Posts Categorized: Devotional

Enemy or Neighbor?

Posted November 6, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Matthew 5:43-45 NRSV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Consider

Who is my enemy? The word enemy may sound a little extreme, so instead we might ask ourselves, what sort of person is difficult for me to love?

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Christ with Us

Posted October 30, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

John 14:15-17 NRSV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”

Consider

In the hours before his arrest, Jesus spends private time with his disciples, encouraging them to carry on his ministry after he is taken from them. “Don’t be scared,” he says. “Remember the love we’ve shared. Continue the Father’s good work.”

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Strength to Forgive

Posted October 23, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Psalm 119:49-50 NRSV

Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. This is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life.

Consider

The act of forgiveness is grounded in hope. We forgive in the hope of repairing the damage done by a painful or destructive act. We offer our offender a second chance and hope he or she will make a better choice the next time. We imagine a healed relationship and open the door to reconciliation, hoping the other person will step through. We hope that forgiving will close the book on the offense so we can move on.

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Loving God’s Law

Posted October 16, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Romans 7:22-23 NLT

I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

Consider

Loving God is not the same as loving God’s law. Like children in the care of a parent we love and trust, we may still resist the rules our parent assigns, even when we believe those rules are meant to protect and help us. God gave us his law not to make us miserable but to expose the sin in our lives that makes us miserable. Without the law, Paul says, we would not know that we sin.

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Growing through Conflict

Posted October 9, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Consider

No matter how carefully we speak or how respectfully we treat one another, we cannot always avoid conflict. Disagreements may arise organically as people encounter different temperaments, backgrounds, and viewpoints.

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