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March 28, 2024

John 13:4-5  Jesus laid aside his outer garments...poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet...

This is Thursday of Holy Week. More than that, it is the day Christians remember as the night Jesus took the whole concept of what it means to love and revolutionized it by bending down to wash his disciples' feet.

I don't know about you, but I don't want people handling my feet. To do that, they would see how my toes curl in strange directions. They would see my corns and calluses and missing toe. And yet, Jesus used broken and dirty feet to show the world what love is.

Today isn't just the Thursday of Holy Week; it's Maundy Thursday. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, or commandment, which calls to mind these words of Jesus: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another..." (John 13:34).
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

March 27, 2024

Matthew 21:12-13 ...Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple..."It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."

What in the world was Jesus thinking? No sooner does he come down off the excitement of Palm Sunday, he heads straight for the Temple. You'd think he was asking for trouble. Like Daniel thrown to the lions, Jesus charges in to meet the enemy head on. But these aren't just his enemies; they are enemies of his Heavenly Father.

When Jesus was just a boy, he told his parents, "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49). And now, on this last week of his life, he has returned home - to his Father's house. He has come home to reclaim the Temple with righteous wrath just as he will go to the cross to reclaim something else that belongs to his Father in heaven: you and me.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

March 26, 2024

Matthew 26:31 You will all fall away because of me this night.

Now that I think of it, Palm Sunday would have been the day someone should have stood up and shouted, "Go back, Jesus; it's a trap!" Of course, I wasn't there. And had I been there, I no doubt would have held back and kept quiet, not wanting to draw attention to myself. So even if I had had inside information as to what was in store for Jesus, I would probably have kept quiet.

Even today, I prefer to blend in, becoming just another face in the crowd. I think in many ways, I'm like the young man who followed Jesus until the soldiers tried to grab him, at which time "he left the linen cloth and ran away naked" (Mark 14:52). I'm embarrassed and ashamed to think that I would have done the same thing.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

March 25, 2024

Matthew 9:36  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

I have a hard time imagining having compassion on people who, at the very least, don't understand me and, at the very worst, truly hate me. And yet, Jesus, from the very beginning of his ministry until the last days of his life, had compassion on everyone he met, including those who would put him on the cross.

The word compassion means "to have sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others." I believe it's fair to say that Jesus longed to have some compassion thrown his way the last week of his life. Even now, I think of what happened on Good Friday, the word compassion means more to me than ever before.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

March 21, 2024

Ephesians 2:10  ...we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

What do you have planned for today? I know I have a calendar book where I list all my appointments. But even if plans are written in my book, I know the unexpected can come along to alter what I had planned. Maybe plans change because of a phone call from someone needing help, or something breaks at home, requiring immediate attention. That happens.

Sometimes the plans you have can be interrupted by God. He's got plans for you and me too. St. Paul in Ephesians says, "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

What a vivid image Paul puts out there. God's got his own plans for your day, and you almost have to sidestep to avoid them. Well, don't.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

March 20, 2024

1 Corinthians 7:17  ...let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.

I heard a pastor say that the two most important dates in a person's life are his day of birth and the day a person understands why he was born. Most people know their birth dates. Some even know the very time and place. It's only when knowing Jesus as Lord that a person truly knows the why behind their birth.

St. Paul says we all have a purpose, a reason for being, and God's Son came to show us what that purpose is: to share the message of the cross with everyone we meet.

Thank God you and I have something to live for, a reason for being. It's Jesus.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

March 19, 2024

1 Corinthians 15:58  Therefore...be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Remember those words attributed to Winston Churchill: "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up"?

Have you ever tried putting an exercise bike together from scratch? The box arrives on your doorsteps with all the parts, including tools and an instruction manual. Now the work begins. Perhaps you fall into the category of a stereotypical male; you don't like to read instructions and often means you're headed for trouble.

Well, wonder of wonders, everything came together. You know why? You had your wife standing close by with the instruction manual saying, "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up." Or something like that.

When it comes to getting your love for Jesus out there for others to see, St. Paul is encouraging us to hang in there, "knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

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