verseoftheday

Friday! Proverbs! Trusting an unreliable person in a difficult time is like a rotten tooth or a faltering foot. Proverbs 25:19 CSB We don't need these metaphors to know just how bad it is to trust some people. Yet we do.  Because we want to see the best in people and want to believe that they won't let us down again.  A rotten tooth doesn't appear overnight. It's a long time coming, a pattern of behaviour.  A faltering foot...when you really need it, at a vulnerable time, it fails, and you trip, fall. When someone's behaviour is entrenched, believe it.  On the other side of that coin is "let's not be that unreliable person in others lives".  Having boundaries, knowing our limitations, being OK with saying "no", being characterised by doing what we say we will is the flip side of this proverb.  #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon

Grace to you  and peace  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:3 CSB May you know God's grace to you today. May our eyes, ears, hearts be open for a glimpse today.  May you know God's peace today.  Our circumstances aren't always peaceful but our hearts can still know God's peace. According to Paul both God the Father and Jesus want to minister to us today. Let them do that... #corinthians #gracetoyou #peacetoyou

To the church of God at Corinth,  to those sanctified in Christ Jesus,  called as saints,  with all those  in every place  who call  on the name  of Jesus Christ our Lord - both their Lord and ours. 1 Corinthians 1:2 CSB Can you feel Paul's warm embrace from down the centuries? Feel his inclusion? He's not worried about where we're from, where we are, what we look like, what we've been through, what we're facing, what the world thinks of us or how it ranks us. He doesn't negate or write off any of those things as unimportant, simply if you call Jesus Lord, you've been sanctified, actually this is a verb so being sanctified, being made holy ("hagiazo" to make holy, to consecrate, set apart, purify...it's done and being done), made holy and being made holy at the same time.  Included. Wrapped in. This is a picture of God's love and the community that He wants. Included. Wrapped in. Holy and being made holy. The community he wants us to be in,...

Paul,  called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will,  and Sosthenes our brother: 1 Corinthians 1:1 CSB How many times have we read this and never wondered about Sosthenes? Yes Paul is giving his audience his short introduction, his authority in writing this letter, but he's also happy to share co-authorship with Sosthenes.  It took so little to include this person. Paul had all the authority and could've carried on with his letter without mentioning Sosthenes at all, but didn't. A small act of inclusion and care. How often do I miss the opportunity to do that? Miss the opportunity to greet someone, to include someone, to invite someone in, or to give them credit or recognition? "Lord today help me to keep my eyes and my heart open to those around me.  Help me to see people as you do and not miss an opportunity to include, to invite, to give credit or to thank as I go about my day.  Amen" #belikepaul #corinthians #dangerousprayers 

God made the two great lights - the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night - as well as the stars. Genesis 1:16 CSB As well as the stars.  It's almost a throw away line. As well as all this goodness on the earth as a wee side project He made the stars.  For us. For us to see and ponder on and drink in the beauty of, and discover, and wonder about. For us to get an idea of who God is. To wonder. Maybe it's not the stars that grab you about creation, but the intricacy and design and marvelousness of the world around us, the world in us, and the world beyond us is there for us to uncover, to discover, and to wonder. And it points us to a Creator  Someone who created with intention and with care. Someone who created for us.  May today you get some moments to sit with some part of creation and wonder. #genesis #songofcreation #wonder

Sunday Psalms: Help, Lord,  for no faithful one remains;  the loyal have disappeared  from the human race. Psalms 12:1 CSB Ever felt like you're alone. That no one gets you. That no one is on your team? David knew what that's like because he's written about it here.  They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts. Psalms 12:2 CSB And it doesn't take long to get to the heart. The heart that generates that talk.  May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks boastfully. Psalms 12:3 CSB Sometimes it's good to find the words we'd like to say in Scripture. This is such a human response to what David is facing. It's OK to express how we really feel. They say,  "Through our tongues we have power; our lips are our own - who can be our master?" Psalms 12:4 CSB It's all about power. The power of ideas expressed.  This is what David was up against. This age old battle that goes right back to the Garden ...

Then God said,  "Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds." And it was so.  The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And  God  saw  that  it  was  good. Genesis 1:11-12 CSB Have you noticed how this song is written with "and God said" and then what happened.  It's like a song. Or a dance. A creative process.  If we can humanise God for a minute it's like he is imagining, creating something in his mind, not out of things that already are, but things that are not yet.  God is using his imagination.  When we do the same thing we're just following our Creator. It's in our DNA.  So create.  Make stuff. Art, music, poetry, stories, buildings, cities, culture.  It's good. God saw that what he had made, all the plants and tree...