Hebrews 4:16 says “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We are invited to come into the very presence of God like a child approaching their parent with outspokenness, unreserved utterance, frankness, candor, and cheerful courage, totally expressing […]
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life” Psalm 23:6. Goodness in the Hebrew text means just that; in Exodus 34:6 God “proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth.” Mercy in the Hebrew means kindness, piety, and (rarely) reproof, but even […]
In Luke 7:36-50 Jesus has been invited to dinner at a Pharisees house when a sinner woman (possibly a prostitute, at any rate a known sinner) shows up at the banquet room; according to H. H. Haley “an oriental banquet was a sort of public affair” so in accordance with that culture she had the […]
In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus spoke a parable to all those that trust in their ancestry or their good works for salvation. In this parable He contrasts a Pharisee and a tax collector: the Pharisee, one of the religious elite, comes to the temple to pray and begins by telling God how good he is, he […]
Using the setting of a man with a servant Jesus gives us a lesson on faithful, humble service in Luke 17 7-10. The servant goes to the field to till the soil or tend the cattle, when he returns to his master’s house does his master say, “Come at once and sit down to eat?” […]
In Luke 15:11-32 Jesus tells a story of a father with two sons. Since we do not have space in this meditation to talk about both sons we are focusing on the younger, who approached the father asking to receive his inheritance early. According to Jewish law at the father’s death the younger son would […]
Samaritan’s were a mixed race; they also had a corrupted form of religion. They and the Jews usually did not have good relationships with each other, and there was often a spirit of hatred and hostility manifested between them, leading the woman in John 4:9 to say “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” But Jesus […]
“Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy” Matthew 5:7. The Greek word that is used here is ELEEMON which means “compassionate”. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:4 that God “is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us”. And in Titus 3:5 “according to His mercy He […]
