Contemplative Bible Reading

Luke 12:14 (New Living Translation) 13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” A man comes to Jesus with a personal problem. The man wants Jesus to solve […]

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Romans 8:28 (New Living Translation) And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. The blessings roll on and on in this sentence. (1) God is active. God is causing things to happen all the time without end. […]

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Luke 12:1 (New Living Translation) …Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. Jesus is speaking here. What is the yeast of the Pharisees? Many point out that throughout the Bible yeast is often mentioned with sin. Here, however, Jesus mentions a specific failure: hypocrisy. “Those Christians are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.” I heard […]

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Romans 8:38 (New Living Translation) And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. I love the words used in this translation of this familiar verse. God gives […]

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Luke 7:33-34 (New Living Translation) 33 For John the Baptist didn’t spend his time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and […]

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Romans 12:2 (New Living Translation) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. I love the wording of this verse in this translation. […]

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1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (New Living Translation) 22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share […]

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Romans 7:24 (American Standard Version) Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I love the wonderful, horrible wording found in this translation. Paul calls himself a wretched man. One definition of wretched is in a very unhappy or unfortunate state The word “unfortunate” is an understatement. […]

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1 Corinthians 12:7 (New Living Translation) A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. It is easy to accept a gift and use it for my own pleasure. Someone gives me a gift certificate for my birthday. I enjoy the meal. Natural right? Perhaps this natural use of […]

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Galatians 4:8 (New Living Translation) Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. This summarizes the state of the Gentiles in Galatia before the Gospel. They had enslaved themselves to things that didn’t exist. Let’s try to understand that principle. Think of something that does not exist. […]

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