Today’s Bible reading is the beginning of The Sermon on the Mount. Throughout the Sermon, Jesus gives some very practical behaviors that believers should strive to emulate, not to give you a right standing before God, but because you have a right standing before God. Hidden in today’s reading from Matthew 5, we find a…
We begin to read through Matthew’s Gospel in today’s Bible reading. I like how Matthew begins his gospel grounding Jesus in his lineage. Jesus doesn’t just drop out of the sky. He doesn’t just appear on the scene. He was born just like every other human being has been born. Matthew doesn’t gloss over some…
If you watch movies or TV shows about exorcism or hear people talk about their thoughts regarding spiritual warfare, you might think that there’s always a loud, violent battle and you never know who the winner is going to be. However, in today’s Bible reading in James 4, spiritual warfare sounds pretty simple. Straight-forward. And…
Today’s Bible reading is James 3. Like I said a few days ago, James is one of the most applicable books in the Bible. And this chapter is one of those that — if you let it — will “get all up on your business”, showing you that you aren’t all that you think you…
In twelve hours from now, our son will be at one of the busiest airports in the US. By himself. For the first time. A couple of hours later, he will hop on a plane bound for Sydney, Australia. By himself. For the first time. He will stay in a Sydney hostel, recovering from jetlag…
In today’s Bible reading from James 2, we see the issue I mentioned yesterday about a supposed contradiction between James and Paul on the basis of our justification before God. Paul says that we are justified by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and James says we are justified by works (James 2:24). So which one is…
