Personal Development on Parables

illustration

Common Things and Cracks in the Surface of Reality

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 15:11-32, Matthew 18:22-35, Luke 16:19-31, Matthew 13:3-8, Matthew 20:1-16, Matthew 13:24-33, Matthew 13:44-50, Mark 4:26-29

The child became a man and the man became a preacher whose sermons were full of commonplace things: seeds and nets, coins and fishes, lilies of the field, and birds of the air. Wherever he was, he had...

Quote

Author

Thomas Keating

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:22-25, Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:12-14, Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 25:21

The kingdom of God manifests itself in the modest changes in our attitudes and in the little improvements in our behavior that no one may notice, including ourselves. These are the mighty works of God...

illustration

There and Back Again, A Human Tale

Author

Alan Jones

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 15:11-32

Let us begin with a question. Do you really know how to enjoy the world? Do you know how to enjoy yourself? One of the greatest parables in the New Testament has to do with the search for enjoyment an...

series

Psalm 51 | Awareness of Sin

Ancient lens What’s the historical context? A Historical Clue The superscript of Psalm 51 gives us a historical clue about the composition of this Psalm, “A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophe...

blog

Emotions are Divine: Why Pastors Need Biblical Permission to Feel

Author

David Lamb

Keywords

Scripture

John 11:35, Psalm 5:5, Psalm 6:1, Psalm 78:58, Psalm 78:40, Psalm 18:19, Psalm 25:6, Psalm 5:7, Exodus 20:5, Exodus 22:23, Isaiah 15:5, Luke 15:null, Genesis 23:2, Genesis 42:24, 1 Samuel 1:10, 2 Samuel 1:11-12, 2 Kings 8:11-12, 2 Kings 22:18-20, Mark 14:72, John 20:11, Acts 20:37, Revelation 5:4

When the Professor Weeps: A Personal Story About ten years ago, I was teaching a course on the psalms for my seminary students in the midst of a personal health crisis. It wasn’t in my notes, but I ...

Quote

Author

Malcolm Muggeridge

Keywords

Listening

Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message.

Quote

Author

Christina Rossetti

Keywords

We should exercise that far higher privilege which appertains to Christians, of having “the mind of Christ;” and then the two worlds, visible and invisible, will become familiar to us even as they wer...

liturgy

Adapted from the Parable of the Sower

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:18-23, Jeremiah 17:8, Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 119:11

Pastor: “Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what wa...

Quote

Author

Boris Cyrulnik

Keywords

All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story.

illustration

Virtues and Vices Can Offer Fresh Perspective

Author

Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

Keywords

Reaching back to the tradition of virtues and vices can also give us fresh eyes and expose new layers of meaning in our reading of scripture. Before I read Aquinas on sloth, I would have associated it...

liturgy

Save My Soul, Good Gardener, based on the Parable of the Sower

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:1-23, Luke 8:4-15, Mark 4:1-20

Save my soul, Good Gardener Evil flies in wanting to steal my hope Work piles up, insecure boulders ready to crash, leaving no room to root My faith begins to wither as does our relationship Distract...

Quote

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Many first-century Jews thought of themselves as living in a continuing narrative stretching from earliest times, through ancient prophecies, and on toward a climactic moment of deliverance which migh...

Quote

Author

Thomas à Kempis

Keywords

Every creature will be to you a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine.

illustration

Becoming the Person God Wants Us to Be

Author

Trevor Hudson

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 43:1, Ephesians 2:10, Galatians 6:4-5, Romans 14:4, 12, 1 Corinthians 12:4-18, 2 Corinthians 10:12, Matthew 25:14-30, 1 Corinthians 12:

Each one of us is called to live the truth of our unrepeatable uniqueness. We are not meant to model ourselves after others, however wonderful they may be. A delightful Jewish parable makes this point...

illustration

The Treasure of a Lifetime

Author

Randy Alcorn

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:44, Hebrews 14:26, Colossians 2:2-3, Philippians 3:8, Luke 12:33-34

A first-century Hebrew walks alone on a hot afternoon, staff in hand. His shoulders are stooped, his tunic stained with sweat. But he doesn’t stop to rest. He has pressing business in the city. He vee...

