For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. The context for the above is Paul commending the Macedonian churches for their overwhelming generosity. Even though those churches were suffering under a severe…

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. But that is the rub, I think. It is ingrained in us—it is part of our very nature—to do what we…

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Psalms 120-134 are commonly known as the “Songs of Ascents.” Tradition says that these were songs that were sung on pilgrimage journeys to Jerusalem (Jewish people would travel to Jerusalem from all over in order to celebrate various religious feasts). Some say as well…

But the fruit of the Spirit is love . . . So begins Paul’s much-loved, nine-item list of qualities that, as a whole, comprise the “fruit of the Spirit.” Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Paul exhorted the church in…

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” It is just after Jesus feeds the 5,000 that the now-fed crowd—who continues to follow him— asks the question, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus gently chides them because they are…