“But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
We very naturally yearn for justice. We want things to be set right when they are wrong. The simplest reason for this is that we were created in the image of a God who is just. Read the rest…
“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Do you have a vision from God? Have you received one? How are you doing with this? God gives us a vision of the work He has for us to do as we seek Him in the routine, day-to-day of our lives. This vision will likely be a function of our passions, interests, abilities, and experiences. It will involve God placing us at the intersection of the world’s need and our passion. He will call us through this vision to the advancement of His kingdom. Read the rest…
“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…
“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…
“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 