verseoftheday

Friday! Proverbs! Don't speak to a fool,  for he will despise the insight of your words. Proverbs 23:9 CSB Last day of 2021 and this is what Proverbs gives us! It's not saying to treat everyone like a foolish person who doesn't appreciate our great wisdom about everything, but this proverb can give us a useful boundary as there are times or subjects that some people just don't get us, don't hear us, and this proverb gives the freedom to not engage. Sometimes it's wiser not to go there.  When I read this proverb for the first time I see me as the hero, the wise person, the one with insight in his words. But how often am I the foolish person that others don't expend their words with becuase I won't listen, I won't hear them out, I don't try to understand where they're speaking from. People have put their boundaries in place to keep themselves safe from me, from my attitude. So yes, keep your boundaries to keep yourself safe, but as 2021 ticks

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 CSB Some gifts we give out of obligation. Or is that just me? But most of the gifts we give we love to see that they're accepted, wanted, that the person receiving the gift gets some joy or blessing. We love to see that they get the thought, the meaning that goes with it, that they get the love that propels it.  The gift says "I was thinking of you". These gifts on the first Christmas were loaded with meaning, prepared well in advance, were at risk of being stolen along the way, at risk of being rejected. God's gift for us on that first Christmas was loaded with meaning, loaded with hope, loaded with grace, loaded with love. Our Heavenly Father thought of us, and prepared that gift well in advance, and took the risk, the risk that His Gift would be rejected.  He wanted us to see His heart in the Gift, to see the love that propels it to us.  The gifts we get might

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 CSB Quite a thing to have these people who likely travelled for weeks to get there, who came from another place, another culture, and turn up with amazing, valuable, meaningful gifts.  Gifts fit for a king. Gifts fit for a God. It says something about how valued the intended recipient is.  Treasures. Taonga. It's also a picture of God's gift to us, where he prepared long in advance to bring his most precious treasure to join us, to become one of us, not just because he could, but as a gift. We are the recipients of God's treasure, his taonga. When we feel that we have no worth, Christmas says something different.  When we feel that we have no value the gift of God's treasure says something different. You are of immeasurable worth.  The gift is for us, but it's also personal.  It's for you.  This is the real mystery and magic of Christmas, that God is for us

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 CSB Sometimes we put a lot of thought into gifts, we search out in advance, order from AliExpress and hope it arrives in time, create something, because we care about the person the gift is for.  Gold, frankincense and myrrh were gifts for a king, these same three items were apparently among the gifts, recorded in ancient inscriptions, that King Seleucus II Callinicus offered to the god Apollo at the temple in Miletus in 243 BCE, gifts fit for a God. Frankincense is a perfume or incense (we love the aroma of candles that are calming and fill our senses). Myrrh is an annointing oil.  Research has been done into the healing properties of frankincense.  These are not random gifts, but loaded with meaning, because the giver knew who the gifts were for, knew what was important, and were symbolic of how important to the giver the recipient was. Gifts fit for a King. Gifts fit for a God.

Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 CSB Mary knew something amazing was going on. Part of her response is recorded in Luke 1, but I wonder about Joseph. In our social context would we call him the step-dad? He stuck with Mary and now this unasked for, unplanned baby was here.  And so were a bunch of clearly very smart guys from somewhere else who were worshipping the Baby. I wonder how long they stayed, if they had a shared language, how Joseph felt.  Things had gotten real for Joseph in so many ways, real fast.  Sometimes God sends messages of what He is about. In this case it was unmissable! At least 2, but who knows how many guys camping in your house and cracking out gifts! Often though those messages are much smaller and quieter...an unexpected gift that arrives, a message of encouragement, a smile, some

Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 CSB Not sure if this is the first Boxing Day, or even the first visitors, but what did they do? Worshipped Jesus.  He was a baby, hadn't done anything, yet they recognised him for who he was from what they knew.  Had the Old Testament scriptures found there way to these "wise men from the east"? Or did they have some other revelation from God? They certainly knew who Jesus was, and worshipped him.  I wonder what that worhsip looked like?  This is like church day#1, with some guys from a different culture, different ethnicity, almost certainly a lot older than the teenage parents, worshipping at the feet of Jesus, the baby.  And then they crack open their treasures, their gifts.  They came prepared to give Jesus the best of what they had.  There was no prescrip

Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies; For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, But his heart is not with you. The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, And waste your pleasant words. Proverbs 23:6-8 NKJV Yes it's Christmas morning, and surely we should be thinking about mangers and babies and hope and goodness. Yet it is here.  The One who came into creation as a baby is found here. Eat and drink he says. I am the water of life, I am the bread of life. There was nothing miserly about Jesus. His heart and actions and life were completely aligned, and his heart, rather than being "not with you", Jesus is completely with you.  Emmanuel. God with us. (Matthew 1:23, John 14:16). Yes, our God is found here as the anti-miserly person, as the One who wants communion with us, to share a meal without any barriers, to be nourished by the Grace and Love of our Heavenly Father.  Yes Jesus is found here, in the One wh

Friday! Proverbs! Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies; For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, But his heart is not with you. The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, And waste your pleasant words. Proverbs 23:6-8 NKJV Wow! What a proverb for Christmas Eve! Ever been with that person who you just know is calculating in their head what this is costing them! I've been that person.  There's been times when my heart has been calculating the cost.  Or wishing that I was free to do something else.  My heart hasn't been with you in the present, but somewhere else. And when my heart is somewhere else, you can tell, and whatever goodness I've placed in front of you, whether it's food or words or actions, it makes you feel a bit sick. This proverb gives you the freedom that when you see that my heart is not with you, you don't have to stay around or accept it.  Maybe it is relevant this Christmas if y

Jesus wept.  So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" John 11:35-36 CSB Jesus wept. What do you picture? A staunch guy with a few tears on his cheeks? In a few seconds he regains composure, all emotions in check? This word for weep is only used in this one place in the Bible, to cry or weep without words.  Jesus had no words, just tears. Tears. It's OK to just cry.  It's Biblical.  Sometimes there are no words, and that's OK. Jesus cried so much that those in the vicinity saw it as a sign of how much he loved Lazarus, his friend who had died. Jesus wept. I think Jesus sat with Mary and cried.  No words, just tears.  Tears for what was ahead - separation from his Father, tears for what had happened, separation from someone he loved, tears for Mary in her loss, tears that flow down the centuries and find us in our loss, our separations, our hurts. And Jesus cries.  The logos, the word, has no words, just tears.  It's OK to cry, to have no words, to sit with tho

When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.  "Where have you put him?" he asked. "Lord," they told him, "come and see."  Jesus wept. John 11:33-35 CSB Jesus wept. Jesus wept because of death, because he is Life itself. Jesus wept at the separation death caused him personally with the separation from his friend Lazarus. Jesus wept at the impact of death on the community of people in front of him. Jesus wept as his own death was just around the corner, a week or so away. It's Christmas, what's all this talk of grief, yet isn't that the real story of God entering in, Emmanuel, God with us, born as a helpless dependent baby, but always with the mission to reconcile us, his people back to Himself, to make a way, and Jesus is that way. Jesus is the anti-death, he is Life. Because he is Life, absorbing death for us is infinitely destructive and pain filled, and Jesus wept.  And

The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there. John 11:31 CSB Who were these people? We have no idea who they are, but we do know this, that four days after Lazarus has been buried they're still there, supporting and caring for Mary. Sharing in her loss, her grief.  They stayed close.  In my (church) culture I've noticed that we're quite good when a crisis hits, but not so good when pain is chronic, when things don't get better quickly, when families don't work, when relationships end, when depression hits. We don't know how long Mary's people were prepared to stay, but it seems her community were there, attending, attentive, walking with her in this.  At Christmas there's a massive focus on the nuclear family, and there's these unwritten rules that everyone should be happy. But for some their family is a source of pain, some ar

Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." John 11:28 CSB Jesus had met with Martha, and now Martha has come back to the house, a house full of people, to talk to Mary. Talk to her on the down low. Jesus hasn't turned up with his team making an entrance and a big noise, he's waiting outside the village, sending a quiet message, gently calling Mary.  Jesus is not coming in to overwhelm her grief, or make it all about him, but to quietly, gently, humbly, meet with her.  Some days I just want Jesus to arrive with power and fury and fix what's broken, like a super hero, save the day. Here, he gently calls for Mary in her grief, and wants to meet with her in it.  Jesus loves. In our grief and hurt, Jesus loves.  And Jesus uses someone in her community to get the message to her. Interesting parallel with Luke 1 as we head towards Christmas with angels bringing big loud messages, but in v

