Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Peter 1:18 (New Living Translation) For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. Peter is writing to God’s chosen people—they have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus […]

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1 Peter 1:8 (New Living Translation)The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a call to be productive and useful. Well, sort of. Peter writes about a growth from faith to love through steps that enrich a person’s life […]

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Hebrews 11:40 (New Living Translation) For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. This sentence concludes what has been called the “Faith Hall of Fame.” This section of the letter to the Hebrews mentions people from the Hebrew history who showed great belief in things […]

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Hebrews 5:14 (New Living Translation) Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. The writer is instructing the Hebrews about the nature of Jesus in God’s greater plan for mankind. This is a complicated matter. The writer chides some of the […]

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Hebrews 1:14 (New Living Translation) Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation. The writer is telling the Hebrews about the Son of God. Jesus Christ is far above the angels in position, power, and everything else. Whoa. Impressive. The angels? Those angelic beings that appear obviously to people […]

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1 Peter 2:16 (New Living Translation) For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. I am free. I am God’s slave. Okay, must be something wrong with the translation here. How can I be both free and a slave at the same time? […]

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2 Peter 1:10-11 (New Living Translation) 10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. 11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus […]

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2 Peter 1:5-7 (New Living Translation) 5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly […]

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Hebrews 2:14-15 (New Living Translation) 14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could […]

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1 John 2:16 (New Living Translation) For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. This is in the first letter from John to different churches. In these sentences, John […]

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