Tag: Lent
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Day 20
Father, Hallowed be your name … Luke 11:2 Searching through the words of Jesus, I find he did not say very much explicitly about God’s character. No surprise, perhaps! He did say that he and his Father were ‘one’ and tell people that those who had seen him had seen the Father also. So, what…
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Day 19
… whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish … John 3:16 Having spent some days considering questions of love and obedience, I want to change tack, and start by returning to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not…
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Day 18
… but with God all things are possible Matthew 19:26 The more we look, the more unachievable obeying Jesus’ teaching seems to be. Perhaps today’s scripture provides a helpful perspective. And, by way of continuity, we meet another camel. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this story of a very rich man coming to Jesus,…
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Day 17
Woe to you teachers of the law and pharisees, you hypocrites! Matthew 23:23 We might be a bit surprised at Jesus’ forthrightness here, but it’s not one of those “Did God really say?” moments. I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone who got upset at the Pharisees getting a dressing down! Perhaps we might…
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Day 16
Flee from sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 6:18 Reading through yesterday’s blog – which was essentially scene-setting – I’m struck again by the fact that the Council of Jerusalem singled out abstaining from sexual immorality in their instructions to the new Gentile converts and by the stark contrast between the biblical view of sexual morality and…
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Day 15
Out of the heart come evil thoughts – … sexual immorality .. Matthew 15:19 I said I would come back to the matter of sexual immorality. So, with the promised level of trepidation, here we are for a couple of days. It may seem curious that the judgment of the Council of Jerusalem singled out…
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Day 14
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’ Matthew 5:27 After Jesus’ breath-taking extension of the command ‘You shall not murder’, I wonder what the crowd might have anticipated on the matter of adultery – perhaps a detailed update of all acceptable or unacceptable sexual practices. That would certainly have…
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Day 13
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago … Matthew 5:21 Jesus immediately moves from the general comments we considered yesterday to teach about specific moral laws. “You have heard it said to people long ago….” What a disarming opening to a radical re-interpretation of one of the ten commandments, the…
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Day 12
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law … ? Matthew 5:17 I have not yet finished with the Council of Jerusalem and promise to return, with some trepidation, to the matter of sexual immorality! But today I simply repeat that surely Jesus’ teaching was being preached to Jew and Gentile alike. …
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Day 11
Avoid food sacrificed to idols … Acts 15:39 I said previously I would return to the judgement of the Council of Jerusalem because it was so relevant to us today. If food sacrificed to idols doesn’t sound that relevant, please bear with me! Paul wrote to the church in Corinth on just this topic in…
Thoughts for the Day 