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Posted on 01/02/2023 6:16:23 PM PST by JustAmy
Edited on 01/02/2023 7:28:26 PM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]
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Bible in a Year:
The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Was the driver late with your food? You can use your phone to give him a one-star rating. Did the shopkeeper treat you curtly? You can write her a critical review. While smartphones enable us to shop, keep up with friends, and more, they have also given us the power to publicly rate each other. And this can be a problem.
Rating each other this way is problematic because judgments can be made without context. The driver gets rated poorly for a late delivery due to circumstances out of his control. The shopkeeper gets a negative review when she’d been up all night with a sick child. How can we avoid rating others unfairly like this?
By imitating God’s character. In Exodus 34:6–7, God describes Himself as “compassionate and gracious”—meaning He wouldn’t judge our failures without context; “slow to anger”—meaning He wouldn’t post a negative review after one bad experience; “abounding in love”—meaning His correctives are for our good, not to get revenge; and “forgiving [of] sin”—meaning our lives don’t have to be defined by our one-star days. Since God’s character is to be the basis of ours (Matthew 6:33), we can avoid the harshness smartphones enable by using ours as He would.
In the online age, we can all rate others harshly. May the Holy Spirit empower us to bring a little compassion today. .
Reflect & Pray
How can you show more compassion to others? What characteristic of God do you most need to imitate when online?
Holy Spirit, please grow the fruit of godly character in me today, especially when I’m online.
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...Wicked Loving!
Amen! ;-)
Have a Good Night!
🌙💫🌟⭐️
Amen
Bible in a Year:
I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
There are several Canada goose families with baby geese at the pond near our apartment complex. The little goslings are so fluffy and cute; it’s hard not to watch them when I go for a walk or run around the pond. But I’ve learned to avoid eye contact and give the geese a wide berth—otherwise, I risk a protective goose parent suspecting a threat and hissing and chasing me!
The image of a bird protecting her young is one that Scripture uses to describe God’s tender, protective love for His children (Psalm 91:4). In Psalm 61, David seems to be struggling to experience God’s care in this way. He’d experienced God as his “refuge, a strong tower” (v. 3), but now he called desperately “from the ends of the earth,” pleading, “lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (v. 2). He longed to once more “take refuge in the shelter of [God’s] wings” (v. 4).
And in bringing his pain and longing for healing to God, David took comfort in knowing that He’d heard him (v. 5). Because of God’s faithfulness, he knew he would “ever sing in praise of [His] name” (v. 8).
Like the psalmist, when we feel distant from God’s love, we can run back to His arms to be assured that even in our pain, He’s with us, protecting and caring for us as fiercely as a mother bird guards her young. .
Reflect & Pray
How does it encourage you to remember God’s protective care for you? How have you experienced His care?
Dear God, thank You for Your fierce, protective love for me. Help me to rest securely in Your tender care.
Hope you have a lovely day today!
Thank you.
Hi all! We had snow this morning. It all melted by noon.
😅
Bible in a Year:
Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Ronit came from a religious but non-Christian family. Their discussions about spiritual matters were dry and academic. “I kept praying all the prayers,” she said, “but I wasn’t hearing [from God].”
She began to study the Bible. Slowly, steadily, she inched toward faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Ronit describes the defining moment: “I heard a clear voice in my heart saying, ‘You’ve heard enough. You’ve seen enough. It’s time to just believe.’ ” But Ronit faced a problem: her father. “My dad responded as if Mount Vesuvius erupted,” she recalls.
When Jesus walked this earth, crowds followed Him (Luke 14:25). We don’t know exactly what they were looking for, but He was looking for disciples. And that comes with a cost. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple,” Jesus said (v. 26). He told a story about building a tower. “Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost . . . ?” He asked (v. 28). Jesus’ point wasn’t that we’re to literally hate family; rather, it’s that we must choose Him over everything else. He said, “You who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples” (v. 33).
Ronit loves her family deeply, yet she concluded, “Whatever the cost, I figured it’s worth it.” What might you need to give up to follow Jesus as He guides you? .
Reflect & Pray
What’s your story of the moment Jesus became real to you? What has it cost you to follow Him?
Father, please help me choose Your Son over everything this world has to offer.
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Happy Thankful Thursday!
So cold here lately, around 25 at night, 35 daytime.
Got my end of year gardening done on Monday-dug up my tuberous dahias to store for spring planting.
🌺🌺🌺
Bible in a Year:
Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Ronit came from a religious but non-Christian family. Their discussions about spiritual matters were dry and academic. “I kept praying all the prayers,” she said, “but I wasn’t hearing [from God].”
She began to study the Bible. Slowly, steadily, she inched toward faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Ronit describes the defining moment: “I heard a clear voice in my heart saying, ‘You’ve heard enough. You’ve seen enough. It’s time to just believe.’ ” But Ronit faced a problem: her father. “My dad responded as if Mount Vesuvius erupted,” she recalls.
When Jesus walked this earth, crowds followed Him (Luke 14:25). We don’t know exactly what they were looking for, but He was looking for disciples. And that comes with a cost. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple,” Jesus said (v. 26). He told a story about building a tower. “Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost . . . ?” He asked (v. 28). Jesus’ point wasn’t that we’re to literally hate family; rather, it’s that we must choose Him over everything else. He said, “You who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples” (v. 33).
Ronit loves her family deeply, yet she concluded, “Whatever the cost, I figured it’s worth it.” What might you need to give up to follow Jesus as He guides you? .
Reflect & Pray
What’s your story of the moment Jesus became real to you? What has it cost you to follow Him?
Father, please help me choose Your Son over everything this world has to offer.
We’ve had ice rinks in my bird baths for a few days. Going to be near 50 on Friday, so we can remove the tops of the bird baths for the winter.
Winterized the outside water spigots a week ago.
We got less than an inch of snow on Tuesday, but my friend near Milwaukee had almost 3”. The local news had some video of Milwaukee Zoo animals in the snow.
❄️❄️❄️
Sounds like you got it all done just in time. Now you can cuddle with the pup and stay warm and dry. Brrrrr!
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