<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="jas+1:12-20">James 1:12-20</span></span></p><p>Yesterday we saw that the first step the psalmist took, the step which helped to save him from spiritual disaster, was most surprising. In the midst of overwhelming temptation, he says to himself: "If I give expression to my doubts and speak out of my envious, discouraged heart, I will put a stumbling-block in someone else's path - hence I will not say anything at all" (paraphrase mine). Now as we said yesterday, many people may find it difficult to accept this as the first step on the road to recovery - but it worked, nevertheless. Listen to what one commentator says about this first step: "Our reaction to the discovery of what his first step was in his process of recovery will be a very good test of our spiritual understanding." What does he mean? He means that if we fail to see that the steps of faith are sometimes very ordinary, then we are not as spiritual as we imagine. It's all right to have your head in the clouds, but make sure your feet are firmly planted on the earth! Keep in mind, then, that the thing which stopped the spiritual slide of the psalmist was very simple and ordinary - he made a decision not to say what was on the tip of his tongue. He stopped to think. Rather than spread his unbelief, he determined to keep his mouth shut; rather than threaten someone else's spiritual understanding, he resolved not to act on impulse. It might not have been a particularly high spiritual motive, but it was the thing that prevented him from falling. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Gracious and loving Father, help me grasp this point that sometimes t he first step towards spiritual recovery is one that is simple, practical and ordinary. Save me from becoming so super-spiritual that I neglect the commonplace. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+3:8-15">1 Peter 3:8-15</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+13:3">Proverbs 13:3</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+21:23">Proverbs 21:23</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What are we to do with our tongue?</li><li>How are we to give an answer?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

" Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry " (v. 19) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+3:1-12">1 Peter 3:1-12</span></span></p><p>We are seeing that meekness is not a natural quality, but a spiritual one, and by reason of this all Christians should possess it. Over the past couple of days we have examined the importance of meekness and seen something of its nature; today, we examine what meekness is not. First, meekness (or humility) is not indolence. There are people who appear to be spiritually meek, but really they are not so at all - they are indolent. Again, meekness is not an easy-going type of attitude - the attitude seen in those who just take life as it comes. That is not meekness; that is flabbiness. There are some Christians who have such a casual air about them that one can easily mistake this for the quality which Jesus is referring to in the Beatitudes. Another thing that meekness ought not to be confused with is niceness. There are people who are nice by nature. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones said of such people: "Natural niceness is something biological, the kind of thing you get in animals. One dog is nicer than another, one cat nicer than another." Finally, meekness is not passivity, or a desire to obtain peace at any price. How often is the person regarded as meek who adopts the attitude that anything is better than a disagreement. This is the kind of passivity which does not make for good mental or spiritual health. The most greatly used men and women of God down the ages have been people who were meek without being weak - strong men and women, yet meek men and women. They were meek enough to absorb the resources of God. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O Father, I see that so much depends on my understanding of what meekness really is. I pray yet again for Your continuing light to be shed around me as I pursue these thoughts day by day. I ask this in Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="2ti+4:1-16">2 Timothy 4:1-16</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+37:11">Psalm 37:11</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+149:4">Psalm 149:4</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="isa+29:19">Isaiah 29:19</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How did Paul display meekness?</li><li>What does meekness increase?</li></ul></div></div>

"' the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." (v. 4)

<p>Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who … made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant. § Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. § He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.<br><br>When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled … Jesus wept. § Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.<br><br>All of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 

<p><h3>Suffering for Doing Good</h3></p><p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">8 </sup>Finally, all of you, be like-minded,   be sympathetic, love one another,   be compassionate and humble.   </span></p>

1 Peter 3:8

Finally, all of you, be like-minded,<cr>1</cr>  be sympathetic, love one another,<cr>2</cr>  be compassionate and humble.<cr>3</cr> 

 8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded,   be sympathetic, love one another,   be compassionate and humble.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

<p><span class="bible-text ">Finally, all of you, be like-minded,   be sympathetic, love one another,   be compassionate and humble.   </span></p>

 Finally, all of you, be like-minded,   be sympathetic, love one another,   be compassionate and humble.  

Bible Verse of the Day

May 24, 2025

1 Peter 3:8 NIV

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