liturgy

Adapted from Acts 10:34-43

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 10:34-43

Pastor: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good n...

illustration

Different Seasons, Different Challenges

Author

Ronald Rohlheiser

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Luke 15:11-32, Proverbs 20:29, Psalm 90:10-12

Someone once quipped that we spend the first half of our lives struggling with the sixth commandment ( Thou shalt not commit adultery ) and the second half of our lives struggling with the fifth comma...

illustration

Our Stories Shape Our Values

Author

Dan B. Allender

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 12:11, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Acts 22:3-8, John 1:46-47, Isaiah 61:1-3, Psalm 78:4

A close friend who started a financial loan business took thirty of his executives to the poverty- and violence-filled section of Montreal where he grew up in order to introduce them to the section of...

series

Road Trips: 2, Acts 9:1-19

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 9:1-19, Luke 10:30-37, John 14:6

Saul's Confident Error Last week, we considered Abram and the way that God may send us out on a journey, waiting to see his will without knowing the destination. Today we move forward to Saul on...

illustration

The Parable of the Two Servants

Author

Alan Fadling

Keywords

In this modern day parable, Alan Fadling describes a king and his two servants. Each of the servants desires to do the will of the king, but they approach their work very differently: One of the serv...

illustration

Don’t Look For the Kingdom in a Place

Author

Brian Hardin

Keywords

Scripture

John 18:36, Romans 14:17, Mark 4:26-29, Colossians 1:13, John 3:3, Matthew 13:33

Continually, Jesus described the Kingdom in terms that one can’t point to and identify specifically—but in every story, the Kingdom was the essential piece. The Kingdom is mixed in and present already...

Quote

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Jesus is the resolution to a story in search of a completion.

liturgy

Merciful and mighty God, you plant your

Author

Chip Hardwick

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:18-23, Luke 8:4-15, Mark 4:1-9

Merciful and mighty God, you plant your seed in all kinds of soil. You speak, hoping that the whole world will listen and heed what you say. We struggle to follow your word. We fail to live up to your...

illustration

The Difference Between Heroes and Saints

Author

Lauren F. Winner

Keywords

It turns out the Christian story is a good story in which to learn to fail. As the ethicist Samuel Wells has written, some stories feature heroes and some stories feature saints and the difference bet...

liturgy

Inspired by Proverbs 15:1-16

Author

Dustin Ray

Scripture

Proverbs 15:1-16

Pastor: O wise and wonderful God, in our quick temper and selfish pride, we have not followed your example—you are slow to anger, abounding in love, and show steadfast faithfulness to your children. ...

illustration

Writing Like Shakespeare, Living Like Jesus

Author

John R. W. Stott

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Romans 8:11, Galatians 5:16-18, Ephesians 3:16-19, 1 John 4:13, John 7:37-39, John 16:13-14

In describing whether it is possible for us to live like Jesus, pastor John Stott shares an illustration from William Temple: It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me ...

Quote

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

John 2:

The transformation from water to wine is of course meant by John to signify the effect that Jesus can have, can still have today, on people’s lives. He came, as he says later, that we might have life...

liturgy

Adapted from Phillipians 2

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:6-8

Jesus, though you were in very nature God, you did not consider equality with God as something to be used to your own advantage. Rather, you humbled yourself, you made yourself nothing. Lord, you are ...

Quote

Author

T. A. McMahon

Keywords

For the believer in Jesus, every trial of suffering is an opportunity to grow in the faith, to grow in our relationship with the Lord, and to see Him work in our lives in a uniquely personal way that ...

Quote

Author

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:12, Romans 5:3-5, James 1:2-4, Hebrews 12:1, Hebrews 10:36, Philippians 1:6, Matthew 24:13

By perseverance the snail reached the ark.

illustration

illustration

series

blog

liturgy

illustration

liturgy

illustration

illustration

liturgy

illustration

illustration

series

illustration

illustration

liturgy

illustration

liturgy

illustration

liturgy

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

1 Samuel

2 Samuel

1 Kings

2 Kings

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Nehemiah

Esther

Job

Psalm

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations

Ezekiel

Daniel

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Jonah

Micah

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Haggai

Zechariah