As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died!" When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.  "Where have you put him?" he asked. "Lord," they told him, "come and see."  Jesus wept. John 11:32-35 CSB Jesus is on a divine mission that started well before the first Christmas, but his human journey, God in person, Immanuel, God with us started then. And here, Immanuel, God with us, is crying.  Crying over the death of his friend. And crying because of the sorrow of Mary and the people with her.  Jesus is moved to tears because of Mary's. Jesus is not immune to her suffering.  I wonder how long they sat together, crying, mourning, sitting in that space. Jesus came close and was affected, deeply affected.  Jesus who was the agent of creation, God incarnate, is changed by p

Don't wear yourself out to get rich; because you know better, stop!  As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky. Proverbs 23:4-5 CSB Part 1 of this proverb reminds us that we simply know better, and part 2 the reminds us that the things we can be convinced of as being so important, really are transient.  In Matt 22 Jesus gives us a frame to help us figure out what's really important: Love God Love people In Isaiah 58 God lets us know what to "wear ourselves out" doing:  feeding the hungry bringing justice to the oppressed This proverb isn't about having wealth or nice things or good businesses, we have been made in the Creators image, to make and build and create and enjoy good things.  This is about what we make THE thing.  Don't make THE thing in your life something that will make wings for itself and disappear.  #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #loveGod #lovepeople

Friday! Proverbs! Don't wear yourself out to get rich;  because you know better, stop!  Proverbs 23:4 CSB Well that's blunt. Just stop. You know better. Just stop. If it's so obvious, why is this proverb here? I think it's because my heart is so easily captured by things.  Our culture paints wealth as a high value, a marker of worth, status, value.  This proverb isn't saying that working hard is wrong, or that wealth is wrong, its about our heart, our motivation, what's driving us, what desire in our heart is pushing us. This proverb also tells us that we have the power to change. You can change focus, direction, vocation, and it gives us a clue where to start.  It says "you know better". If we spend time in God's Word, sharing our heart with Him, our values, what's important, shifts. This is where we get to "know better".  Don't let the world's ideas push us around, determine who we are, let God's word, His truth, love an

Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."  "Your brother will rise again," Jesus told her. Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"  "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world." John 11:21-27 CSB Martha got it.  Got who Jesus is, her faith was crystal clear, even in the midst of her suffering.  And I think Jesus knew that. This declaration of Jesus wasn't for Martha, but for the audience. The disciples. Back in v15 Jesus told the disciples this is about them, and what they believe, and they've just heard again

As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Then Martha said to Jesus,  "Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.  Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." John 11:20-22 CSB Somebody let the sisters know that Jesus was coming, and it seems it must've been someone who was there when Jesus said he was going to wake Lazarus up, 'cos Martha has this wee bit of hope there.  Hope in a hopeless situation. Hope for a miracle. Hope for a supernatural intervention from the Father.  Three things from Martha here to consider; Martha isn't putting any expectation or demand on Jesus.  Martha isn't carrying the weight of what Jesus does or doesn't do on herself. And Martha is OK asking the tough questions of Jesus.  Remember our frame for this story: Jesus loves her. There's a bigger story.  Whatever you face today, even if it seems hopeless, maybe the

As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. John 11:20 CSB I don't know if Martha was breaking protocol or the cultural norm by going to meet Jesus or if Mary was by staying put. Maybe it says something about their personality, what makes them tick as people.  Maybe it was about different responses to grief, to loss.  I wonder how old these people were. Lazarus, Mary, Martha. I picture them as Jesus contemporaries, about his age, 33. None of it bothers Jesus.  Our start point is that Jesus loves Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. He loves their differences, their personalities, their unique humaneness that is full of goodness and hope and frailty.  He says come as you are. You're enough. You're welcome here. I love you. In your unique humaneness, your goodness and hopes and frailties, you are dearly loved. The Bible uses this term: beloved. You are beloved  Rest in that today. #Jesuslovesyou #thereisaBigStory

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. John 11:17-19 CSB Interesting details in the middle of this story. Jesus had been in Jerusalem and just left across the river Jordan, so he wasn't far away. Two miles plus a bit.  He could've gotten there sooner.  Maybe this is John subtly reminding us that the Jews wanted to kill Jesus and being so close to Jerusalem it was wise to stay away. Lazarus was in the tomb 4 days. Apparently there was a belief that the spirit of a person who died remained close to the body for 3 days after death before departing. Lazarus was well past that.  Others had come to support Mary and Martha in their loss. But not Jesus.  He had let Lazarus's death and the grieving to take their course and he had deliberately stayed away.  And at the same time, Jesus loves them.  There'

