This is one of the most glorious passages in the Bible! In one sentence (v 1) Paul summarizes the whole argument of his letter to this point, and then begins to draw out the implications.

By trusting in Jesus Christ we have been reconciled to God.

Adam, the first man, sinned when he listened to the voice of the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit in the garden. He was exiled from the Garden of Eden, and passed sin on to all of us (Genesis 3:22-24). We all do wrong.

Sometimes people think of sin as breaking God’s commands which he gave to Moses.

In the 1971 Broadway hit Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Tim Rice, King Herod was fascinated by Jesus – maybe more amazed at what Jesus could do than by who He was. In King Herod’s song, “Try it and See”, he says:

“So if you are the Christ …

It was characteristic of Jesus to be in constant communication with his Father. Prayer was central to his life and ministry. The disciples who witnessed this discerned something of the importance of prayer and they asked Jesus to teach them to pray. We have considered how so many failed to hear Jesus and the message he had for them, how they distanced themselves from the kingdom.

The man is mute and Jesus casts out a demon so that he is able to speak. But something more is happening here than meets the eye. The predictable challenge comes that this is simply Satan’s work. The response that Jesus gives hints at a very different conclusion. “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

“Well then,” a person might reason, “I might just as well go on sinning, since God will forgive me.” I suspect that when we read these words we think what a perverse way of reasoning that is! Yes, but don’t we all do it, consciously or unconsciously? Be honest. Think of the last time you struggled with a besetting sin.

Ezekiel receives a spectacular vision of the Lord on the throne, transported by a chariot-type conveyance composed of four faced, winged, composite (human and animal) living creatures (later identified as cherubim), and wheels. All of it displays a dazzling brilliance.

With respect to eating healthy foods, there is a slogan, “You are what you eat”. It stresses how what we intake into our bodies affects our physical wellbeing. The same can be applied to our spiritual wellbeing. Feeding moral or spiritual trash into our lives, does negatively influence how we live.

The composer, who is described in the title of the psalm as “someone who hurts,” calls on God to make his healing presence known to him. His physical pain is overwhelming, and he seems close to death (vv 3-5); indeed his torment is bone deep (v 3). He feels that his life is temporary like smoke or short-lived grass (vv 4, 11).

What makes a person – a woman, a man – good and noble as their character, not what they own or what college they went to or what their job title is. As the proverb says, from whatever is in your heart flows the spring of your life (Proverbs 4:23).

Proverbs 31 is a long list of examples of fruits of labour that a good wife bears.