Words to Abide in
This morning, I reached for my Bible and opened to John 14. I stopped reading at John 15:7, where Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.”
I wanted that. I wanted it enough to stop and ask, “What must I do to get it?”
Stewardship
My husband’s gift is helps. He loves to help people. When he was young and strong, he worked tirelessly with the Salvation Army—serving in soup kitchens, working in thrift stores, pouring coffee for emergency workers, . . .
Hebrews 5:1-3
Last week a small group of friends and I spent an afternoon talking about Hebrews 5:1-3. We laughed. At our slow pace we might not live long enough to finish studying the book.
We realized there were depths to the passage we did not touch and saw anew that 1) Jesus is our high priest. 2) The sacrifice He offered to God was Himself; He was a perfect sacrifice; His death bridged the distance between us and His Holy Father. 3) He compassionately understands our ignorance, and weaknesses, our falling short of His holiness.
Hebrews 4:14
Jesus does not consummate or fulfill a believer’s natural humanity: he brings the death of it. As the first born from the dead, He initiated the eon of resurrection life. In both this life and the life after death, we must die to live.
Comments on St. Seraphim
The first thing to strike me about St. Seraphim was his lovely heart to seek God so assiduously for a long, long time. But my heart hurt because His journey was so arduous. I thought, “Poor fellow.” How he suffered to find the fullness of Jesus.
Random Thoughts on Deuteronomy 1
I LONGED TO BRING the Book of Deuteronomy alive for the ladies in our Bible study, but I didn’t know where to begin. When I confessed my uncertainty, a friend from the group asked, “What do you want to us to learn?” I knew right away. It was simple. I wanted three things. First, I wanted God to […]
1 Thessalonians 1:1
Although the words “Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” may seem like the automatic repetition of a formulaic New Testament letter writing convention, I don’t think Paul would have used them if they were merely empty rhetoric.
Praying in the Spirit
I DON’T LIKE the phrase, New levels, new devils. At every “level” I find old devils right where I am. I have trouble separating the idea of being seated with Christ in Heavenly Places with my own limited mental take on “levels.” Climbing up feels like work to me, like aspiring to a position […]
