Tag Archives: obedience

It’s Not About Me – Romans 14:5-12

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in-the-spotlight“For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord” (Romans 14:7-8, NLT).

The Apostle Paul makes a plea for unity among the Roman Christians based on their individual and collective accountability to God.

Paul said we come from different backgrounds and are at different places in our walk with God. While some are more mature in their faith than others, no one should say or do anything that castigates the faith of another in Christ even though the brother or sister may be spiritually immature.

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God’s Rule = God’s Rules – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

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ten-commandments2“Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, HCSB).

In Chapters 5 and 6 of 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul discusses specific immoralities that had been reported to him. The misconduct of the Corinthian church that Paul addresses in these chapters are sexual immorality and lawsuits against one another.

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Holy Slavery – Luke 17:5-10

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Waiter“When you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing slaves; we’ve only done our duty.’” (Luke 17: 10, HCSB)

Slavery in the first century Roman world was much different from slavery in early American history. Roman slaves were either taken as the spoils of war or were slaves because they sold themselves into slavery, called bond-servants.

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A Little Respect – Psalm 147:11

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got_respect“The Lord values those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His faithful love” (Psalm 147:11, HCSB).

In a classic pop song from the late 1960’s, Aretha Franklin demanded some respect from her man: “All I’m asking is for a little respect…”

I have two toddlers that I am trying to teach to mind me, to be respectful by doing what I ask them to do (or not do). We still have a ways to go and I suspect that we will probably be working on it for years to come!

Why do parents spend so much time, even years, training their children to be obedient and respectful?

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Bad Weather Farmers – Psalm 126:5-6

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badweatherfarmer“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest” (Psalm 126:5-6, NLT).

Do you sometimes seem to be doing everything right and everything goes wrong?

You are faithful to God, planting seed for His Kingdom by serving and obeying Him in every way. Then, in the middle of your faithfulness and obedience, first one problem or tragedy strikes, then another, and then another.

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The Terrified Disciple – Mark 6:49-52

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terrified“When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke with them and said, ‘Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.” (Mark 6:49-52, HCSB).

Have you ever read a familiar passage in the Bible and found something new in it? That’s what happened to me as I read again this familiar story of Jesus walking on the water.

Admittedly, Mark’s version of this story does not include an important element described in Matthew’s account (Matthew 14:22-33). In Matthew’s version, Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk on the water toward Jesus until he notices the wind and the waves, and consequently, begins to sink. So Peter’s faith (or lack of it) is usually the focus of this story for us.

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Opportunity Knocks – Mark 6:37

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opportunity-knocks“But Jesus said, You feed them. With what? they asked. We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” (Mark 6:37, NLT).

Before Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand (or ten or fifteen thousand, actually), He first commanded the disciples to feed them!

Now His command could be interpreted in two ways. Either Jesus was commanding the disciples to let Him empower them to perform the miracle or He was trying to teach them a lesson about God’s miraculous provisioning.

We usually interpret His command to the disciples in terms of the latter, but let’s take the perspective that He was actually commanding them to feed the five or ten or fifteen thousand.

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