Contemplative Bible Reading

Romans 12:21 (New Living Translation) Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Let’s try to reassess God’s advice here. Well, maybe let’s not. Don’t defeat evil—a negative—by removing it (another negative). Instead, defeat evil—a negative—by adding good (a positive). Perhaps it is better to be for something than to be against […]

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Nehemiah 13:31b Remember me, O my God, for good. Nehemiah prayed often. Sometimes about big things and sometimes about little things. One of the lessons I learned from Nehemiah is that with God there are probably fewer little and big things than there are with me. One of the prayers Nehemiah says several times is […]

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James 4:13-16 (New Living Translation) 13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a […]

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Romans 9:10-12 (New Living Translation) 10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but […]

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Romans 5:1-2 (New Living Translation) Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and […]

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1 Corinthians 10:17 (New Living Translation) And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. People don’t eat from the same biscuit. Well, maybe sometimes you will see a husband and wife or a parent and child pull bites from the same biscuit. No one […]

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Romans 1:22-23 (New English Translation) 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Imagine the fools: the are putting God into little statues of things they know like people, bird, […]

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1 Corinthians 8:1 (New English Translation) With regard to food sacrificed to idols, we know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. This is one of those verses that I dislike. I am educated, well educated, probably overly educated. I have a lot of knowledge. This verse puts knowledge in […]

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Romans 1:20 (New Living Translation) For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. People know God exists. They may not know that name or […]

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1 Thessalonians 3:12 (New Living Translation)  And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow… These words are in the middle of a short prayer that Paul writes in a letter. I find them to be something to pray everyday. God, help us love one another more today than […]

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