "It's him all right!" But others objected,  "It's not the same man at all. It just looks like him." He said, "It's me, the very one." John 9:6-9 MSG Something so fundamental had shifted in this person that those who knew him didn't recognise him. It's easy to focus on the transformation story, of the person who met Jesus, but there's also the story here of the person who is blind is also unseen.  How often do I "not see" people?  Put a label on them, walk past, not "see"? Is this another glimpse of heaven when we'll see people differently, without the things that have held them down, held them back? When we'll see all the potential built in expressed in some new ...

So the man went and washed and came back seeing! John 9:6-7 NLT My cousin shared the other day that she'd always wondered what it must've been like to be an adult and to see for the very first time. To have a sense that you've never experienced before suddenly be operational. It must have been wondrous, transforming, unforgettable. And that reminded me of an author who wondered whether in heaven we might all have additional senses. At the moment we have 5, but what if there's 8 or 10 but they just aren't operational yet. And that one day, when all is made new, we might have a similar experience to this man who had no experience, no reference point for sight and through Jesus' redemptive touch, have a wondrous, transforming, unforgettable new sense. Does it make you wonder if we've had a peek at heaven? #somethingtochewon #hecamebackseeing

Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes... ...So the man went and washed and came back seeing! John 9:6-7 NLT Jesus didn't fix what was broken here. This person hadn't lost his sight through accident or disease, he never had any.  Jesus takes us way back to the creation story in Genesis and making people out of the dirt, the earth. You can't spit without using your breath, it's what propels the saliva right? The point is that Jesus is creating sight where there was none, creating something new. My prayers can be about fixing something that is broken, restore what's been stolen or damaged, to make right what is wrong.  Good things, and Jesus does heal, and is about justice, but what if our God wants something new?  What if this account of Jesus at work is not about healing at all, but about creation. About something new. How does that speak into your day, what you're  facing, what's going on for y...

After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes.  "Go," he told him,  "wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent").  So he left, washed, and came back seeing. John 9:6-7 CSB We don't know when this man who was born blind was healed. Whether it was as Jesus touched his head, his face, covering his eyes with mud, whether it was on the walk to the pool, or in the washing off...who knows... But we do know that Jesus asked him to do something, to trust him. To trust him in the dark. Who are we going to trust in the dark? The dark is all this person had ever known, and Jesus sends him to the pool called "sent". In Matthew 22 Jesus tells us to love God, and to love people.  To do that we need to "see" God, and we need to "see" people.  See as Jesus did.  Allow Jesus in, close enough to hold your head, to touch your eyes. Listen for his voice. His voice of love a...

After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes.  "Go," he told him,  "wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent").  So he left, washed, and came back seeing. John 9:6-7 CSB Ever wondered how long it takes to make mud pies for the eyes? How much spit? Jesus was in no hurry. Was that time for the blind man? For the disciples? For the people who no doubt were gathered around?  Maybe Jesus had already said enough about innocent people suffering and who is or isn't to blame, and just wanted to give that time to sink in. Maybe Jesus wanted to give a lesson about the cleanliness rules that it's not the outside that matters, that it's a heart thing.  Jesus had just said he's the light of the world (Ch8). Was this blind man who's eyes are now covered in mud, this doubly blind man, symbolic in some way of the light that Jesus is.  Bringing sight to those who cannot see, sight f...

Kia ora whānau No verseoftheday this week... we're taking a few days break in a spot with no cell service... Words matter  The words we read, the ones we allow to stay in our minds, the ones we dwell on, and the ones we speak. Choose words of life. Read Dwell on Speak Life. #speaklife

After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes.  "Go," he told him,  "wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent").  So he left, washed, and came back seeing. John 9:6-7 CSB The doubly outcast, doubly blind man is sent to the pool called "Sent".  No idea what that means! Just interesting. I wonder how long that took, who led him there, what he was thinking, what the people watching thought... A Rabbi had just done something that seemed really unclean. He'd done something that seemed really weird.  This isn't how things work in our culture, in our church, this is weird what God is up to here? I went to an info night at church for a new thing that is starting soon. We, the church, are basing it around food and conversation.  Great! We can do that. There'll be Muslims coming so we need to prepare halal food that they're comfortable with. That's a bit weird, that...

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." After he said these things he spit on the ground,  made some mud from the saliva,  and spread the mud on his eyes. John 9:5-6 CSB This man was born blind, and Jesus covered his eyes with mud. He's now blind twice. And he's used his own saliva. This man who is an outcast from society, left on the margins, is now outcast again by being unclean.  Twice blind. Doubly outcast. Yet Jesus is right here. When it seems too dark, when there seems to be no hope, no justice, no change, no help, Jesus is right there.  He calls us to follow him, to where the marginalised are, to where the blind are.  He calls us to bring justice, and to give sight.  The saliva and the dirt, the mud, they weren't needed for this man to be healed, they were for the people watching.  No matter how blind, doubly blind, I'm here to bring sight. No matter what injustice you've suffered, how unclean you feel, I'm here to make a w...

Humility, the fear of the Lord, results in wealth, honor, and life. Proverbs 22:4 CSB Can we squint at this proverb and get a glimpse of Jesus? Yes we can see someone who chose humility, who gave up power, someone who honoured his Father in heaven, who kept going back to him. And there is the picture of Jesus now crowned with glory and honour sitting at the right hand of God, a complete picture of wealth and honour and life. But what's missing here is the in-between. Jesus path in the in-between was filled with walking, talking, healing, blessing, friendship and changed lives.  The in-between was also filled with heart ache, rejection, fear, disappointment, loss, humiliation, abuse ... and the cross.  Death.  The very absence of life. The in-between is missing from this proverb, the in-between of Jesus life, and of ours. The other in-between thing missing - faith, hope, & love - and the pinnacle of those was foung in the resurrection. When all seemed lost, there was r...

Friday! Proverbs! Humility, the fear of the Lord, results in wealth, honor, and life. Proverbs 22:4 CSB Maybe it's just me but my first reading if this proverb I went straight to wealth, then life.  This is the way to get what I want! I get what I want. I get. I went straight to the second part. And then it's how does this work? Through humility and knowing God.  And slowly it dawns that starting with the first part shapes everything in the second part. Humility. Knowing God. That changes everything. He is Light, Life, Truth, Justice, Holiness, Love. He is more than I can imagine or hold, and knowing, loving, responding to Him shapes everything else, including my heart, what's important, what I want.  What is valuable shifts  What honour is shifts What life is shifts As we let God in, seek Him out, see Him at work, hear His heart, get to know Him, everything shifts... It's not a once-and-done transaction, but a lifetime relationship. #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtoch...

"It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins," Jesus answered. "This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us.  The night is coming, and then no one can work.  But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:3-5 NLT Jesus takes the heat off us about being good enough. You are enough. He doesn't give us a nice easy answer about suffering and why this man was born without the ability to see.  He doesn't give us a nice easy answer about a society that God instructs to look after the marginalised and the poor allows this man to live as a beggar. He lifts it up a level.  And that's annoying. I want an easy answer for why innocent people suffer.  Jesus doesn't give us one.  He goes to a bigger story, a story of God at work in the world, and about Jesus being the Light.  The word in this verse translated here as "seen" is the word ...