John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” “Friends are friends forever if the Lord’s the Lord of them…” A lot of truth in those Michael W. Smith lyrics. It’s hard to overestimate the value of spiritual friendship. When I think Continue Reading…
1 John 4:8 “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” Words from this sonnet written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning for her husband popped into my head this morning. Love. Who but a God of love Continue Reading…
Jeremiah 17:5 “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” Has someone let you down? Rejected you? Falsely accused you? Unless you’ve opted for living in an isolated cave in Crete, you know what it’s like to be disappointed Continue Reading…
Philippians 1:9-10 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best…” Think those little grudges we bury toward people aren’t that significant? Bought into the lie that when Jesus commanded us to Continue Reading…
God’s love covers all our wrong-doing. He covers us, then wants us to cover others who wrong us with the same kind of love.
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John 3:16 “For God so loved the world….” We are told words have power. Some words step right into the darkness and alter the trajectory of life. When Nicodemus slipped in to see Jesus in the dead of night he found the sun at noonday. He came with honest questions. Continue Reading…
1 Chronicles 19:3 But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Do you think, because David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father? Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?” Have you ever found Continue Reading…
Matthew 10:8 “…Freely you have received; freely give.” No Strings Attached. That’s the name of the ministry the ladies in our church embarked upon a few years ago. We made trays of goodies for the local librarians and police department. We gave out water bottles at a Fourth of July Continue Reading…
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Events have a way of resurfacing in my memory around the same time every year. It was a year ago this month that Continue Reading…
Psalm 90: 14, 17 “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love….establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.” My friend Frank liked to say everyone in the world is searching for two things: to know someone loves them and that their life has Continue Reading…