Mission Faithwalk

                 You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. (Psalm 86:5)                   Forgiving : ready and willing to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake. Please note that doesn’t mean the offense, flaw, or mistake was OK. Good: To be desired or approved of; having the qualities required for a particular role; possessing or displaying moral virtue. Abounding : have in large numbers or amounts Love : To actively seek what is in the best interest of the beloved. (Not necessarily a definition you’ll find in a dictionary, but a definition of agape.)                 As I read today’s passage and remember yesterday’s, the question comes to mind of what we think love is. Yesterday, love involve...

               Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love . (Ephesians 4:2)                  Someone follows you into the checkout line and strikes up a conversation about how bad a condition the store is in, how long the lines are, or how someone at home is waiting or is being a pain in the neck. Another cashier comes along and the person behind you pushes over to be waited on ahead of you. Do you pray for the customer when you get in your car a few minutes later? Is there a part of you that evaluates your behavior and informs you that you’ve been good?                Now, we’re told we should be good. It’s good to be good. Yay for goodness! We’ve only recently left a time of year when we sing about being “good for goodness sake.” (Or is it “good, for goodness’ sake”?) But reread today’s passage.    ...

                   While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.    He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return…                  “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’                  “He was made king, however, and returned home...                  But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’” (Like 19:11-12, 14-15a, 27)                  John Ortberg discusses this passage...

                 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)                  This is a strange verse from a strange conversation between two strangers. One of the strangers was a Samaritan woman. Different stories have been told about how she came to a well in the middle of the day. What we know is that she was there, and she had had five husbands. The man she was living with wasn’t her husband. No whispering behind hands, folks – she could have been a slave or a concubine with little choice about her status. If she was a slave, she might well have started out as something far better and fallen on hard times. That might bring a woman to the well at a time when other women wouldn’t be around just as readily as her shacking up with some loser.                The other stranger was a Jewish rabbi w...

  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:12-13)     “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?   How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?   You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5)   I’ve written about these verses before, often enough that I feel guilty for coming back to them. But they were the verses of the day on my online Bible study platform, and they ar...

                 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10)                  True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.                  This is the verse of the day from Biblegateway.com, and it seems there are three possible responses. Ugh. (Guilt or shame) Nope! (Rebellion or rejection) Ah. (Relief, hope)                Consider C.S. Lewis’ statement about humility. Now, apply it. Your goal is to humble yourself, to think less about yourself. How do you think about yourself less without paying constant attention to how much you think about yourself? How do you think less about yourself without thinking more about yourself by monitoring what you’re doing at all times?          ...

  As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.    And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.    She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.   “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”                But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”                  Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:42-48)       ...