Tag: relationships
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Two Yokes
14Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?–2 Corinthians 6 Here is a stock photo I found of an ancient yoke for oxen. To be unequally yoked was to put two oxen together that were so different that they would not pull…
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New and Reconciled
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting…
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When Jesus Is on Your Side
2if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us, 3then they would have swallowed us up alive–Psalm 124 [Note: to you who receive this as an email, the format was crazy yesterday. I don’t know why it ended up that way, but sorry about that!] I journey with…
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Five End-Times Focuses
13Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14Let all that you do be done in love.–1 Corinthians 16 We get closer to the end by the day. Here is how Paul ended his first letter to the church at Corinth. It wasn’t written to us, but here it is for us.…
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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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Money Expectations
10Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons…
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Heavenly Identity
18And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20There were seven brothers; the first took…
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Life Is Too Short for Pits
27Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.–Proverbs 26 In the ancient world, pits were dug to trap. It was passive warfare, yet aggressive. A village might trap a dangerous wild animal or an army enemy soldiers. It also could be used for passively…
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3 Things Worth Boasting About
3We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions…
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Always You
16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.–1 Thessalonians 5 Sometimes life is confusing and you wish your relationships came with an instruction manual. I can sometimes be a bonehead and a jerk and need to ask my wife to forgive my selfishness.…