1 Samuel on Lust

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Author

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 11:4 , Ecclesiastes 4:4, 1 Samuel 18:6-9 , Matthew 6:1-2 , Luke 10:38-42, Psalm 127:1-2

I lust after recognition, I am desperate to win all the little merit badges and trinkets of my profession, and I am of less real use in this world than any good cleaning lady.

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Envy Defined

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Envy

Scripture

1 Samuel 18:10-16, 1 Corinthians 3:3, James 3:16, Titus 3:3, Ecclesiastes 4:4, Proverbs 14:30, Exodus 20:17

Envy is wanting what another person has and feeling badly that I don’t have it. Envy is disliking God’s goodness to someone else and dismissing God’s goodness to me. Envy is desire plus resentment. En...

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We are people of desire. We want things

Author

Curt Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 32:22-32, Exodus 33:18-23 , 1 Samuel 1:9-20, Psalm 42:1-2, Mark 10:46-52, John 4:7-26

We are people of desire. We want things. We long for things. It is primal to our nature to yearn. As Saint Augustine reflected, “The whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing. . . . That is o...

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Envy’s Wish

Author

Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

Keywords

Envy

Scripture

1 Samuel 18:10-16, Proverbs 14:30, James 3:16, Mark 7:20-23

A Poem by Victor Hugo recounts an opportunity granted to Envy and Avarice to receive whatever they wished, on the condition that the other receive a double portion. Envy replied, “I wish to be blind i...

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An Englishwoman, Frenchman and a Russian

Author

Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 3:3, Titus 3:3, James 3:16, 1 Samuel 18:10-16, Exodus 20:17, Mark 7:20-23

Joseph Epstein tells a joke that illustrates envy’s malicious and impotent character well. Once there was an Englishwoman, a Frenchman, and a Russian: Each [was] given a single wish by one of those ...

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Author

John Fowles

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 29:15-30 , Exodus 32:1-8 , 1 Samuel 13:8-14, Luke 15:11-32 , James 5:7-8, Psalm 27:14

“He wanted Everest in a day; if it took two, he lost interest.”

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Desire is something no child has to be taught

Author

Curt Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 21:8-21, 1 Samuel 1:9-20 , Proverbs 22:6, Psalm 37:4, Matthew 18:1-5, Luke 11:9-13

Desire is something no child has to be taught. Early in the developmental process, most of a child’s desires center around physical needs being met or objects that attract interest. If a child is secu...

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Author

E. M. Cioran

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 18:1-3, Romans 16:3-4, 1 Samuel 18:20, Ephesians 4:2, Philippians 2:3-4, 1 Peter 4:8

Love is an agreement on the part of two people to overestimate each other.

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Overcoming Resentment with Divine Love

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 37:42-45, 50:15-21, 1 Samuel 24:26, Ephesians 4:31-32, Romans 12:9-10, 17-21, 1 John 4:19-21

Loving God, we do not love others as you love us. We are often rude and insistent on our own way. We hold onto resentment and are then held captive by bitterness. Bring us to repentance and help us l...

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Author

Candice Bergen

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 90:17, 1 Peter 3:3-4, James 1:10-11, Ecclesiastes 3:11, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Isaiah 40:7-8, 1 Samuel 16:7

Though beauty gives you a weird sense of entitlement, it's rather frightening and threatening to have others ascribe such importance to something you know you're just renting for a while.

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Love Songs All Address God

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 42:1-2, 1 Samuel 1:9-18, Psalm 63:1, Luke 15:11-32, Lamentations 3:19-24, Romans 8:22-23, Exodus 2:23-25, Hosea 3:1, John 20:11-18

In 1998, Nick Cave*, an Australian rock/pop artist, was asked by the Vienna Poetry Academy to give a series of talks on the nature of song-writing. A year later he gave a slightly revised version of t...

liturgy

Lord, examine our hearts with honesty

Author

Charles Teixeira

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 139:23-24, Jeremiah 17:10, Psalm 51:, 1 Samuel 16:10, Proverbs 21:2

Lord, examine our hearts with honesty. Find any impure way in us. Help us to find your search of us to be kind and forgiving as You tell us the ways we’ve disobeyed You.

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Speak, Lord, for your servant

Author

Christina Rossetti

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 3:1-21, Psalm 119:18, Matthew 21:28-32, Isaiah 6:8

Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Grant us ears to hear, Eyes to see, Wills to obey, Hearts to love; Then declare what You will, Reveal what You will, Command what You will, Demand what You will.

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Author

John Donne

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 1 Samuel 18:20, Romans 5:8, Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 John 4:18

I am two fools, I know, For loving, and for saying so.

Quote

Author

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 29:13, Psalm 63:1-4, 1 Samuel 3:, Colossians 3:16, Philippians 4:8, Matthew 22:37-38

To love God intellectually is to become a student of God—a student who really takes an interest in God. Have you ever noticed that a fair number of Christians are not particularly interested in God? S...

