Contemplative Bible Reading

John 7:24 (New Living Translation) Jesus replied,…”Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” Sometimes the words of Jesus are so simple they smash me into a wall. The Bible is full of examples of how people judge on the surface by human and worldly standards. How childish am I? Go past the superficial, […]

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John 7:2-4 (New Living Translation) 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show […]

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Luke 16:15 (New Living Translation) Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God. Put the last sentence of this verse under that tag “#IknowthisfromJesusbutIhateit.” Surely Jesus didn’t know what he was saying. Surely this is […]

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Mark 9:38 (New Living Translation) John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” And so it began or so it continued. John, he is the culprit here but it could be me, divides people into them […]

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Mark 9:30-31a (New Living Translation) 30 Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, 31 for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. Jesus wanted more time so that He could teach his followers. As the pendulum swings in Christianity in this […]

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Mark 7:1-5 (New Living Translation) 1 One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 2 They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. 3 (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over […]

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1 John 2 (New Living Translation) 15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in […]

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1 Peter 1:23-25 (New Living Translation) 23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the […]

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Hebrews 8:1-2 (New Living Translation) 1 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. 2 There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human […]

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Hebrews 1:9 (New Living Translation) You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else. The opposite of “justice” is “injustice.” That’s obvious, right? See the above verse where the opposite of “justice” is “evil.” And that leads […]

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