He never sinned,  nor ever deceived anyone.  He did not retaliate when he was insulted,  nor threaten revenge when he suffered.  He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.  He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.  By his wounds you are healed. 1 Peter 2:22-24 NLT In contrast to our Proverb from yesterday, Peter paints this picture of Jesus for us. It was the "no deceit" that brought us to this passage, unlike those with power, we can fully trust Jesus. Maybe today it's something else in this picture that you need to be reminded of; - how Jesus responded when insulted - what he did about revenge - what he did for us, taking our sin into himself, so that we can live for what is right - that simple, powerful truth that because of what Jesus did, there is healing for us.  One day we're going to experience the full impact of that healing, all that is broken will be unbroken, ever

When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite; don't desire his choice food, for that food is deceptive. Proverbs 23:1-3 CSB Who knew that "put a knife to your throat" was in the Bible! The first part of this proverb held a warning about the agenda's of others, of those in power, but the writer doubles down on this with a graphic picture of how deceptive people can be, how they make their deception seem so attractive.  And.  Just how easily I can fall for it. My heart can be deceived.  Which is why the writer here is so graphic about protecting ourselves, protecting our hearts which can be so easily deceived.  Protecting our boundaries.  The Bible is clear about the ugliness that abounds in our world, and to protect ourselves from it. We also have an obligation to protect those who are young, those who are vulnerable, the marginalised, those who can't see the deceit, can'

Friday! Proverbs! When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you... Proverbs 23:1 CSB Well I don't sit down with the Queen very often, but I think this proverb is a warning about people with power.  The word here for "what" is "asher", a word that can mean "who" as well. Who has the person with power got sitting next to you, what's going on, what's their agenda? People abuse their power in every sphere of life. Church, family, work, the places we study, where we go to have fun or do things we enjoy, because sin permeates everything.  This is a warning, to be aware that people have agendas.  And it's a warning to me too. There's areas in my world where I have power, how am I using it?  I also know that my own heart can be deceptive about motive and that's where community is so important, to check, to check in, to ask the tough questions of motive.  I need to check my own heart, that as a follower of Jes

Then the disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well." Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep.  So Jesus then told them plainly, "Lazarus has died. I'm glad for you that I wasn't there so that you may believe. But let's go to him." Then Thomas (called 'Twin') said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go too so that we may die with him." John 11:12-16 CSB Jesus focus in this story is not Mary, Martha, or even Lazarus, but the disciples, and by extension, us. He has something important he wants them to understand that they wouldn't have seen if they had been there when Lazarus was unwell or died.  Something about believing. Something about faith. And then there's Thomas who wants to be in the middle of the experience, to physically be part of it all. If Lazarus has died and Jesus is going to bring him back, Thomas wants in on that too.  Just may

He said this, and then he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm on my way to wake him up." John 11:11 CSB Ok so this story suddenly gets strange, not so much from our vantage point, because we know how the story ends, but from the disciples perspective.  Jesus somehow escaped a death threat back there, the news of Lazarus's death came 2 days ago, and now Jesus wants to go back.  Then the disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well." John 11:12 CSB Not unreasonably the disciples are trying to make sense of this and this is a good shot at it.  The message can't have been quite right, he's sick but not dead.  In PNG a colleague went to hospital to collect his brother who was dead. I gave him time off, was very sympathetic for his loss. Turns out that "dead" can be very sick, but "dead finish" is the final level. He wasn't dead finish, but from my perspective I didn't have a full

Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.  "Rabbi," the disciples told him, "just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you're going there again?" "Aren't there twelve hours in a day?" Jesus answered.  "If anyone walks during the day, he doesn"t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him." John 11:5, 8-10 CSB All these very human responses, Jesus love for his whanau, the disciples concern for his safety, the hostility of the Jews because they felt threatened, and Jesus takes it all to a different place:; A journey. Darkness v Light.  Stumbling or not. Stumbling or not because of your relationship to the Light. It's almost as if Jesus isn't speaking to his disciples at all, but directly to us, about our relationship to the Light, to Jesus.  It's not about never making a mistake, never getting things wrong, that's just be

