The Gift of Forgiveness
Read: Colossians 3:12-17 As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (v. 13) Yesterday we focused on the apostle Paul’s admonishment to release bitterness, one of a long list of sins he urged the Ephesian believers to steer clear of. Today we consider his words to the church at Colossae, specifically his […]
Cast Out Bitterness
Read: Ephesians 4:24-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (v. 31 NIV) Perhaps you’ve heard this quote or a variation thereof: “Don’t get bitter, just get better.” Easy to say for the person who wasn’t just hurt by a friend, fired […]
Letting Go by Example
Read: Romans 12 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. (v. 6 NIV) In a recent church service I attended, new elders and deacons were ordained and installed to help lead the church throughout the coming year. Three members stood in front of the church body and made promises […]
Pride Set Aside
Read: Matthew 1:18-25 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife. (v. 24) The Bible tells us quite a bit about Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was a young woman, still a virgin, chosen by God to bear the promised messiah. She raised […]
Drop the Net
Read: Luke 5:1-11 And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” (v. 10) One of the first Sunday school songs I learned as a child was Harry D. Clarke’s “Fishers of Men.” The song’s first verse mirrors the words of Jesus to Simon Peter in today’s […]
Leaving the Past in the Past
Read: Philippians 3:7-16 But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. (v. 13) In a little more than a month, we will celebrate the start of 2022. As the New Year dawns, millions of people will resolve to make a life change. A quick online search reveals […]
Provision
Read: Matthew 6:25-34 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (v. 26) For several years my parents have had a year-round bird feeder on the railing of the deck behind their house. There is also a hummingbird feeder that […]
Rebirth
Read: Ephesians 2:1-10 [God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions . . . (v. 5 NIV) My home state of Michigan is known for its great variety of trees. Each spring the maple and birch trees on my favorite running path bud with new life, the leaves eventually providing […]
Finding Rest
Read: Genesis 1:31-2:3 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. (2:2 NIV) I love the fall season in the Midwest. When my family and I lived in rural Iowa, the fall meant combines in the fields, soybean dust […]