Bible devotions
Obey God's message! Don't fool yourselves by just listening to it. If you hear the message and don't obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don't just hear and forget.
Our Plans are not God's plans
We make our own plans, but the Lord decides where we will go.
What do you know about tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life? It is nothing more than mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears. You should say, “If the Lord lets us live, we will do these things."
The Lord says: “My thoughts and my ways are not like yours. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, my thoughts and my ways are higher than yours.
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Bible study
The way
[1] Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God's Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. [2] Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. [3] Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. [4] Care about them as much as you care about yourselves [5] and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought: [6] Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain equal with God. [7] Instead he gave up everything and became a slave, when he became like one of us. [8] Christ was humble. He obeyed God and even died on a cross. [9] Then God gave Christ the highest place and honored his name above all others. [10] So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. [11] And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”
Although he was abused, he never tried to get even. And when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he had faith in God, who judges fairly.
[17] Don't mistreat someone who has mistreated you. But try to earn the respect of others, [18] and do your best to live at peace with everyone. [19] Dear friends, don't try to get even. Let God take revenge. In the Scriptures the Lord says, “I am the one to take revenge and pay them back.”
[6] Don't let anyone trick you with foolish talk. God punishes everyone who disobeys him and says foolish things. [7] So don't have anything to do with anyone like that. [8] You used to be like people living in the dark, but now you are people of the light because you belong to the Lord. So act like people of the light [9] and make your light shine. Be good and honest and truthful, [10] as you try to please the Lord. [11] Don't take part in doing those worthless things that are done in the dark. Instead, show how wrong they are. [12] It is disgusting even to talk about what is done in the dark. [13] But the light will show what these things are really like. [14] Light shows up everything, just as the Scriptures say, “Wake up from your sleep and rise from death. Then Christ will shine on you.” [15] Act like people with good sense and not like fools. [16] These are evil times, so make every minute count. [17] Don't be stupid. Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do. [18] Don't destroy yourself by getting drunk, but let the Spirit fill your life. [19] When you meet together, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as you praise the Lord with all your heart. [20] Always use the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to thank God the Father for everything.
Podlipanské muzeum, Český Brod
[4] Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. [5] But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. [6] No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. [7] Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. [8] The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. [9] No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. [10] This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
1 John 4:18-21 CEV
[18] A real love for others will chase those worries away. The thought of being punished is what makes us afraid. It shows we have not really learned to love. [19] We love because God loved us first. [20] But if we say we love God and don't love each other, we are liars. We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don't love the people we can see? [21] The commandment that God has given us is: “Love God and love each other!”
