Christian Living on Complacency

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“Three Dollars Worth of Gospel, Please”

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Keywords

Scripture

Mark 8:34-35, 1 John 3:16-18, Matthew 5:43-44, Romans 12:1-2, Luke 14:26-27, Matthew 28:19-20

I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please. Not too much– just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hat...

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All: Gracious God, we have become

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:40, Matthew 25:31-46, Micah 6:8, James 2:15-17, Luke 6:27-36, Isaiah 58:6-7, 1 John 3:17, Zechariah 7:9-10, Colossians 3:12, Proverbs 21:13

All: Gracious God, we have become callous to those in need, holding back compassion yet unsparing with judgment. We defend our motivations, rather than using all you have given us to love and care for...

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Free us, Lord, from our obsession with

Author

Walter Brueggemann

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Scripture

Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 16:24, Acts 2:44-45, James 2:14-17, Mark 10:43-45, 1 John 3:17-18, John 13:14-15, Isaiah 58:6-7

Free us, Lord, from our obsession with ourselves long enough to care for others; to be so concerned about the well-being of the human community that me don’t have to worry about our place, our church,...

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Author

Amy Carmichael

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 32:7-14, Mark 10:17-22, Galatians 2:11-14, 2 Samuel 12:1-14, 1 John 3:16, Romans 5:8, John 15:13

If I fear to hold another to the highest goal because it is so much easier to avoid doing so, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

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Author

W. H. Auden

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Scripture

Romans 6:1-2, 1 John 3:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-27, Proverbs 28:13, 1 John 1:8-9, Romans 2:4, Psalm 51:10-12

Every crook will argue, “I like committing crimes. God likes forgiving them. Really the world is admirably arranged.

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God of mercy, we ignore the needs of

Author

Austin D. Hill

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Scripture

Matthew 25:35-36, James 2:15-17, Proverbs 19:17, 1 John 3:17-18, Isaiah 58:6-7

God of mercy, we ignore the needs of people around us all too often. We get caught up in our own issues and forget that there are millions of people who struggle for basic necessities on a daily basis...

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Author

Stanley Hauerwas

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Scripture

John 15:4-5, 1 John 3:18-19, Matthew 7:21, Romans 10:9-10, Hebrews 11:1, Galatians 2:20

I do not put much stock in "believing in God." The grammar of "belief" invites a far too rationalistic account of what it means to be a Christian. "Belief" implies propos...

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Author

Austin Fischer

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Scripture

Galatians 6:3-4, Titus 1:16, 2 Timothy 3:5, Revelation 3:15-16, 1 John 3:18, Matthew 23:27-28, James 2:14-17

Christianity has suffered more casualties from faux faith than from honest doubt.

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Author

John Calvin

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Scripture

Psalm 100:3, Romans 14:8, 1 John 3:1-6, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Romans 8:15, Psalm 24:1, John 17:9

We are not our own: therefore, let us not set our own will as our rule, but submit ourselves wholly to God.

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Not Heeding the Call

Author

Jeff Volkmer

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, Hebrews 13:16, Galatians 6:9-10, Proverbs 3:27, 1 John 3:17-18, James 2:14-17

Just the other day, I was out on a bike ride for some exercise. Because I work for a high-end cycling company, I had the opportunity to test ride one the bikes we make – a bike that comes with a price...

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Wherever Help is Needed

Author

B. B. Warfield

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:13, Romans 12:1, Matthew 10:39, 1 John 3:16, Ephesians 5:25

While written well over a century ago, this excerpt (from the great Princeton theologian) B.B. Warfield’s sermon “imitating the Incarnation continues to inspire the kind of life Christ calls us to: ...

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Dear Lord, we come before You today as

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:27-28, Psalm 104:24-25, Romans 8:14-16, 1 John 3:1-3, Genesis 1:1-31, Hebrews 11:3, John 1:1-3

Dear Lord, we come before You today as Your children. We praise You as the God of all creation and the giver of life. You have made us, saved us, and called us to be Your people and to serve in Your K...

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Giving Away What Wasn’t His

Author

The Chicago Tribune

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:17-18, Malachi 3:10, Proverbs 22:9, James 2:15-17, Matthew 6:21, Acts 20:35

When 67-year-old carpenter Russell Herman died in 1994, his will included a staggering set of bequests. Included in his plan for distribution was more than two billion dollars for the City of East St....

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A Deeper Faith

Author

Bob Goff

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 John 3:18, Romans 12:15, John 15:12-13, James 5:16, Galatians 6:2

In his introduction to Scott Sauls’ Book, Irresistable Faith, Bob Goff tells a story about a summer adventure hitchhiking across New England, which would ultimately lead to staying with a hermit in Ma...

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Gracious God, our hearts are often

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Matthew 5:8, Romans 7:21-23, James 4:8, Ezekiel 36:26, 1 John 3:3, Psalm 73:1, Psalm 24:3-4, Matthew 15:19-20, Romans 12:2, Psalm 139:23-24, Titus 1:15, James 1:2-8, Matthew 12:25

Gracious God, our hearts are often divided between what is good and what is evil. Not one of us is pure in heart yet we long to have a whole heart.

