The Freedom of Choices
Deuteronomy 28:2, 15 “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God. … But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statues with which I charge you today, that all...
Standing Strong
Deuteronomy 25:17–19 “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore, it shall come about...
Heavenly Maître d’
Amos 4:8–11 “… ‘Yet you have not returned to me,’ declares the Lord” (NIV). Observation: In each of these four verses God testified of Israel’s sin and established justification for coming judgment. He recounted things He had done to show His commitment to Israel...
Christian Hedonism
1 John 1:3–4 “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete” (NIV). Observation: John the apostle was the...
Measuring Stick
1 Peter 1:7 “These have come so that your faith … of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire … may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (NIV). Observation: Peter is encouraging me to...
Wrong Questions
Ephesians 5:8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Observation: Paul has just encouraged the Ephesians to “be imitators of God … as dearly loved children …” (Verse 5:1) We are told to be a “fragrant offering” (Verse 2), and to carry not so...
Laundromat Attendant
John 20:6 “Then Simon Peter … arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen laying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen” (NIV). Observation: Mary Magdalene had...
Some Assembly Required
1 John 1:1–4 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life,...
The Carpool Awaits
John 18:1 “When he had finished praying, Jesus left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley” (NIV). Observation: This verse follows Jesus’s priestly prayer of John 17, the longest prayer of the New Testament. Jesus had prayed first for Himself, then for the...
Breathless
John 17:1 “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed, ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you’” (NIV). Observation: Jesus and His disciples had gathered for Passover where a long, far-ranging discussion had ensued....
