Luke 7:36-39   Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner." I thought of something when I read this passage.  Why was the " woman who had lived a sinful life " in the Pharisee's house? Was she there to "set-up" Jesus?  Did the Pharisee have her there so that he could see how Jesus would react? I don't know. It doesn't really make any difference today. The

Have you even noticed how easy it is to conform to the world?  I can walk up to a group of people I know and immediately join in their conversation even if it is a negative one. I jump right in with my two cents worth. It's like the group needs to know how I feel about the subject, especially if they all already agree with it. I add in my "evidence" of the atrocity, stating something I've seen or heard, or worse something I've heard that someone else saw or heard so it's not even a first hand account. Today's readings include some convicting passages.  James 1:27 .... keep oneself from being polluted by the world.    Matthew 12:35 : " The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." Matthew 12:30:   "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." I need to work harder to keep from being polluted by the w

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart!    Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me,    and lead me in the way everlasting! This is my prayer for today.  Search me, O God, and know my heart. Alert me to my areas of ungodliness. Find and expose my ugliness. Show me Your ways. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts! Uncover my shame. Bear witness to my anxiety and unfaithfulness. Help my unbelief and impatience. Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, Tell me where I grieve You. Rebuke me. Reform me.  Create in me a new heart and a new way of thinking. Melt me.  Mold me. Shape me into Your ways. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Drag me until I walk behind in full submission. Lead me in every way. Break any stubbornness in me. Create in me a desire for all things everlasting. and lead me in the way everlasting! Amen

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/worryfea/pride5.htm John 3:30 says "He [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less."  This quote is from John the Baptist.  I don't ever remember hearing this verse or seeing this verse anywhere, like on wall hangings, coffee mugs, book marks and the like. I'm guessing it isn't a very popular verse.  We like Bible verses that make us feel good or profess our faith.  We don't much like the ones that call us on the carpet! And this one does. We often put ourselves first, as one greater than Christ. We want the worship service to fill us, the music to lift us, our prayers to grant us whatever we want/need.  This verse gives us the equation that sums up what our purpose is.  We are to increasingly make Christ bigger in our lives and make ourselves smaller in comparison.  We are to spend more and more time, money, brain power, activity on Christ and His work. AND we are supposed to spend more and more shrinking ourse

http://wanweihsien.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/scripture-homosexuality-and-difficult-truths/ Genesis 32:22-37 tells the story of Jacob wrestling with God...... physically ... wrestling ... with God.  I'm afraid that some of the oldest stories in the Bible just seem......unlikely to me.  I'm not saying they didn't happen. I just wonder if they are somewhat exaggerated, or if there was some misunderstanding, or if the people or writers were less sophisticated so some things SEEMED like the way they are recorded in scripture. I know thinking like that can cause doubts in other areas of the Bible. But a man (Jacob) physically wrestling with God and GOD was unable to overcome Jacob?  See what I mean?  I just don't think this is the whole story. Seems a lot of stories in the Bible don't give us the whole story. In fact, many stories leave as many questions as they do answers. For example, why is this story even in the Bible?  I'm not sure I get the point, any poi

We tend to shirk our duties spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Most offer excuses like I don't know what to say.   That may be true, especially if we don't know much of Jesus' message.  That comes from Bible study and scripture reading. But we can be assured that if we try to spread the news, at that very moment, we will know what to say, with or without a great deal of Bible study and reading. Here's how I know.  Jesus says as recorded in Luke 12:12, " for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."   Notice the timing. " at that time ", not before time. Also notice how you will know... "The Holy spirit will teach you ."  There is no better teacher of the Bible.  You can rest assured that the Holy Spirit will get the message right, perfect for the listener, and you can't mess it up, unless you  let your ego get in the way and try to take over the message.  When the time is right, when you let the Holy Sp

Isaiah 54 : 8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," says the LORD your Redeemer. God turns away from us, much like a parent might do with an unruly child to gather her composure before acting out of frustration or anger. Instead God turns away from us to count to ten so that He remembers we are weak and sinful.  He turns from us because He loves us and doesn't want harm to come to us. He turns to give us time to come back and remember who He is and that He has compassion on us. Thank You, God. 9b "So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. A promise of God. That though He has good reason, He will not be angry with us, that he will look upon us with forgiveness. This is a promise to hold onto, no matter what we've done, or how we provoked God. That God loves us and forgives us NO MATTER WHAT! Hallelujah! 10 Though the mountains be shaken and th

Psalms is full of poems. I've never been very good at understanding poems, deciphering the imagery, getting the rhythm of the cadence. So most of the Psalms are beyond me. I don't get most of them. However, there are phrases that I do get.  Psalm 86 :11b is one of those I get. It is a beautiful prayer in 11 words: give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. That is my prayer this day.  Lord God, give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name . Focus my thoughts and actions so that You are always the center. Amen Used by permission.  Photo by Deanna Etienne See ExpressionsbyD

