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“‘Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ’Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.’” (Luke 22: 46, NIV)

The most compelling temptation is not the urge to do something that is wrong, but it is the urge to do something that is good but falls far short of excellent. It is the urge to settle for the near-term tactical advantage at the expense of the long-term strategic victory.

Sleeping is not a bad thing. It is while we sleep that our bodies repair, refresh and regenerate. However, in today’s scripture verse, something was happening that called for a response from the disciples that sleeping could never deliver.

To choose to pray is to aspire to see the world as God sees the world. In prayer, we avoid temptations to settle for anything less than God’s will in the challenges we confront each day. – Luther

Tagged christianity, church, faith, God, jesus, prayer, readiness, strategic living, the book of Luke

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“‘Here comes that dreamer!’, they said to each other. ‘Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.’” (Genesis 37:19-20, NIV)

The maltreatment of Joseph began with the evil plans of his brothers.

Joseph’s brothers resented Joseph on many levels: He was their father’s favorite son (and Joseph made no secret that he knew that his father’s favor rested on him); and Joseph made much of his dreams, in which he seemed always to be the hero.

The good news here is that God works on many levels, too. Joseph’s circumstances were used by God to fit Joseph for God’s work; he used the brothers’ guilt to provoke confession and true repentance; and throughout, God was glorified for His love and His mercy.

Like Joseph, we do not know where life will take us; but we should never doubt that God is at work in our circumstances — however hopeless from our perspective — to transform us into the image of Christ; to bless others; and to glorify God. If we are convinced of this, though we may fall down, we shall not stay down! – Luther

Tagged bible, faith, God, God's provision, jesus, Joseph, the book of Genesis

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“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?'” (John 21:15, NIV)

(This is a complex passage of scripture because its few words carry a number of number of applications. Today, we look at a second possible application.)

In the wake of Jesus’ crucifixion; and in the foggy days after the empty tomb, Peter and some of the other disciples had decided to return to their former lives as fishermen. After all, a man’s got to eat.

Jesus’ question: “Do you love me more than these?”, also challenges our personal desire for security and affirmation. Peter and his fishing companions had seen more in the three years of Jesus’ public ministry than most people will ever see: The dead raised to life, the incurably ill restored to health, the Lord’s command of nature, and much more. And there are God’s promises, of course, which they had either forgotten or ignored.

So they went back to fishing, because that was what they were comfortable doing; and, after all, a man’s got to eat.

Do we love Jesus more than all of the other things in this life that give us a sense of security and comfort, particularly when we know that He is calling us to do — and be — something else? – Luther

Tagged bible, faith, God, God's provision, jesus, Peter, the book of John