Tag: intentional
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Are You Teachable?
13Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.–Ecclesiastes 4 The biblical Solomon started off as a young man asking for wisdom and ended up with this description… King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.…
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Seeking and Saving
5And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is…
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Heart Transactions
3Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”–Luke 17 It’s very tempting to picture forgiveness as an unconditional matter. I will admit, it does…
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What Sinner Has Hope?
1Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”–Luke 15 The only sinner that has hope is the Prodigal. Be like him. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired…
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Necessary Fruit
7He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from…
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A Proverb and a Prodigal
7The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father.–Proverbs 28 It almost seems impossible that Jesus didn’t have this proverb on his mind when he gave his famous parable about the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Let’s use that passage to illustrate. A father had…
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Press On!
…But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.–Philippians 3 Paul was in prison and once again pondering the scope of his life. He gave a rubric that we can use…
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A Daily, Intentional Life
27Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…–Philippians 1 Paul was in prison and was contemplating bigger, meaning-of-life-and-death matters. I think to understand this basic phrase we should work backwards. What are principles of the Gospel of Christ? My sin is my most pressing problem. On my own I have no…
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Joseph’s Grace
1Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.3And Joseph said to his…
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Judah’s Influence
8And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back…
