No one enjoys hanging out with the wrong crowd, whatever crowd that may be. Different people do not mix easily, even when occupying the same space.
No one would choose a tax collector to befriend the Jewish populace.
Read More sin, friends, forgiveness, changeNo one enjoys hanging out with the wrong crowd, whatever crowd that may be. Different people do not mix easily, even when occupying the same space.
No one would choose a tax collector to befriend the Jewish populace. Many Jews considered tax collectors to be dishonest in financial matters and traitors to their own nations, as these taxes were given over into Roman hands.
Read More sin, friends, forgiveness, changeThere’s more to the Passover plot than Judas’s betrayal for money. The stage is set for us in the description of the others involved. They weren’t simply priests and teachers, they were “chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses”.
Behind these titles were centuries of religious practice, interpretation and reinterpretation of the original download from God to his people through Moses.
Read More legalism, change, veil, pathway to God
There’s an old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That saying quite accurately reflects my assessment of today’s scripture reading.
Isaiah looks at his world – his city Jerusalem – and points out its faults. He sees a society of great disparity with wealth flowing to those in grand houses, while others are left without.
Read More trouble, change, selfishness, society
How do I know his will for my life? Romans 12 tells us how to become better listeners to God who has a perfect will for us. Paul, the writer of Romans “begs” his readers to “offer” our bodies as living sacrifices to God. Paul writes that this is our most reasonable response in light of God’s goodness or mercy.
What is God’s mercy?
Read More change, sacrifice, God’s will, morph