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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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Tippy is always setting a new benchmark for crazy behavior. :-)
Thank you.
Bible in a Year:
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
I’m often amused by the unofficial holidays people come up with. February alone has a Sticky Bun Day, a Sword Swallowers Day, even a Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day! Today has been labeled Be Humble Day. Universally recognized as a virtue, humility is certainly worth celebrating. But interestingly, this hasn’t always been the case.
Humility was considered a weakness, not a virtue, in the ancient world, which prized honor instead. Boasting about one’s achievements was expected, and you sought to raise your status, never lower it. Humility meant inferiority, like a servant to a master. But all this changed, historians say, at Jesus’ crucifixion. There, the One who was “in very nature God” gave up His divine status to become “a servant” and “humbled himself” to die for others (Philippians 2:6–8). Such a praiseworthy act forced humility to be redefined. By the end of the first century, even secular writers were calling humility a virtue because of what Christ had done.
Every time someone is praised for being humble today, the gospel is being subtly preached. For without Jesus, humility wouldn’t be “good,” or a Be Humble Day even thinkable. Christ relinquished His status for us, revealing through all history the humble nature of God.
Reflect & Pray
What would the world be like if humility was still a weakness? In what relationships can you imitate Jesus’ humility today?
I praise You, Jesus, for being the Humble One. And I desire to humble myself to You today as my only fitting response!
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Hi Shadow!
We are having a winter weather event....hoping we don’t lose power due to freezing rain. Would rather have a foot of snow like they might get north of here. Here near in the south we are getting freezing rain and sleet. Oh, and wind, which makes ice worse... power outages. I sure hope the dire predictions are wrong. They mentioned the 1976 ice storm and it may be as bad this time, and I remember that storm well. Sure hope they are wrong. 😬
I hope you have everything you need so you don’t have to get out in that horrible weather. I’m with you. Snow is WAY better than sleet/freezing rain. Besides, it’s prettier. 🥶
She could be a body warmer! LOL!
I did some preparing incase it gets bad. Saved enough drinking water for 2 days of power trouble and salted the driveway and sidewalk near the house. Been monitoring the radar to see the direction the precipitation is taking. I hope my husband will stay home from work tomorrow, if the predicted ice happens. It’s not too windy yet. Supposed to increase later on.
I hope he stays home, too, so there’s not a chance of y’all being separated in case of power problems or any other unforeseen issues!
Works for me. :-)
We were fortunate that the ice storm turned into sleet, and even the high winds predicted didn’t happen. Yay! The weather predictions were thankfully wrong.
Have a great day
🌷🌷🌷
Bible in a Year:
You would have asked him and he would have given you living water.
Andrea’s home life was unstable, and she left at fourteen, finding a job and living with friends. Yearning for love and affirmation, she later moved in with a man who introduced her to drugs, which she added to the alcohol she already drank regularly. But the relationship and the substances didn’t satisfy her longings. She kept searching, and after several years she met some believers in Jesus who reached out to her, offering to pray with her. A few months later, she finally found the One who would quench her thirst for love—Jesus.
The Samaritan woman at the well whom Jesus approached for water found her thirst satisfied too. She was there in the heat of the day (John 4:5–7), probably to avoid the stares and gossip of other women, who would have known her history of multiple husbands and her current adulterous relationship (vv. 17–18). When Jesus approached her and asked her for a drink, He bucked the social conventions of the day, for He, as a Jewish teacher, would not normally have associated with a Samaritan woman. But He wanted to give her the gift of living water that would lead her to eternal life (v. 10). He wanted to satisfy her thirst.
When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we too drink of this living water. We can then share a cup with others as we invite them to follow Him.
Reflect & Pray
How do you think the woman at the well felt when Jesus asked her for some water? What does it mean to you to receive His living water?
Father God, You welcome all who are thirsty to come to the waters and drink. Satisfy my thirst through Your living water.
Hope the weather improves today!
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Bible in a Year:
From the ends of the earth I call to you . . . as my heart grows faint.
Author and theologian Russell Moore described noticing the eerie silence in the Russian orphanage where he adopted his boys. Someone later explained that the babies had stopped crying because they learned that no one would respond to their cries.
When we face difficult times, we too can feel that no one hears. And worst of all, we can feel that God Himself doesn’t listen to our cries or see our tears. But He does! And that’s why we need the language of petition and protest found especially in the book of Psalms. The psalmists petition for God’s help and also protest their situation to Him. In Psalm 61, David brings his petitions and protests before his Creator, stating, “I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (v. 2). David cries out to God because he knows that only He is his “refuge” and “strong tower” (v. 3).
Praying the petitions and protests of the psalms is a way of affirming God’s sovereignty and appealing to His goodness and faithfulness. They’re proof of the intimate relationship we can experience with God. In difficult moments, we can all be tempted to believe the lie that He doesn’t care. But He does. He hears us and is with us.
Reflect & Pray
How does it encourage you to know that God hears your desperate prayers? What petitions and protests will you share with Him today?
Dear Jesus, help me to offer You my petitions, protests, and praise.
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Now they tell ya! LOL! But she’s totally worth it. 🐕🤎
Happy Friday!
We have a thick layer of ice on the ground here. It’s over the 3 inches of sleet. Saturday it will be 35 degrees, so it will improve greatly.
Looking forward to spring!
🌷🌷🌷
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WEARING RED ON FRIDAY
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