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Attempted Shortcuts to Love

Author

John Starke

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:1, John 4:1-26, Luke 19:1-10, Galatians 5:13-14, Romans 5:5-8, 1 John 4:16

“Most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love,” writes John Steinbeck in East of Eden, a book full of characters who crave the love of a father, a brother, a lover, a son. The experience of fu...

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Gracious God, your Son Jesus came not

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 10:45, Romans 12:10, 1 John 3:18, 1 Peter 5:2-3, Ephesians 4:32, John 10:11, Matthew 20:28

Gracious God, your Son Jesus came not be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. He is our Good Shepherd, whose leadership is less about the love of power, and more about the ...

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Caring Christians

Author

Ralph Neighbor

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:18, 1 Peter 2:12, Matthew 5:16, Luke 6:32-35, Romans 5:8

Even if people reject the gospel, we still must love them. A good example of this was reported by Ralph Neighbour, pastor of Houston’s West Memorial Baptist Church (in Death And The Caring Community ...

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Author

Alexander Pope

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:1-2, Galatians 6:2, Colossians 3:13, James 5:16, 1 John 3:17

Teach me to feel another's woe, to hide the fault I see, that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.

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Author

Pope Francis

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Scripture

Romans 12:13, Proverbs 19:17, Isaiah 58:10, Galatians 6:2, 1 John 3:17-18, James 2:15-17

Like the Good Samaritan, may we not be ashamed of touching the wounds of those who suffer, but try to heal them with concrete acts of love.

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Author

Benedicta Ward

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:18, John 13:1-17, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 4:18-22, James 1:22, Romans 12:1, Mark 10:15

It is possible also to come at Christianity from a rather different point of view as well, seeing it as something not too difficult but too simple for us, too basic, something to be apprehended theref...

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What is Love?

Author

John Mark Comer

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 10:25-37, Romans 12:9-10, John 15:12-13, 1 John 4:7-8, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 1 John 3:16-18

In love. What does that even mean? “Love” is a junk drawer we dump all sorts of ideas into, just because we don’t have anywhere else to put them. I “love” God, and I “love” fish tacos. See the probl...

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Coming to Grips with the Reality of Sin

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:8, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, Matthew 13:19, 2 Corinthians 11:14, John 8:44, James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8

The psychotherapist M. Scott Peck spent many years of his practice as an agnostic. He, along with thousands upon thousands of his colleagues were taught that evil was a social construct, and therefore...

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Eternal and Glorious God, Your grace

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:2-4, Colossians 3:23-24, 1 John 3:1-3, 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 51:10-12, Hebrews 12:1-2

Eternal and Glorious God, Your grace calls us toward growth and service in You. Yet today we acknowledge the many times we have forgotten Your mercy and rejected Your love. Forgive us when we sin agai...

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Why Starbucks is so Successful

Author

Donald Miller

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 139:13-16, Isaiah 43:1-4, Luke 15:3-7, Luke 15:11-32, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, 1 John 3:1

Starbucks exploded by not just offering customers a cup of coffee but by giving them a comfortable, sophisticated environment in which to relax. Customers felt good about themselves when they walked i...

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Practicing Compassion

Author

Mark Scandrette

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:40, Psalm 86:15, Isaiah 42:3, Isaiah 42:3, 1 John 3:17, Luke 7:13, Matthew 9:36, Colossians 3:12

Imagine making the shape of a valentine heart with your hands and holding it up to your face. That’s the posture of seeing with compassion. You might picture yourself looking through the heart at a pe...

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A Biblical Understanding of Sin

Author

Richard Plass

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 5:17, 1 Peter 2:25, Romans 8:7, James 4:4, Ephesians 2:1-2, Isaiah 59:2, 1 John 3:4

In the New Testament sin is not merely an individual, privatized transgression of a moral standard (sins is typically used for specific transgressions). It is far more radical than that. Sin is a mist...

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Sarah Smith of Golder's Green

Author

Eunice McGarrahan

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:18, Mark 10:43-45, Colossians 3:12-14, 1 Peter 4:10, Galatians 5:13

One of the most powerful expressions of humble, servant-like caring for others is found in C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce , in the character of Sarah Smith of Golders Green. Her quiet life of love tra...

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Author

Rupi Kaur

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 2:9-11, Ephesians 4:31, Proverbs 10:12, Luke 6:27-28, 1 John 3:14-15

To hate is an easy lazy thing but to love takes strength everyone has but not all are willing to practice.

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Changing Direction

Author

Fred Rogers

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:3-4, Galatians 6:2, Matthew 20:26-28, 1 John 3:18, 1 Corinthians 12:25-26

There was a story going around about the Special Olympics. For the hundred-yard dash, there were nine contestants, all of them so-called physically or mentally disabled. All nine of them assembled at ...

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