God is good and life is difficult. The life of faith is lived between these two realities.
Many times in our own lives, we reflect the hard truth of that statement in whatever distressful situation we may find ourselves. Whether it is the loss of a loved one and the grief is overwhelming, children or grandchildren gone astray, broken relationships, illness and the dreaded news that it is terminal, a financial earthquake that rattles our being into shambles, or our recruitment into a spiritual battle, we need courage. We need hope. We need God.
Category: inspiration
Sitting at His Feet
One sentence in particular, stood out to me – ‘Mary, who also sat at the Jesus’ feet and heard His word.’
I wondered, ‘Why was this specifically mentioned in Luke’s narrative, and is this mentioned of anyone else?’ I discovered it is. In Acts 22:3 Paul writes, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city (Jerusalem) at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law…” Gamaliel was a Pharisee who taught the law and was highly respected by all the Jewish people.
Names, Labels, and Titles
Here’s a Biblical example of a label that carries a negative degrading tone. John 1:47 records the event when Philip found Nathanael and told him they had found the One whom the prophets had written about – Jesus of Nazareth! Nathanael’s flat response was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”