Christian Living on Stealing

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A Vice President’s Undoing by a 3-cent Butter Roll

Author

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:22-25, 1 Samuel 16:7, Matthew 5:8, Genesis 39:9, Psalm 15:1-2

Dr. Bob Reccord tells the story of a major move that was set to take place inside the halls of a Fortune 500 company. It was unheard of, but the company was ready to promote a 38-year-old from vice pr...

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The Prodigal Should Be Arrested

Author

Fred Craddock

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 3:24, Romans 8:3-4, Acts 9:1-19, Matthew 5:17

The law is harsh and cannot help us to receive forgiveness. In Craddock Stories, a collection of outstanding stories by Fred Craddock, is the following account with one who could understand law, but ...

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Lord of Hosts, We come before you today

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 7:18-19, Colossians 3:13, Matthew 5:44, Philippians 2:3, Romans 5:8

Lord of Hosts, We come before you today in a tone of solemnity. We recognize that while it was Judas who betrayed you for 30 pieces of silver, that we often betray you as well. We know what is right,...

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Rescuing His Pursuer

Author

Ronald A. Wells

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:8, John 13:1-17, Acts 7:54-60, Luke 23:34, 1 Peter 2:21-23, Romans 12:20-21, Matthew 5:43-44

In sixteenth-century Holland, the Mennonites were outlawed and, when caught, often executed. One of them, Dirk Willens, was being chased across an icefield when his pursuer broke through and fell in. ...

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Putting the Saints into Circulation

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:16, James 2:17, 2 Corinthians 4:7

There's an intriguing story about Oliver Cromwell, who, while serving as Lord Protector of England, faced a tricky cash flow issue. When he found himself short on precious metal for coins, he sent...

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Author

Mark Batterson

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 13:16, Matthew 25:40, 1 Peter 2:12, Galatians 5:13, Matthew 5:16, James 2:17, James 4:17

We fixate on sins of commission far too much. We practice holiness by subtraction-don't do this, don't do that, and you're okay. The problem with that is this: you can do nothing wrong and...

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Contempt, a Prayer of Confession

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:31-32, Matthew 5:44, Colossians 3:12-13, James 4:11, 1 Peter 2:1, Romans 12:10

Contempt is so painful To be dismissed, disregarded Questioning instead of dignity Accusation instead of personhood I have felt its sting and hollowness As have you, my Jesus Help me hear the needed m...

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Adapted from the Sermon on the Mount

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:27-28, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 5:43-44

Pastor: Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her i...

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Almighty God, too often we settle for

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:18, Psalm 51:10, Isaiah 1:17, James 2:13, Micah 6:8, Matthew 5:6

Almighty God, too often we settle for brokenness in our lives. Rather than offering forgiveness, we hold onto offense. Rather than pursuing justice, we turn away . Rather than offering mercy, we c...

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Author

Eleanor Doan

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:7-8, Luke 19:1-10, Matthew 8:5-13, Proverbs 25:21-22, Romans 12:20-21, Luke 6:27-28, Matthew 5:43-44

Love your enemy-it will drive him nuts.

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Lord, we confess that we do not love

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 57:15, Psalm 42:1-2, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Matthew 18:3-4, Lamentations 3:22-23, Matthew 5:3-12, Luke 19:1-10

Lord, we confess that we do not love you with our whole hearts And we do not love our neighbour as ourselves. We seek the blessing of others Rather than the blessing of your grace We seek comfort in w...

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Author

John Milton

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:5, Jeremiah 9:23-24, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Peter 3:9, Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 12:19, Proverbs 16:18

But what will not Ambition and Revenge Descend to? Who aspires must down as low As high he sor’d, obnoxious first or last To basest things.

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Loving Your Enemies & Costly Love

Author

Brett McCracken

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:44

One of the costliest requirements of Christlike love is Jesus’s call to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5: 44). What does this look like for Christians in today’s world...

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Change your Name or your Behavior

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 2:19, Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 3:17, Philippians 1:27, Matthew 5:16

There is a story—likely apocryphal—of Alexander the Great discovering a soldier asleep at his post, a grave offense. When the guard was brought before him, the king asked his name. “Alexander,” the yo...

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The Hitchhiker Who Pulled a Gun on Me

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:20-21, Matthew 5:44, James 2:1, Proverbs 16:7, Ephesians 2:14-16

I was driving in Columbus, Ohio, when I came upon a hitchhiker who alternated between holding his thumb out and clasping his hands together as if he were praying. I picked him up. His name was Mike, a...

