Loving Jesus Style

Peace in the Church Scripture: Isaiah 48:22, Luke 19:42 22          “There is no peace,” says the Lord , “for the wicked.” [1] 42  “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. [2] Meditation             My denomination (the PCUSA) made headlines yesterday and today by voting to change the church’s definition of marriage from “one man and one woman” to “two persons”. Those who have supported the change have been pushing for this for a long time say twenty or thirty years. It has been a fight, sometimes an acrimonious one. The peace of the church has suffered greatly at the hands of those involved in the fight.             Even now those on the side of the traditional definition of marriage are pledging to get up from the mat swinging and ...

Scripture: Mark 7:26-30 24  And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25  But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26  Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27  And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28  But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29  And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30  And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Meditation             This is an unlikely passage to pick for a devo...

Scripture: Psalm 103:1–7(ESV) 1  Bless the Lord , O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2  Bless the Lord , O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3  who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4  who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5  who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6  The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. [1] Meditation:             I once worked for a company that gave all its employees a list of all the benefits they were receiving from the company as part of their employment. They wanted to remind the workers that they were receiving more than just a paycheck every two weeks.             So the psalmist here in psalm 103 reminds us of so...