Read Romans 7:1–6 By dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Romans 7:6 Something in human nature makes people want to go to...
Read Job 19:1–20 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness. Job 19:8 Job saw himself as a traveler fenced in. Satan had complained that God had “walled in” Job and his family so that they were protected from trouble (1:9–12). Here...
Read Colossians 4:5–6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6 Christians in general, and Christian leaders in particular, must have “a good reputation with outsiders” (1 Tim. 3:7). When members of a church are calling...
Read 1 Peter 3:13–17 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. 1 Peter 3:13–14 As Christians, we are faced with crises, and we are tempted to give in to our fears...
Read Galatians 3:1–14 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” Galatians 3:11 In their conversion experience, the believers in Galatia had received the Spirit by faith and not by the works of the law. This led Paul to ask another...
Read 2 Timothy 3:10–17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it. 2 Timothy 3:14 Some people are prone to say, “Well, I needed the Bible when I was younger, but I can do...
Read 1 Peter 2:9–10 You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 We belong to one family of God and share...
Read Job 1:1–5 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. Job 1:1 Lord Byron was on target when he wrote: “Truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.” The book of Job is...
Read Galatians 2:11–21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! Galatians 2:21 Many people with whom we come in contact actually believe that people are saved by faith in Christ plus doing good works or...
Read Philippians 3:1–3 It is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. Philippians 3:3 The popular religious philosophy of today is “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” It was also...