“So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Jesus had just blown their minds almost beyond the point of recovery. He had introduced some ideas to them using a metaphor–one that He would later make explicit when He inaugurated the Lord’s Supper–that, frankly, grossed out most of the crowd. So they left. And as the crowds were departing, Jesus turned to the twelve and asked if they wanted to leave too. Read the rest…
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Jesus tells us not to worry and instead to trust in Him. He presents worrying about even basic life necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing as a sinful mistrust in the Lord. I remember still the first time I read these words and truly understood them. They had a profound impact on me. With only a few exceptions, I have largely purged worry from my own life because of them. Sometimes, though, I have let this intention to not worry drift too far in the other direction which is laziness. This prompts and interesting (at least to me!) question in my mind: What does it look like to live free from worry in such a way that honors Christ? Read the rest…
“But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
One of the interesting things about this story is that while it appears that Esau forgives Jacob, the rest of the history of the relationship between the descendants of the brothers (the nations of Israel and Edom) reveals that it either didn’t really take, was only skin deep, or more likely that the two had already passed enough bitterness toward each other along to their children that the well was poisoned. Israel and Edom were bitter enemies and the latter was usually the aggressor. Read the rest…
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (ESV – Read the chapter)
One of the things I have told my congregations many times over the years is that we have to get God’s character right. If we don’t get the character of God right, much of the rest of our lives will be incredibly more difficult than they would otherwise be. Read the rest…
“The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Put yourself in the shoes of the woman at the well for a moment. Jesus was offering her something which sounded way too good to be true. Even thinking literally, this was the case. She thought Jesus was talking about a literal kind of water that you could drink and never be thirsty again. Spiritually, it sounds even better. But, as good as it sounded–or rather, because it sounded so very good–she did not believe it was really something He could do. How often have we been in the same kind of place? Read the rest…
The Nexus 