Then after that, he said to the disciples,  "Let's go to Judea again." "Rabbi," the disciples told him, "just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you're going there again?" "Aren't there twelve hours in a day?" Jesus answered. John 11:7-9 CSB Jesus can say some obscure things, talk in pictures, pictures that may well have carried particular meaning to the disciples, but here it seems that Jesus is saying that something has shifted in the Big Story of redemption that says today we will go back. Something has moved in the Kingdom beyond the disciples understanding. From their perspective 2 days ago this news wasn't enough to move Jesus, this is the wrong thing to do, it's dangerous there.  And Jesus says well times moved on, let's go back.  Something has shifted but the disciples can't see it, aren't let in on all that's going on. And that's where I find myself sometimes, a bit mystified by God's timing,

Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.  So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Then after that, he said to the disciples,  "Let's go to Judea again." "Rabbi," the disciples told him, "just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you're going there again?" John 11:5-8 CSB Suddenly Jesus wants to go back to Judea and the disciples don't get it. "We've all just left there, and we left because people were about to kill you! And we walked!" In there humanity none of this made sense, they didn't get it, and they let Jesus know. Jesus loves Martha, Mary & Lazarus. What Jesus does, or doesn't do, is not easy to fathom for those closest to him. There's a bigger story here.  Just as the disciples are limited people, so am I. I don't get God's action, and I really don't get His inaction. And its OK to let Jesus know that. In our story, Jesus loves us.  He does,

Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. John 11:5-6 CSB Jesus action, or in this case, inaction, seems so strange. Doesn't it? Start with Jesus loves them, loves Lazarus, and, he doesn't come when they call.  Jesus answer is not to rescue them from this most human of situations.  And Jesus loves them, loves Lazarus. I want Jesus to act with power and authority and love and reach out and heal Lazarus.  And Jesus loves them, loves Lazarus. I want Jesus to show who He is, to fix this, make it right. And Jesus loves them, loves Lazarus. Can't Jesus just get rid of sickness, banish death?  And Jesus loves them, loves Lazarus. And Jesus loves us, loves you.  When there's sickness and death and need, call out to Jesus, send him a message. And Jesus loves us, loves you. Somehow when the answer is silence, we hold to the truth that we are beloved. And Jesus loves us. Loves you.  When t

Friday! Proverbs! Do you see a person skilled in his work?  He will stand before kings;  He will not stand before obscure people. Proverbs 22:29 NASB In our modern kiwi world this proverb jars. Bangs up against some of our values that everyone is kind of even, and we do things because they're right, not for the fame or recognition. (These values seem to be eroding in front of our eyes, maybe they're already gone). What this does reflect are the systems of power that do exist. None of us "stand before" our peers, our friends, or those who have similar skills or talents, we sit with them, share coffee or a meal. This proverb highlights power, those who have it, kings in this case, and those who don't, the ordinary, the unseen, the obscure.  Yet in God's economy, there are no "obscure" (see yesterday's votd). Jesus was the one who left being a king, to become obscure, ordinary, unseen, and he calls us to follow him.  The accolades of kings, those im

Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. John 11:5 CSB Maybe John had a moment where he forgot Mary's name! He mentions her specifically in v 1&2 so why skip her name here? Perhaps he's just human like us. None of us get it right all the time, and that's OK. There's some difficult things to read in this chapter, in this story, and that's why this verse is so important.  Jesus loves them. Loves Martha. Loves Mary. Loves Lazarus. No matter what happens in this story, Jesus love for them is Truth.  A truth to hold on to. In the middle of our stories, in the middle of your story, Jesus loves you. Loves you. No matter what happens in your story, this is True. True for you.  Jesus loves you.  #truthtoholdonto #truthtorestin

So the sisters sent a message to him:  "Lord, the one you love is sick." When Jesus heard it, he said, "This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." John 11:3-4 CSB I'm not going to pretend that I understand all that this is about. At a human level it seems cruel that Jesus would allow Lazarus to die and his family to suffer in this way.  It is in some way a picture of our lives though, that we will die, and there will be life after this life, and that will bring glory to Jesus because that life is only achieved through his death.  It's a picture too of what Jesus was going to walk through, his death was not far away.  The other thing that Jesus indicates here is there is more going on in the spiritual realm around our lives, about our lives than we might realise. Lazarus's life had a greater meaning and purpose than Mary or Martha could see.  Our lives, your life, matters. It matte