Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  It is so good when we learn something new, or realize something different about a thing that we thought we knew or understood well. This happens when we read the Bible with an open heart and mind, without any agenda. Or when we hear good people who dedicate their lives to studying the Scriptures. Well, I already knew about the image of God in relation to idolatry. But I learned something new today. Where? Listening to Tim Mackie and John Collins talking about the 10 Commandments in their Bible Project podcast. It is free if you are interested. The second command is about idolatry. The question they asked was, why is that such a huge deal to God? It is not just an idol that may replace God in our lives, or that we are giving our allegiance to something else; I think God just takes offense when we try to give Him a form of any kind, because we are, in fact, limiting Him. God cannot be contained in an image; He is unimaginable. Nothing that ...

  Reading 1 Samuel, one more time, I realized that we aren’t too different from the people of Israel. Let me explain why I am saying this. I am reading 1 Samuel, and I am at that part when they ask Samuel for a king. Why did they do that? Because they wanted to be like the nations around them. Let’s pause right here. How many times do we ask God for things for the same reason? God, I want this or that, because I don’t want to feel so different, so awkward, I want to have something in common with the people around me, and so on. Besides the greed, the envy, and the fear that are always hovering over our minds. We think that because we have something, we will have something else. Shouldn’t we be asking God to be instead of to have? God, I want to be more patient, more kind, I want to feel your grace, to see your power, glory, or whatever. Something more meaningful? Full of meanings? All these earthly things aren’t they all going to stay on...

  Yesterday, I was quiet for a minute, and a thought came to my mind. Sin and trash. Then I thought, what about it? Do they have anything in common? It does, doesn’t it? Look around you. What do you see? A lot of things are made of plastic, for example. Or, diapers. We all used diapers. Terrible thing. Our mothers didn’t know. The only thing they knew was that they would help them. But, in the long term, it became an ecological disaster. No diaper ever made has disappeared from the face of the earth.  They take more or less 500 years. The appliances that we have at home… I don’t want to think about them. I just know it will take forever. We buy things that will help us in a moment, then we don’t think about it for a long time, or even never again. We like having our homes clean, we throw our garbage in the trash can, and the trash truck comes and takes it away. Done. Problem solved. Not really. We just moved the problem somewhere el...

A prayer Our Father, who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come, thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors Lead us not into temptation, but Deliver us from evil. Amen Lord, come and fill my heart with your joy Show me the way we should go Sometimes it is like we are in the desert, we look around, we see nothing, no one. We know that You are with us always We need your guidance. Your Word is our compass Lead us by the still waters, restore our souls Lead us in the path of righteousness, for your name’s sake. Lord, sometimes we see only darkness, but you are our Shepherd, you guide us. You are the light on our ways, enlighten us. Take us by the hand. We feel weak, but your Word says that when we are weak, we are strong. Teach us how. We depend on you. Our pleasure is to be in your house, at your feet, in your presence. Come, Lord, deliver us from the evil one. Those who want to take us down, to h...

  Despite all the sad news I got this week, we are still standing. I am in the Book of Joshua, in my annual Bible reading. There is a part in the book that is kind of boring. It is the distribution of the cities and borders. It is tempting to skip this part, but something that I heard from the guy from the Bible Project usually says, “it is wisdom literature”, or “meditation literature”. There is something important besides geographical information in these texts. And there is. Joshua 17:18c “though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out”. In the beginning of the book and several other parts too, the LORD says to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous”. What does that mean? What is this book really about? Well, the way I see it might not be the same way you see it. The way I see this book is about how we trust God and obey Him. Then we will see Him doing amazing things. It doesn’t matter how n...

  There was another thing that I should have written yesterday, but I didn’t. Now, I have something else. I have learned that we have to be very attentive when we are reading the Bible. Look out for repeated words or sentences. Contrast of ideas or complementary ideas. Or words that were key in another story, especially words that were repeated or key in the first three chapters of the Bible. They are very important chapters that we must keep in mind. The themes of those stories are repeated throughout the Bible. Anyway. The reading of this morning was Numbers 32:1 – 42. The words that jumped off the page were “discourage” and “arm yourselves for battle”. They were repeated throughout the chapter. So, I thought about what it is that the LORD wants me to see. We all have encountered people during our lifetime who are champions at discouraging people from practically everything. There is nothing you can say to them that they will b...

  We used to say that we do our laundry at home, right? I mean, our problems we solve among four walls. No outsider needs to hear what is going on inside our family, as an example. Another thing that came to mind was, have you seen or heard how dangerous it is to face a mama bear with her cubs? No kidding. If she feels threatened by you, or feels that you impose a risk to her cubs, start making your prayers because you are about to meet your Creator.  Even though God protects his people, that is not an excuse to get a guilt-free card. In the family of God, that happens too. When we read the Bible, we notice that His people, or should I say humans, have always rebelled against God. How? Well, the main way to rebel against God is not trusting His Word. His Word is sacred, true, and worthy. During the way to the promised land, the people of Israel, all of them, I mean most of them, have rebelled against God more than once. God patiently ...

  A Santidade do Senhor I keep coming back to the same subject, I don't know why. Maybe you have realized already that I love the Hebrew Bible. I mean, the Old Testament. Why? It is not that I don’t love the New Testament, I do; the thing with the old is because, I think, it isn’t so easy to understand or at least, to our modern society. So, I like a good challenge, and to bring the Old Testament to life, to my life and try to live it out, not like the Jews do in Judaism, but as a Christian who love and appreciate the Word of God with the same respect and importance. Once, a pastor back in New York told me what the book of Leviticus was all about. He said, this is a beautiful book that teaches us about being holy. When I heard him saying that it amazed me because I have never heard someone saying something like that about the book that most of us “skip” because it is a boring, filled of laws and regulations that we Christian "don’t need it...