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Tag Archives: The Bible Project

Colossians 3:12-17

10 Jun

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in , harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:12-17

Dear God, I like the idea of clothing myself in “tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” I don’t always do it, but I like the idea of it. I like the idea of allowing for the faults of others, forgiving anyone who offends me, clothing myself in love, and allowing myself to be bout to others in harmony. I don’t always do it, but I like the idea of it. I like the idea of letting Jesus’s peace rule in my heart, living in peace with others, and always being thankful. I don’t always do it, but I like the idea of it.

So what keeps me from doing these things? Simply put, I think it almost always comes back to the soil of my heart and what I give the Holy Spirit to work with. Do I allow thorns to grow? Do I allow the cares of this world to distract me? What does it take to get me on my knees in front of you? Do I do it on my own, or does it take some sort of stress or tragedy to do it?

Forgiveness seems to be a theme of the last week for me. I’ve come across it in a few different places. A big one was the Bible Project podcast about it from the Lord’s Prayer, and specifically the part about forgiving others as you forgive me. Now, here it is again. It’s important to Paul as well. He knows I need forgiveness to be a part of my nature. The interesting thing to consider is that you need it to be part of your nature as well. It’s not only healthy for me to forgive, but it’s healthy for you to forgive me. Such a weird thing to consider!

Father, help me to love with your love, forgive with your forgiveness, serve others with your strength, and teach others as you teach me. Teach me through the people around me. Show me where I am wrong and doing harm. Show me what I’m doing well and need to lean into. Use my little life for your glory so that others might glorify you through the life I live. And help me to just know you better.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 10, 2024 in Colossians

 

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“Hypocrite” Part 2

23 Apr

Dear God, I had a weird kind of thing happen yesterday that I think was orchestrated by you. First, someone “liked” one of my prayer journals from last summer called “Hypocrite.” I went back and read it because I had forgotten about it. It was a good reminder.

THEN, the Bible Project Podcast did an episode this week called “What did Hypocrite Mean to Jesus?” It blew my mind, and it made my prayer journal from last summer appear to be so ignorant and uneducated. It humbled me, but in a good way (maybe being humbled is always good). So what did they say that changed my mind? Well, they redefined hypocrite for me, and it changed my perspective on Jesus’s use of the word.

I looked up the definition of hypocrite on Merriam-Webster and found this:

1: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion

2: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

Typically, we use the second definition, but the guys on Bible Project said the first one is what Jesus meant when he used it. It is not the “do as I say, not as I do” definition, but the definition where they hypocrite intentionally displays righteous acts for the honor that people will give them. They made several points, but a couple that stuck were:

  • The person who does good deeds for the praise of people will get that reward, but not the reward from you, while the person who does the good deeds purely out of love and obedience for you will get the reward from you.
  • Only you are able to judge the level of hypocrisy in me.

I said “level” there because there is always some level of wanting recognition from others in me. When I sit down and do these prayers on a public blog, I am here with you and not thinking about others. These are part of my worship. At the same time, I check the stats from time to time to see how many people view the site. I like affirmations when someone likes what I’ve written. I set this up to inspire people to spend their own time with you, journaling and praying. That motive is pure. But it does feed the hypocrite in me as well. But I would imagine this is a struggle that any author, preacher, singer, etc. has. And only you can judge my heart.

Father, help me to be completely here with you. Help me to point to you for all of the glory exhibited through my life. Help me to do more privately to worship you than I do publicly. And forgive me for my hypocrisy. I am sorry for my vanity and how it claims and craves glory for myself. Oh, and thank you for overlooking my ignorance. My prayer about Jesus and hypocrisy from last summer was seemingly fundamentally flawed. I am sorry for that as well. But I thank you for understanding my limitedness, my foolishness, and my true desire to just learn more and worship you.

I pray all of this through Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 23, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Matthew 5:33-37

04 Apr

33 “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ 34 But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. 35 And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. 36 Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. 37 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Matthew 5:33-37

Dear God, I was listening to a podcast from The Bible Project yesterday on this passage. It was very good. Frankly, all of their podcasts I’ve heard are very good. They did a deep dive on Jewish culture at the time and the cultural context within which Jesus was giving these instructions.

At the end of the day, this is about my personal integrity. Do I need to manipulate someone into believing me in a certain situation by using special words, or do I have a reputation that lets people know they can trust me no matter what? If I tell my wife I am running an errand and will be back in two hours, do I have to swear to her that I am doing something innocent or can she just assume it because she has 35 years of history of me being trustworthy? Conversely, when she gets a text from another man about something, I don’t have to read it or go through her texts because she has proven to be completely trustworthy was well. There is a lot of peace in being able to trust someone.

I have to say, the person who has lied to me the most over the course of my life–well, they are in the top two anyway–will “swear” by something (especially one of their parent’s grave) a lot when they want to convince me to believe them. It actually is a pretty good tell that you are dealing with a person who does not mind playing with dishonesty and using it as it benefits them.

Father, as for me, help me to just sink into honesty and trustworthiness today, regardless of what it costs me. Help me to be shrewd when working with others and determining their trustworthiness. What I really want is to simply represent you well. Be glorified in me. Draw others to yourself through me. I pray that you will find joy in the life I live as I do my best to submit to you. And thank you for forgiving my sin. When I lie to myself and to you. When I am selfish and even when I am deceptive, which I can be. Thank you for the ability to be here this morning.

I offer all of me to you through Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 4, 2024 in Matthew

 

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