Loving Jesus Style

Scripture: Genesis 16:13 (NIV) 13  She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Devotion:             The context of today's scripture is the narrative of Hagar, Sara’s slave, who had fled due to Sara’s mistreatment. What strikes us is the profound care God shows for Hagar in these verses. In the dialogue between the Angel of the Lord and Hagar that precedes this verse, God not only hears but also sees Hagar in her distress. He reveals to Hagar that she is with child and will bear a son named Ishmael. This revelation moves Hagar to the heartfelt exclamation we read in the verse above.             Today, our culture does not do very well at genuinely seeing people for who they are. We are too engrossed in our phones and other devices to pay attention to other people. Our addicti...

  Scripture: Luke 24:1-7 (ESV) But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, [the women} went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2  And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3  but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4  While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5  And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6  He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Devotion:             It was a miracle! Everybody knows that dead people stay dead. Despite all the miracles and signs Jesus did while he was alive, he still looked like a mere man and nothing more—no won...

Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30 (ESV) 24  He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25  but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26  So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27  And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28  He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So, the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29  But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”  Devotion:         ...