What brings you joy? Does it come when you run a mile in under ten minutes? Perhaps it is when you are flush with cash. Or it may simply be when you are with the people you love. Interestingly, in all of these examples, joy is the product of outward circumstances in your life....
It feels good to know, doesn't it? If you are among a group of friends or coworkers, and everyone is wondering about something, it feels good to be the one in the know. As everyone fixes their eyes on you in silence, just waiting to hear what you have to tell them, you smile to yourself and relish the opportunity to share the news. It feels good to be the one in the know....
As Jesus speaks words of peace and commissioning, remember the setting. His disciples were cowering behind locked doors. They had just heard from a resurrection eyewitness, yet doubts still echoed. But suddenly there was Jesus: speaking peace to their doubting hearts and sending them to a world where doubt and fear still ruled many hearts....
For some of us, if we are so blessed, "father" is among the warmest of words. For others, "father" names an emptiness, a familiar ache for someone who combines soul-calming strength with tenderest affection, take-to-the-grave wisdom with predictable grace. Someone who is completely yours....
"Finished" the sound trailed from Jesus' lips as he gasped for breath on the cross. There was purpose behind that word. Earlier in his ministry-according to John's gospel account-when Jesus said that he had "food to eat that you know nothing about," he explained to his confused disciples, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." A short while later, Jesus affirmed that "the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me." In both the original text and in our English translation, the same verb is used in each of these statements: "finish." The work of Jesus was to finish his Father's will. ...
We should not pass over those words in the middle, "and so that Scripture would be fulfilled," too quickly. They are not an incidental aside: they are at the heart of Jesus' life and ministry, and they reveal the heart of our Messiah to us....
I jumped offside once in junior high football. It was a "double go," and I jumped on the first "go." I gave the other team a first down. Another player came running in and said, "Thomford, you're out!" I ran to the sidelines and stood by the coach. He did not yell at me. He did not speak to me. He didn't even look at me. I knew he was angry at my foolish mistake. But he just ignored me. That was tough. But I deserved it....
Thirty-three years before this day, an elderly prophet held this same Jesus in his arms and spoke Spirit- given words to his mother, "And a sword will pierce your own soul, too."...
A king certainly has alot on his mind. But what does he have on his heart?...
When we would have frozen with fear, Harold Lowe chose to serve. April 15, 1912. Five hundred feet from the sinking Titanic, Lowe reached a position of safety. But he didn't stay there. Though it was a waking nightmare, though dead bodies filled the sea, he returned to the ship. Aloneamong the officers, Lowe went back to rescue survivors. He remained dedicatedto his superiors and to those in his care....