Daily Grace
Religious Theater
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long” (Matthew 23:5). Many religious leaders in Jesus’ day practiced a religion that focused more on external observances than on the heart. Jesus...
Religion is a Heavy Burden
“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4). Religion can be an unbearable burden. When we read the Gospels one thing we note is the sad state of...
The Law of Love
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two...
The Power of Faith
“Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask...
A Different Kind of King
“This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey’ ” (Matthew 21:4-5). The religious rulers misunderstood Jesus’ mission and that’s...
God is Generous!
“Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:15). In this parable Jesus told of a landowner who hired men for his vineyard. He paid the ones hired at the beginning of the day one denarius. It was...
Will God Reward Us?
“Peter answered him, ‘We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve...
Forgive As We Have Been Forgiven
“Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (Matthew 18:22). Jesus had just told a parable about forgiveness. A man, He said, owed a king 10,000 bags of gold. The king went to collect and when the man couldn’t pay the king ordered that...
The Value of One
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the...