Contemplative Bible Reading

Proverbs 17:9 Holman Christian Standard Bible Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but whoever gossips about it separates friends. How do I react when someone offends me or offends another in front of me or simply makes a bad mistake that affects me?  (I can go on quite a while here, but this will suffice) […]

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Proverbs 17:8 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) A bribe seems like a magic stone to its owner; wherever he turns, he succeeds. Magic stones. I want some magic stones. When I was in graduate school, I often wished for an extra day between Monday and Tuesday. Just like magic I would be able to sleep, eat, […]

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Proverbs 7:2a (New Living Translation) Obey my commands and live! We Americans in the post-post-whatever-modern world don’t like COMMANDS. Don’t tell us what to do. We know what to do. We are our own commanders of our own fate, so stop this commands even those that come from God. Let’s step back for a moment, […]

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Proverbs 6a, 13 (New Living Translation) Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. I hate negative preaching (that doesn’t make sense, but let’s go on). Nevertheless, there are times when I need to […]

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Proverbs 17:9 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but whoever gossips about it separates friends. Offenses are committed daily. Some persons seem to offend others all the time. What is a good Christian to do? I can gossip about the offense, i.e., I can sort of tell the truth of about […]

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Proverbs 24:17-18 (New Living Translation) 17 Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble. 18 For the Lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them. Are there any victories when we have enemies? It doesn’t appear to be so.

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Proverbs 25:21-22 (New Living Translation) 21 If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. 22 You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the Lord will reward you. A conversation: Mr. A: I hate you! You are terrible. I want you […]

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Proverbs 24:11-12  (New Living Translation) 11 Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. 12 Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as […]

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Proverbs 14:4 (New Living Translation) Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest. Start with the second statement: an ox is a useful and sometimes necessary tool for farming. Now to the first statement: if you don’t have an ox, you don’t have to shovel the manure […]

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Proverbs 11:24  (New Living Translation) Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. These two lines are right from today’s “sharing economy.” Give your ideas away and everyone will come to you for help. And, by the way, they will pay you handsomely for your help. The source of all that new-found […]

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