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Make Us Wise

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 18:2, 1 Samuel 30:, Ephesians 4:15, Luke 17:15-19

Glorious One, you alone are our Rock and Redeemer. We trust you, your Holy Word, your Holy Wisdom, to put all things in right relationship. Make us wise. Let the words of our mouths be acceptable to ...

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Your Cell Will Teach You Everything

Author

Thomas Merton

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10, 1 Kings 19:9-18, Matthew 5:5-15, Daniel 3:19-27, Exodus 13:21-22, Mark 1:35-39, Luke 5:16, Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Genesis 32:24-30, Psalm 62:1, Hosea 2:14, Habakkuk 2:1, 1 Samuel 3:1-10, Isaiah 26:3

A certain brother went to Abbot Moses in Scete, and asked him for a good word. And the Elder said to him: Go, sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything. An elder said: The monk’s ce...

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Love Makes the Difference

Author

Tony Evans

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 4:8, Genesis 29:, 1 Samuel 25:, Galatians 5:13-14, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Colossians 3:12-14

I heard about a woman who married a very demanding, hard, and unloving man. Her husband made her existence miserable by presenting her with a list of his demands and expectations… The woman’s husband ...

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Almighty and gracious Father, since our

Author

John Calvin

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:21-22, Luke 10:38-42, Acts 17:10-12, 1 Samuel 3:1-10, John 17:17

Almighty and gracious Father, since our whole salvation standeth in our knowledge of thy Holy Word, strengthen us now by your Holy Spirit that our hearts may be set free from all worldly thoughts and ...

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Author

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 27:4, 1 Samuel 1:9-20, Matthew 2:1-12, John 20:11-18, Proverbs 8:17, Psalm 5:3

Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?

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Author

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 4:3-10 , 1 Samuel 15:13-24 , Isaiah 29:13-15 , Luke 18:9-14, James 2:10-13 , Psalm 32:3-5

We readily confess our little faults in order to suggest that we have no big ones.

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Just as Bored as any Other

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 29:20, Ruth 1:16-17, 1 Samuel 1:9-18, Luke 10:38-42 , Philippians 2:3-4, Psalm 133:1

Emma Darwin, a devoted wife to Charles, did not share his passion for science, nor did she pretend to be captivated by the many lectures and events she attended by his side. On one occasion, as they s...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Luke 1:46-55, The Magnificat

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 1:46-55, Luke 1:26-38, 1 Samuel 2:1-10, Matthew 5:null, Matthew 19:24

“Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ has been banned from public proclamation in many countries due to the revolutionary nature of these verses. ‘He has brought down rulers from their thrones’? Just imagine this plas...

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The Monster's Friend

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 17:17, 1 Samuel 18:1-3, 2 Corinthians 1:4, Job 2:11-13, Ruth 1:16-17

I was listening to a lecture on friendship to prepare this sermon and the speaker used the movie The Bride of Frankenstein as an illustration. Now, for this to work, you have to put the movie Young...

Quote

Author

R. C. Sproul

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:19-20, Proverbs 16:5, 1 Samuel 15:23, Jeremiah 2:19, James 4:4

Every sin is an act of cosmic treason, a futile attempt to dethrone God in His sovereign authority.”

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Author

Minucius Felix

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 4:8, 1 Samuel 18:20, Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 4:2-3, Romans 12:10, 1 John 4:20-21

Our bond, which you resent, consists in mutual love, for we know not how to hate; we call ourselves ‘brethren’ to which you object, as members of one family in God, as partners in one faith, as joint ...

liturgy

Heavenly Father, You shower Your love

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 1:9-20, Acts 2:1-4, John 4:1-26, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 23:6, Galatians 5:22-23

Heavenly Father, You shower Your love on us throughout every stage of life. We praise You for Your steadfast love. Through Your Son we see the extent of that love while through Your Spirit we experien...

liturgy

Living as God Calls Us

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 3:1-10, Psalm 119:105 , James 1:22-25 , John 10:27, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Proverbs 4:20-22

Father God, you come to us in the everyday. You give us your Word and your Spirit that we might hear your voice, and follow your ways. We confess that we have neglected your words to us and pretended ...

lectionary

Pentecost

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:1-21, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, Acts 1:15, Exodus 20:null, Acts 2:9-11, 1 Samuel 10:10, Ezekiel 7:1-14, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Joel 2:28-32, Genesis 11:7-9

Preaching Commentary Clothed with Power I have a daughter who cannot acquire enough clothes. Every birthday, Christmas, or special occasion is an opportunity to shop online for something new. Fashi...

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The Gift of Tears

Author

Irene Hausherr

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 45:1–15 , 1 Samuel 1:9–18, Lamentations 2:18–19, Luke 7:36–50, 2 Corinthians 7:9–10, Psalm 56:8

The “gift of tears” written about by the desert elders and several centuries later by St. Ignatius of Loyola are not about finding meaning in our pain and suffering. They do not give answers but inste...

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