Monday, May 5, 2025

freedom

Romans 6 

12 Do not let sin control the way you live; 

do not give in to sinful desires. 

13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin.

 Instead, give yourselves completely to God, 

for you were dead, 

but now you have new life. 

So use your whole body as an instrument 

to do what is right for the glory of God. 

14 Sin is no longer your master, 

for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. 

Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

Sunday, May 4, 2025

vines & love

I grew up on a small farm in southern Ohio.

We had a grape arbor over near one of the vegetable patches.

The imagery Jesus uses here is right on target.

I remember watching my mom prune the vines of those grapes, 

     for the exact reasons Jesus talks about, 

     with the results he says.


********


John 15 

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Saturday, May 3, 2025

some of 84

 Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
I long, yes, I faint with longing
    to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
    I will shout joyfully to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
at a place near your altar,
    Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!
What joy for those who can live in your house,
    always singing your praises. 



10 A single day in your courts
    is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
    than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
    He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing
    from those who do what is right.
12 Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    what joy for those who trust in you.

Friday, May 2, 2025

our rep

John 13 

34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: 

Love each other. 

Just as I have loved you, 

you should love each other. 

35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”


"Your love for one another will prove to the world you are my disciples."

These days, there are a lot of things Christians are known for.

I'm not so sure that being a loving people is at the top of the list.

I'm also not encouraged to think it would be listed in the top ten things people think about us.

And I'm afraid there's not much chance of that situation changing any time soon...


We've lost our way, folks...

Thursday, May 1, 2025

if...then

John 12 

44 Jesus shouted to the crowds, 

“If you trust me, 

you are trusting not only me, 

but also God who sent me. 

45 For when you see me, 

you are seeing the one who sent me. 

46 I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, 

so that all who put their trust in me 

will no longer remain in the dark."

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

thru faith

Romans 1 

16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. 

It is the power of God at work, 

saving everyone who believes... 

17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. 

This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. 

As the Scriptures say, 

“It is through faith that a righteous person has life."

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

good shepherd

John 10 

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. 12 A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13 The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

17 “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”

Sunday, April 27, 2025

love each other

1 John 4 

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, 

for love comes from God. 

Anyone who loves 

is a child of God 

and knows God. 

But anyone who does not love 

does not know God, 

for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us 

by sending his one and only Son into the world 

so that we might have eternal life through him. 

10 This is real love—not that we loved God, 

but that he loved us 

and sent his Son 

as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, 

we surely ought to love each other. 

12 No one has ever seen God. 

But if we love each other, 

God lives in us, 

and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13 And God has given us his Spirit 

as proof that we live in him 

and he in us. 

14 Furthermore, 

we have seen with our own eyes 

and now testify 

that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 

15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God 

have God living in them, 

and they live in God. 

16 We know how much God loves us, 

and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, 

and all who live in love live in God, 

and God lives in them. 

17 And as we live in God, 

our love grows more perfect. 

So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, 

but we can face him with confidence 

because we live like Jesus here in this world.

18 Such love has no fear, 

because perfect love expels all fear. 

If we are afraid, 

it is for fear of punishment, 

and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 

19 We love each other because he loved us first.

20 If someone says, 

“I love God,” 

but hates a fellow believer, 

that person is a liar; 

for if we don’t love people we can see, 

how can we love God, 

whom we cannot see? 

21 And he has given us this command: 

Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

Saturday, April 26, 2025

chapter 3

1 John 

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.

Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.

Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.


11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. 20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

23 And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.

Friday, April 25, 2025

word

 This is the disciple, John, writing these words...

Do these few verses seem pretty appropriate & relevant to things these days?


1 John 2 

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. 

But if anyone does sin, 

we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. 

He is Jesus Christ, 

the one who is truly righteous. 

He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins;

and not only our sins 

but the sins of all the world.

And we can be sure that we know him 

if we obey his commandments. 

If someone claims, “I know God,” 

but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, 

that person is a liar 

and is not living in the truth. 

But those who obey God’s word 

truly show how completely they love him. 

That is how we know we are living in him. 

Those who say they live in God 

should live their lives as Jesus did.

Thursday, April 24, 2025

living in the Light

1 John 1 

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: 

God is light, 

and there is no darkness in him 

at all. 

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God 

but go on living in spiritual darkness; 

we are not practicing the truth. 

But if we are living in the light, 

as God is in the light, 

then we have fellowship with each other, 

and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we claim we have no sin, 

we are only fooling ourselves 

and not living in the truth. 

But if we confess our sins to him, 

he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 

and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 

10 If we claim we have not sinned, 

we are calling God a liar 

and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

what's ahead

2 Peter 

This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.

Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

15 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— 16 speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

keep on guiding

 Psalm 73:24-26

24 You will keep on guiding me with your counsel,
    leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, 

and my spirit may grow weak,
    but God remains the strength of my heart;

he is mine forever.

Monday, April 21, 2025

growing

2 Peter 1 

3 As we know Jesus better

his divine power gives us 

everything we need for living a godly life. 

We have received all of this by coming to know him, 

the one who called us to himself 

by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 

And because of his glory and excellence, 

he has given us great and precious promises. 

These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature 

and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. 

Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, 

and moral excellence with knowledge, 

and knowledge with self-control, 

and self-control with patient endurance, 

and patient endurance with godliness, 

and godliness with brotherly affection, 

and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

The more you grow like this, 

the more productive and useful you will be 

in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, 

forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

10 So, dear brothers and sisters, 

work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. 

Do these things, 

and you will never fall away. 

11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sunday, April 20, 2025

the Word

 John 1

In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
    and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.

God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Saturday, April 19, 2025

living for God

1 Peter 

So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, 

you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, 

and be ready to suffer, too. 

For if you have suffered physically for Christ, 

you have finished with sin. 

You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, 

but you will be anxious to do the will of God. 

You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy;

their immorality and lust, 

their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, 

and their terrible worship of idols.

Of course, your former friends are surprised 

when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. 

So they slander you. 

But remember that they will have to face God, 

who stands ready to judge everyone, 

both the living and the dead. 

That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead;

so although they were destined to die like all people, 

they now live forever with God in the Spirit.

The end of the world is coming soon. 

Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. 

Most important of all, 

continue to show deep love for each other, 

for love covers a multitude of sins. 

Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.

10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. 

Use them well to serve one another. 

11 Do you have the gift of speaking? 

Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. 

Do you have the gift of helping others? 

Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. 

Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. 

All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

Friday, April 18, 2025

practical instruction

1 Peter 3 

Finally, all of you should be of one mind. 

Sympathize with each other. 

Love each other as brothers and sisters. 

Be tenderhearted, 

and keep a humble attitude. 

Don’t repay evil for evil. 

Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. 

Instead, 

pay them back with a blessing. 

That is what God has called you to do, 

and he will grant you his blessing. 

10 For the Scriptures say,

“If you want to enjoy life
    and see many happy days,
keep your tongue from speaking evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
11 Turn away from evil and do good.
    Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
    and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
    against those who do evil.”


13 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? 

14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, 

God will reward you for it. 

So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. 

15 Instead, 

you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. 

And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, 

always be ready to explain it. 

16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. 

Keep your conscience clear. 

Then if people speak against you, 

they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live 

because you belong to Christ. 

17 Remember, 

it is better to suffer for doing good, 

if that is what God wants, 

than to suffer for doing wrong!