Thoughts From the Bible

Read Mark 12: 1- 12 -   Jesus challenged the religious leaders with a parable about the vinedresser and  how the vinedresser’s representatives and then his son  was  abused or killed. Jesus was making this statement  in order for  the religious leaders to understand He knew their intentions  were not spiritually motivated.  Verse s  ten  and eleven it  says, “ H ave you not even read this scripture,  ‘ (10)  The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. (11) This  was the  Lord’s  doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?’”   The religious leaders were motivated by fear,  greed,  and hatred. Those three things built upon each other to cause them to  cast themselves against Jesus. They were afraid Jesus would take their influence and positions away which would  impact  their standing in the  community,  and they hated Him for this.  One of t...

 Read 1 John 2: 7-11 - John was writing that loving each other was not a new commandment. There were obviously still some issues at work among some of the believers. In verse 11 there is this, “Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.” This is another passage that is trying to show believers that we must rise above our human emotions and be the believer Jesus would have us to be. We may not particularly like another Christian, but hate is something that must be removed from our souls. We need to guard against that and know that Jesus expects more from us as His followers. This is where our prayer needs to serve as the catalyst to continuing on the road to be the Christian Jesus needs us to be.