Verses to Read Beforehand
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
— Romans 6:5
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, [...]
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as [...]
So I was thinking after the Good Friday service today and was a put aback by the complete change in atmosphere after the solemn service. I expressed my concern and got a response more or less about looking forward to the festivity on Easter Sunday.
I have to say, though, that I think that Good Friday [...]
Today’s Good Friday. It’s a solemn time, to say the least. We mixed meditation, readings and songs. One passage was one that was not often focused on but has some good pointers: Peter Denies the Christ.
The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before [...]
[This has been a long time in writing and I think is a good time to put it out as part 1 of the ABC Passage Romans 6:5. The second half is here]
I am bankrupt.
There is nothing I can do, nothing I can say, nothing I can build, nothing I can write or think that [...]
Just have faith.
How many times have we been guilty of this cliché? Myself? plenty. We utter and invoke faith when things don’t make sense and when we can’t explain something to someone. “Just have faith,” we coo, hoping that the band-aid will be large enough to patch the problems that fester below. We are certainly [...]
Hindsight really is 20/20. If faced with the simple cut-and-dry question of asking to sacrifice for a time things that were perishable to gain what was eternal, then the obvious answer is “yes.” But when you’re in the middle of the suffering, with the end not in sight and the very existence of the end [...]
Just a rhetorical thought: “Can God create a people he can’t control?”
(This post was a long time in writing, but I’ll save the bulk of it for later.)
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
—Isaiah 53:5
This passage reminds me of when I first saw this verse in a meaningful way that really stuck with me: at the beginning of the movie Passion of the [...]
One thing I have asked from the Lord,
that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to meditate in His temple.
—Psalm 27:4
Aside from the obvious (at least to me) source passage for the song “Better is One Day,” I’d like [...]
