The Essential Jesus, Day 51 Matthew 13 has so many verses that deal with the choices that we make regarding heaven. As we read day 51 of the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com we are to ask ourselves what choices are we making? God allows a responsible choice on each of our parts. Are we going to be the kind of good fertile ground that scripture talks about? Or will we choose to not hear. God provides us ears, but that doesn’t guarantee that people will listen. We have to make the choice to listen and to act on what we hear from God each day. What will we…

The Essential Jesus, Day 50 Praying. What attitude do we bring when we come to God in prayer? For day 50 of the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com we read Luke 18:1-15. Praying is communicating with God. But howdo we talk to God? What is our attitude and what do we believe is our “right” when we come to God. Some people come to God believing that they are entitled to a certain amount of consideration from God, as if God owes them something. God owes us nothing except death and judgement for our sin. Yet, he is willing to allow Jesus to take that on our behalf. We…

The Essential Jesus, Day 49 God loves to find lost things. As we read today, day 49 from the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com, we read in Luke chapter 15, the message of all the lost things that Jesus seeks to find. We are lost. Whether we believe it or not, doesn’t change the fact that we are. We are sinful and as a result, are truly lost. God seeks us. God desires to find us. He wants us to understand and to know what it is to be found and to belong to him. Just as those from the story rejoice at the finding of what they had…

The Essential Jesus, Day 48 Humility and service. Are we seeking ourselves or others first. Today is day 48 of the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com. Read Luke 14:1-24. As we look at this chapter, we so many references to how the way we do things matters. We realize that God is moving forward and that He is to be the first in everything. No matter what we are doing, are we striving to make sure that God gets the glory? Do we desire to be seen or known, or are we giving God the credit that he deserves? How can we humble ourselves today?

The Essential Jesus, Day 47 Greed. This simple word can cause so many problems for so many people. Today, day 47 of the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com, we see Jesus speaking against this difficult subject. We don’t like the word greed in our day and time. We try to find nicer words to call it, like “security” and “investments” and “financial planning.” While none of those concepts are bad and we should absolutely be good stewards of our money, the issue comes when we are driven by the goal to get more and more money or stuff. When that desire becomes greater than our desire to worship or…

The Essential Jesus, Day 46 Who is my neighbor? As we look at day 46 of the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com, Jesus shares the familiar story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. As we think through the question, who is my neighbor, many answers have come to mind over the years. Of course, Jesus’s point is that everyone is our neighbor and we are to be treating everyone the way we treat ourselves. So, how do we treat ourselves? What characteristics of that should translate to the way we treat our neighbor? And, why is that different than the way we treat other people? For me, one…

The Essential Jesus, Day 45 God’s love. Today as we celebrate Valentine’s Day and remember the love that we have for others, we can also think about the love that God has for us. Reading through day 45 of the Essential Jesus reading plan from YouVersion.com, we see the indications of the the coming of Christ. The second coming. This time God will come and it will be in a much different way than he did the first time. Read Matthew 24. God is the conqueror over all and all that he has created will one day pass away. When we thimk about all that Jesus is, do we recognize…

The Essential Jesus, Day 44 Be a servant. As Jesus continues speaking, we see his message from Matthew 23:1-39. Looking at The Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com, we see how God continues to use Jesus to share his message. Service. Jesus is a service and gets calls on to address so many issues, but realistically, it is his service to others that can be so baffling. Jesus serves when it makes no sense to serve. There’s nothing in it for him. How does our level of service compare? How can we change it to make it similar?

The Essential Jesus, Day 43 The foundation. As we look at day 43 of the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com we see how Jesus describes himself as the foundation of our life. Read Matthew 7. Jesus Christ is the foundation that we are to build our life upon. He is solid and steadfast and sure. We can be found in him and we are able to continue to move forward because of our position in Christ. Is our life founded on Christ? Do we follow him and base our life and our decisions on him? As we go through the day today, evaluate each and every decision based on…