Posted January 17, 2022 | Judith Ingram
Scripture
Psalm 84:1-2 NLT
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.
Consider
This psalm was written centuries before Christ, when followers of God believed that God’s Spirit dwelt in the Temple in Jerusalem. The psalmist writes about the joy and anticipation of the pilgrim who makes his way to the Temple. Reading through his song, we realize that he longs not for the Temple courts themselves but for the God who will meet him there.
Continue reading >>
Posted January 10, 2022 | Judith Ingram
Scripture
Mark 4:26-29 ESV
And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Consider
Speaking to an agrarian culture, Jesus often used images of farming in his teaching parables.
Continue reading >>
Posted January 3, 2022 | Judith Ingram
Scripture
Colossians 3:10 NLT
Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
Consider
As we look ahead into a new calendar year, we cannot escape the many pressing uncertainties that face us. On the rise are risks of COVID infection, the cost of living, and violent crimes against the innocent. The unborn child’s right to live is heatedly debated, and our very identities are being redefined according to political ideologies and agendas. Christians the world over are being mocked, blocked, and martyred, while their fates go largely unreported.
Continue reading >>
Posted December 27, 2021 | Judith Ingram
Scripture
Matthew 26:30-32 NLT
Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives. On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”
Consider
This passage follows the description of Jesus’ Last Supper with his twelve disciples. They each have experienced their master’s kneeling before them to wash the dirt from their feet.
Continue reading >>
Posted December 20, 2021 | Judith Ingram
Scripture
Micah 5:2, 4-5 ESV
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.…And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.
Continue reading >>
