LOVE
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Daily Readings: Ephesians 4 and Psalm 141 On Friday, in reflecting on Ephesians 3, I invited you to … “Imagine when we are empowered to encounter this love not only inwardly and individually by the Spirit, but also as it overflows between us in loving relationship too. Imagine when each member becomes an instrument of…
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Daily Readings: Ephesians 3 and Psalm 140 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s…
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Daily Readings: 2 Corinthians 9 and Psalm 127 2 Corinthians 9 promises us that when Christians give willingly, freely, joyfully and generously (v.6-7), God uses that generosity to produce many good outcomes. Using an agricultural metaphor, the apostle Paul explains that just as generously sowing seed in the ground later produces a generous crop, so…
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Daily Readings: 1 Corinthians 13 and Psalm 113-128 1 Corinthians 13 sits snugly between two chapters about spiritual gifts. And that is by no means random. Despite the fact that most of us associate 1 Corinthians 13 with weddings and romantic love, it is actually all about the “the most excellent way” to exercise one’s…
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Daily Readings: 1 Corinthians 8 and Psalm 119:17-32 In 1 Corinthians 8 Paul dealt with a controversial issue for Christians living in a majority pagan population who worshiped at the temples of the many Greek gods. To provide context: A portion of the meat of every animal sacrificed at a pagan temple belonged to the…
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Daily Readings: Romans 14 and Psalm 110 Are our disagreements loving, or do we just love disagreements? Romans 14 addresses the unloving way in which some early Christians in Rome were allowing “disputable matters” to cause division among themselves. God’s Word remains clear on many, many matters, but it seems that each generation finds points…
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Daily Readings: Romans 13 and Psalm 109 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’and whatever other command there may be, are summed…
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Daily Readings: Mark 5 and Psalm 56 Jesus had just demonstrated His power and authority over the forces of nature in Mark 4:35-41 by calming a violent storm on Lake Galilee. Now, in Mark 5, Jesus stilled storms of a different kind. First, He stilled a violent demonic storm with His word of command. Next,…
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Daily Readings: 3 John 1 and Psalm 51 We can learn a lot from this letter written by John (“the elder”), particularly from the way he describes its recipient, a local Christian named Gaius. The letter was most likely sent as a letter of recommendation and support for those who carried it (one of whom…
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Believe it or not, we have completed the Gospel of John; and we now turn our attention to the two shortest letters written by the same apostle John; namely, 2 John (today) and 3 John (on Monday). Daily Readings: 2 John 1 and Psalm 50 Because John wrote this letter at a time of intense…
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