Christian Living on Openness

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We Cannot be Closed to Others and Open to God

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Scripture

John 4:20-21, John 13:34-35, 1 John 3:17, Matthew 5:23-24, Hebrews 10:24-25

We cannot be closed off to one another and be open to God. That’s not how this works. Do you remember the commercial when the woman says “that’s not how this works, that's not how any of this work...

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God of mercy, we ignore the needs of

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

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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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

Keywords

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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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 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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Author

Peter Rollins

Keywords

Scripture

John 12:1-8, Ruth 1:16-17, 1 John 3:16, Romans 5:8, John 3:16

Love is the crazy, mad, and perhaps ridiculous gesture of saying yes to life, of seeing it as worthy of our embrace and even worthy of our total sacrifice.

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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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When Jesus speaks, our hearts burn

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 24:32, Luke 24:30-31, 1 John 3:1-2, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Revelation 5:12-13

When Jesus speaks, our hearts burn within us; Our eyes are opened when he breaks the bread. Beloved, we are God’s children now; When Christ is revealed, we will be like him. Worthy is Christ, the ...

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Author

Andrew Murray

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:18, Ruth 1:16, Acts 2:42-47, James 2:14-17, Galatians 5:14, John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:20-21

Our love to God is measured by our everyday fellowship with others and the love it displays.

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Author

Pope Francis

Keywords

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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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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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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We Are What We Love

Author

James K. A. Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 5:22-23, Ruth 1:16, Luke 10:38-42, Luke 10:25-37, Colossians 3:17, 1 John 3:18, Matthew 22:37-40

Identities—what makes us who we are, the kind of people we are—is what we love. More specifically, our identity is shaped by what we ultimately love or what we love as ultimate—what, at the end of the...

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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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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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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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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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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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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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You have Called Me Brother

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:31-46, Galatians 3:28, 1 John 3:17-18, James 2:15-16, Romans 12:10, Genesis 1:26-31, Psalm 8:, Matthew 10:24, Mark 12:31

One day, as Leo Tolstoy, the renowned Russian author, was walking down the street when he encountered a man in worn, shabby clothing. The homeless man asked him if he had any money to spare. Tolstoy s...

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Author

John Calvin

Keywords

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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Author

Austin Fischer

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:23, Romans 5:5, Colossians 3:14, 1 John 4:18, Galatians 5:6, 1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith is not the absence of doubt. Faith is the presence of love.

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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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Incarnation Essential to Reconciliation

Author

Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:9-10, Proverbs 19:17, Hebrews 13:2, 1 John 3:17-18, James 2:15-16

In their thoughtful book on reconciliation, Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice share how Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement showed up in the lives of the working poor, which ultimately enable...

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Author

E. F. Schumacher

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:48, 1 John 3:2-3, Galatians 5:16-17, Philippians 3:13-14, Colossians 3:1-2, Ephesians 4:22-24

The scholastics used to say: Homo non proprie humanus sed superhumanus est —which means that to be properly human, you must go beyond the merely human.

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Author

Shane Claiborne

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:15, John 14:6, Ephesians 4:25, 1 John 3:18, Zechariah 8:16, James 5:12, Proverbs 12:19, 1 Corinthians 13:1

My goal is to speak the truth in love. There are a lot of people speaking the truth with no love, and there are a lot of people talking about love without much truth.

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Adapted from Ephesians 3:18-19

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:18-19, Acts 2:42-47, John 13:1-17, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 103:11-12, 1 John 3:1, Romans 8:38-39

I pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and heig...

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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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Getting In The Wheelbarrow

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:21, Hebrews 11:6-8, 1 John 3:18, Hebrews 11:1, James 2:17

One of my favorite stories of revealing authentic belief is the story of Charles Blondin, the French tightrope walker. On June 30, 1859, he did his most famous act when he became the first person to c...

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