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Showing posts from March, 2021

John 9:39 - Sin, pride and blindness

John 9:39 "Jesus then said: "For this judgement I came into this world, that those not seeing might see and those seeing might become blind." Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and they said to him: "We are not blind also, are we?" Jesus said to them: "If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say,  "We see." Your sin remains." This verse is really interesting and took me a moment to sit with and understand.  I think it relates to pride.  He's talking with the Pharisees and they were known to be prideful in their understandings and beliefs and this is something that kept them from believing in Jesus.  It seems that Jesus is saying that if the Pharisees had the humility and felt the suffering of blindness, they would have less pride and be more like a child of God and therefore, no sin.  But because they said "we see", its almost as if they are saying "we know", as if their previou...

Last, first.

 The other day I received a blog post about the upside down nature of God.  I love this description, and I love how true it is.  Jesus talks about those who are exalted will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted, as well as the last being first and the first being last.  Jesus said to his disciples "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and minister of all." Mark 9:35.  Mark 10:31 "But many who are first will be last, and the last first." And the most important  Mark 10:43 " ;but whoever wants to become great among you must be your minister, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all.  For even the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life as a ransom in exchange for many."  I love how God is aware of the ego in all of us and how with many people, as all of us can do in the world sometimes, we can strive for accomplishment and to be the "best" or the ...

Giving and Receiving - a story

 Here's my latest story,  hope you like it! I wrote it after reading Mark 4:24 "He further said to them: "Pay attention to what you are hearing. With the measure that you are are measuring out, you will have it measured out to you, yes, you will have more added to you.  For whoever has will have more given to him, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."  It always amazes me how beautifully the bible is written, Jesus is the genius of metaphors:)    Hope you enjoy it! Giving and Receiving written by Nicole Allegretti  Two birds walk along a branch   and saw a friend near her nest of eggs.   They noticed that she sat closely but looked worried mostly. They asked their friend Bella “Can we help?” “I’m afraid you can’t, its my eggs,   they haven't hatched or cracked, there must be something I’ve lacked. Its been so long   and I’ve been waiting and waiting   to hear my sweet babies sing their song. ...

A sower sows seeds.

 Mark 4: 3-28 -  Jesus said "Listen. Look! the sower went out to sow.  As he was sowing, some seeds fell alongside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.  Others fell on rocky ground where there was not much soil, and they immediately sprang up because the soil was not deep. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them, and they yielded no fruit. But others fell on the fine soil, and growing up and increasing, they began to yield fruit, and they were bearing 30, 60 and 100 times more."   Jesus explains -  Mark 4: 14 - The sower sows the word.  These, then, are the ones alongside the road where the word is sown; but as soon as they have heard it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Likewise, these are the ones sown on rocky ground; as soon as they have heard the word, they accept it with joy.  ...