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The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

Author

John R. W. Stott

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:5, James 4:6-10, Matthew 23:12, Luke 14:11, Judges 7:

These ‘meek’ people, Jesus added, ‘shall inherit the earth’. One would have expected the opposite. One would think that ‘meek’ people get nowhere because everybody ignores them or else rides roughshod...

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Author

Martin Luther

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 4:3-6, Romans 8:14-15, 2 Samuel 9:7, Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 5:3, Romans 8:16-17 , Ephesians 2:4-7, Psalm 103:8-13

A true Christian is both a beggar and an heir.

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Hearing the Confessions of the Poor

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

John 13:14-15, James 2:13, Isaiah 58:7, Matthew 5:3, Psalm 34:18, Luke 7:47-48

Angela’s Ashes took the publishing world by storm when it was released in September 1996. It won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in the category of Biography/Autobiography. It was also a...

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God our Father We confess to you and to

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:19-20, Proverbs 15:1, Romans 12:17-21, Matthew 5:38-39, Luke 6:35-36, Matthew 18:21-35, Matthew 5:43-44, 1 Peter 3:9, Genesis 45:4-8

God our Father We confess to you and to one another That we have been quick to anger And slow to mercy We have paid back abuse with abuse Hatred with hatred And violence with violence The world does n...

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Jesus, we receive your blessings and

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Scripture

Psalm 51:10, Ephesians 4:23-24, 2 Samuel 12:1-14, John 7:37-38, Philippians 2:5-8, Matthew 5:3-4, Psalm 51:10

Jesus, we receive your blessings and pray for the Holy Spirit to make them real in our lives. Renew a right spirit within us, a poor spirit, a spirit that knows our deep need of your grace and deliver...

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Author

Christine Langley-Obaugh

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 31:19, Colossians 3:13, Matthew 5:23-24, Isaiah 1:18, Proverbs 28:13, James 5:16

We repeat what we don’t repair.

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Forgiveness Means Going Soft on Justice

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Forgiveness

Scripture

Romans 5:10, Matthew 5:44, Luke 23:34, Mark 11:25, Colossians 3:13

In the Middle East both the main protagonists embrace religions where forgiveness has never been seen as a duty, let alone as a virtue, but rather as a kind of moral weakness—and by “moral weakness” I...

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Who Determines Your Behavior?

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1, Matthew 5:44, Proverbs 15:1, 1 Peter 3:9, Luke 6:31, Galatians 6:9, Colossians 3:12-13, 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Genesis 50:20, Philippians 2:3-4, James 1:19-20, 1 Samuel 24:17

Some years ago, the syndicated newspaper columnist Sidney J. Harris shared an interesting anecdote from one of his friends. Each evening, this friend would stop at the same newsstand to buy a newspape...

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Kingdom-Based Coffee

Author

Jonathan Walton

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, Galatians 6:9-10, Philippians 2:4, Matthew 5:16, Proverbs 31:8-9, James 1:27

Brandon and Faith Lee, who started Bird and Branch Coffee, are what faithful witnesses look like. When they sat down across from my wife and me, they had a dream to start a coffee shop that would serv...

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Author

James Stewart

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 1:16, Acts 4:19-20, 2 Timothy 1:7-8, Matthew 5:14-16, Proverbs 28:1

Humble and self-forgetting we must be always, but diffident and apologetic about the gospel never.

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Author

Susan Springer

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:5, Colossians 3:16-17, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 5:14-16, John 6:51

When he said, “I am the bread of life,” he must have meant he was scattering bits of himself like a trail of crumbs leading us to speak and act and scatter forgiveness in his name to the ends of the e...

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What would You Give?

Author

Unknown

Keywords

Charity

Scripture

Luke 12:33, Isaiah 58:10, Galatians 6:10, Proverbs 3:27, Matthew 5:42

Father O’Malley, the parish priest, was giving a sermon about charity. He said, “In our world today, some people have so much while others have so little. We must give of ourselves and our worldly goo...

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Author

Ambrose of Milan

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:14-15, Proverbs 20:22, Colossians 3:12-13, Romans 12:19, 1 Peter 3:9, Ephesians 4:31-32, Matthew 5:44

No one heals himself by wounding another.

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Author

Steve Maraboli

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 7:12, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 18:21-22, Mark 2:1-12, Hebrews 13:2, Matthew 5:7, Acts 4:32-35, John 6:1-14

Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.

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Author

Mark Batterson

Keywords

Scripture

John 13:34-35, Luke 10:25-37, Luke 19:1-10, Proverbs 25:21-22, Luke 6:27-28, Matthew 5:44-45, Romans 5:8

If you want to impact someone’s life, love them when they least expect it and least deserve it.

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