December 15, 2022
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in our Advent readings from “The Life of Jesus”? Here’s today’s reading:
Day 15 in the Book: “The Life of Jesus“
The Year of Popularity
Read Sections 3.21 through 3.24 (pages 44-46)
This book is an account of Jesus’ life and teachings told through in chronological order from the four Gospels to create one continuous story.
*If you do not have a copy of the book please contact the church at (401)667-0775 and we can get you a copy.
Some tough ones here for us as man in a sin nature….forgiveness and loving those you hurt us is hard for us to comprehend. We live with a selfish mentality that my feelings are most important and we struggle to keep others first. God reminds us that anyone can love those that love them but it takes the power of Christ in us to love those that hurt us, to turn the other cheek, and to truly put others needs before our own.
Greetings to all from rainy and icy Maryland. I’ve been enjoying “The Life of Jesus” reading and yesterday’s reading, particularly the section on anger, was pretty convicting. I have also enjoyed that the story, at least up to the “Sermon on the Mount” has closely paralleled The Chosen to this point. Very good.
Everyone be well please. Peace.
Like to skip over this one. Certainly guilty of looking in the rear view mirror. I don’t believe at all that God would condemn us for looking at the beauty of a woman. When we have lustful, evil thoughts, that is sin. Just my interpretation. Don’t throw arrows.
Knowing what God thinks of marriage is enough for me to do my best to keep marriage holy. Most important thing Cindy snd I do every morning is pray for our marriage Lining ourselves up with Gods will. He will bless that and he has! Always found it absolutely astounding when parents forgive someone who has murdered their child. I see the power in that. But not sure I could carry that out. Even some people that rub me the wrong way. (If only they could be perfect like me). I have to remember God has created them. Jesus loves them. And I will look at them through the eyes of Jesus
Advent 14&15
Day 15
3:21 – 3:24
The Sermont on the Mount has some valuable commands and reminders on how to live. But I realized that they do not only instruct, they also show that God’s standards are really high. Divorce? Aren’t most people guilty of that? Love your enemies? Must be perfect as Father in heaven is perfect? I am reflecting on the real meaning of refusing to lend money. Does God really mean that? I feel like there’s a fineprint. Pastor Peter?
Jesus says do not refuse to lend money and speaks to the generous nature we are to have as followers of His.
Jesus continues to provide the standards of His people by revealing the priority that God places on marriage. Divorce should only occur if there is unfaithfulness. What an important word to a world that disregards marriage and sees no reason not to set it aside for any reason. And the covenant we make in it is related to Jesus’ next lesson. Our word should be our bond. It matters not the things we might swear on to convince people of our integrity. Our yes should be yes and our no, no. And we should not be the kind of people that are always thinking of ourselves and always protecting and holding on to what we have. In Christ we are called to be generous in every aspect of our being and circumstance, ready to give things away readily, prioritizing people over things. Now a good balance to this is not to give things to people that would help them to do bad things or free them from personal responsibility. But our first inclination should be to give rather than hold on, but just be wise in how we do so. And what better expression of that is to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt us. How counter intuitive that is and so to do it is to rely on the power and influence of God. How true it is that everyone loves people who love them. So the true mark of God’s power in our lives is to love people that oppose us. It is what God calls us to and enables as well and we will be better off for it to be free with our lives, trusting for all that God can accomplish though us and for us…to the glory of His name!
I may have commented about this at another time while reading in the Gospel of Matthew, I was thinking about the gouging out your eye or the cutting off your hand and thinking that surely that is not what Jesus means, literally! And He doesn’t BUT we are so focused on the physical part of ourselves, that our spirit, which will live forever, either in heaven or in hell, is sometimes forgotten or viewed as something that is only part of a future body. Our spirit now, is our spirit forever, but our body will be changed at the resurrection.
Don’t fight with people who hurt you. Love your enemies, pray for those who treat you badly. These commands are so difficult to do when the worldly response is to be angry and resentful. However, I need to remember that I have done people wrong, and I would want them to have it in their hearts to forgive me. So treating others the way I want to be treated is a good way to live this out and extending grace and mercy to others because God has done the same for me.