In Matthew 10 , Jesus sends the disciples out to the "lost sheep of Israel" to preach, teach, heal, raise the dead, cleanse.  He tells them, "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave." (Verse 11)  He gives them a few more instructions about what gear to take and what to do while they are there. But He gives them no instruction about how to recognize a worthy person .  From knowing Jesus, we know that this doesn't mean those who are wealthy or powerful. It also doesn't mean the religious leaders, just because they are religious leaders. So what does it mean to be worthy? I looked up the word.  My resources say of value or merit, having worth, excellence.  It also implies that to be worthy means that it is due something, like a crime is worthy of punishment, or God is worthy of praise and worship or worthy is the Lamb (Jesus).  Would I be worthy if they were coming to my town? I don't

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, have been called according to his purpose. Late last week, I had an interesting job interview. I knew by the time I left that I was not chosen for the position. The interview was a joint interview with several applicants.  As a result I understood why I wasn't chosen. The problem was that I had thought it was perhaps THE job I was going to get. So I left with the knowledge that I was not the best person and the feeling that perhaps I won't be the best person for another job.  Yes, I know that is pessimistic. I'm working on that. The thing is, I was behind on my readings and devotions. On Saturday, I went to a formation - which is a planning/work session for an upcoming Walk to Emmaus three day event.  I am part of the team. During the session, someone talked about Romans 8:28.  I've heard it before, many times. As I caught up with my readings, I read that passage 2 more times.

I heard something on the radio the other day. It was on NPR.org . It made me think about light differently, especially the words light and lamp that are spread throughout the Bible.  Here is a clip from the program that I'm talking about: "We forget just how painfully dim the world was before electricity. A candle, a good candle,  provides barely a hundredth of the illumination of a single 100 watt lightbulb. Open your refrigerator door, and you summon forth more light than the total amount enjoyed by most households in the 18th century . The world at night, for much of history, was a very dark place indeed. " This is from a book called At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson in the chapter called  "Fuse Box". Mr. Bryson quotes from a diary of a guest at a dinner party where there were 7 (only 7) candles (candles, not candleabras) lighting the room, stating that "it was a blaze of light". Think of that.  Look at the night sky and

http://www.praisephotography.com/photo_list.php?category=Scripture+Images Job 19:27 I myself will see him        with my own eyes—I, and not another.        How my heart yearns within me! Job is suffering terribly but in the midst of it all, he clings to the knowledge that he will see God - and seeing God gives Job hope.  I don't know how Job knows he'll see God. I don't know if they had a theology about life after death during Job's life . We do have a theology of an afterlife, where we'll see God, talk with Jesus, be represented at our judgment by Jesus. If this idea gave Job such hope that his heart yearned within him, how much hope should we have? We are Easter people.  We have Jesus' teachings to draw upon.  Our hearts should yearn for God too.  We should be hope filled, and never hopeless.   When times of trouble abound, we must look to God and ask that He fill us with the spirit that was in Job during his darkest days.  Fill us with hope and ye

Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree does not bud        and there are no grapes on the vines,        though the olive crop fails        and the fields produce no food        though there are no sheep in the pen        and no cattle in the stalls,   yet I will rejoice in the LORD,        I will be joyful in God my Savior. My translation of these two verses: Even though all is lost and though things seem hopeless, I will rejoice in the Lord. The choice to be joyful in all circumstances is very powerful.  Once we understand it is a choice to be joyful, and hopeful, and pleasant, and loving, we can do each of these things no matter the circumstances.  That doesn't mean it is easy.  The choice must be made every day, or maybe even every minute. But it is a choice, our freewill choice to make.  God gave us free will to decide good or bad, righteous or evil, joyful or joyless.  I will choose good, righteousness and joyfulness.  And I will continue to make that choice no matter h

Queen Vashti Ever heard of her?  Probably not. She's the queen who was ousted and replaced by Queen Esther, from the Old Testament book of Esther .  While Queen Esther is honored when she did the right thing for such a time as this, Vashti, who also did the right thing is left to rot. Here's the story.  Her husband, the king, had a great feast that lasted for days after he'd been showing off all his wealth for months and months.  Late in this great feast full of drunken men, the king wanted his beautiful wife, Queen Vashti, to parade in front of his drunken guests, wearing only her crown. Queen Vashti had her own party for the women, knew what the men were doing and what her husband was asking her to do, and chose to do the right thing by declining the invitation. Except in those days, when the king suggested you do something, it was really a command.  By refusing to expose herself to the drunk mob of men, she exposed herself to condemnation.  Which is what the king'