Category: News (Page 3 of 84)

There are some people who love school and learning. Others; not so much.

Jesus answered, “The most important [commandment] is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:29

Yet constant learning is a calling for every Christian. Learning more and more about what God’s says, about what God wants, what God has done, what He will do.

Most of us are familiar with the Greatest two commandments: Love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as ourself. But many seem to simply stop there.

It’s good to know the two greatest, but they aren’t the only!

God has a lot to say and we have a lot to learn. He gives us all of Scripture to bring us closer to Him; to bring others to Him. If we aren’t constantly learning and growing, we are not fulfilling God’s call and commands.

He tells us to teach, talk about, bind, and write His Words. To do that, we need to learn and do them, too!

We need to be in a constant state of humble learning, gentle teaching, and active living all His Words!

“Send Your Spirit, Lord, and teach us, and help us teach others and live for You; in and through Jesus. Amen.”

Scriptures

• Deuteronomy 6:4-9
• Mark 12:28-34

When we’re hurting we usually feel alone. Abandoned. Forsaken. Sometimes we feel we are the only ones who are – or have – ever felt this way. No one cares. No one appreciates. No one understands.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, what we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

Of course that isn’t true. We may even know it’s not true, but it certainly feels true.

And when we feel that way, in the moment, hope seems, at best, fleeting.

That’s true not just when we are hurting, but also when we are crushed by our sins. When we have separated ourselves from God’s plan and actions – again. When we have rebelled against the One who loves us beyond comprehension.

And He didn’t just say it, He showed it. In the flesh. On the cross. Through and empty tomb. The sinless One became sin for us.

We know that, but we often think of it more as an abstraction. A truth that’s far away from our reality. A nice narrative to just be believed.

Our text today brings this truth home!

Jesus’ time on earth wasn’t just manifested on the cross and in the tomb. It was also in His living. He came like us; to be weak like us; to be tempted like us. He came to experience our sufferings, to sympathize with our weaknesses, to endure our failures.

And then to overcome them. For us! Forever!

Now, whenever we feel broken, hurt, alone; when we feel unforgiven, abandoned, or lost, we can look to Jesus, who understands. Who truly and fully understands. Who perfectly understands. And who, because of His abiding, enduring love for us, goes to the Father on our behalf, intervening for us and lifting us up out of the mire and muck and walking with us through the hurts and pains.

Jesus came to suffer, die, and rise for our forgiveness and salvation. But He continues even today to intervene when we loose sight of eternity because of our temporality. And His grace and mercy extend both to the there-and-not-yet as well as to the here-and-now!

What an amazing God we have. What a wonderful Savior! What a loving Lord!

Scriptures

• Psalm 119:9-16 [Confession and Absolution]
• Hebrews 4:14-16