Reflective Bible Study

²³ I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own.
    We are not able to plan our own course.

²⁴ So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle.
    Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.

²⁵ Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you—
    on the peoples that do not call upon your name.
  For they have devoured your people Israel;
    they have devoured and consumed them,
    making the land a desolate wilderness.

Read Jeremiah 10:23-25 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹ My dear brothers and sisters, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, never think some people are more important than others. ² Suppose someone comes into your church meeting wearing nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor person comes in wearing old, dirty clothes.³ You show special attention to the one wearing nice clothes and say, “Please, sit here in this good seat.” But you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or, “Sit on the floor by my feet.” ⁴ What are you doing? You are making some people more important than others, and with evil thoughts you are deciding that one person is better.

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! God chose the poor in the world to be rich with faith and to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love him. ⁶ But you show no respect to the poor. The rich are always trying to control your lives. They are the ones who take you to court. ⁷ And they are the ones who speak against Jesus, who owns you.

⁸ This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” If you obey this law, you are doing right. ⁹ But if you treat one person as being more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God’s law. ¹⁰ A person who follows all of God’s law but fails to obey even one command is guilty of breaking all the commands in that law. ¹¹ The same God who said, “You must not be guilty of adultery,” also said, “You must not murder anyone.” So if you do not take part in adultery but you murder someone, you are guilty of breaking all of God’s law.¹² In everything you say and do, remember that you will be judged by the law that makes people free. ¹³ So you must show mercy to others, or God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the person who shows mercy can stand without fear at the judgment.

Read James 2:1-13 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹ Let’s return to the Lord.
    He has torn us to shreds,
but he will bandage our wounds
    and make us well.

² In two or three days
    he will heal us
and restore our strength
    that we may live with him.

³ Let’s do our best
    to know the Lord.
His coming is as certain
    as the morning sun;
he will refresh us like rain
renewing the earth
    in the springtime.

⁴ People of Israel and Judah,
    what can I do with you?
Your love for me disappears
more quickly
than mist
    or dew at sunrise.

⁵ That’s why I slaughtered you
with the words
    of my prophets.
That’s why my judgments blazed
    like the dawning sun.

⁶ I’d rather for you to be faithful
and to know me
    than to offer sacrifices.

⁷ At a place named Adam,
you betrayed me
    by breaking our agreement.

⁸ Everyone in Gilead is evil;
your hands are stained
    with the blood of victims.

⁹ You priests are like a gang
    of robbers in ambush.
On the road to Shechem
you murder
and commit
    other horrible crimes.

¹⁰ I have seen a terrible thing
    in Israel—
you are unfaithful
    and unfit to worship me.

¹¹ People of Judah,
    your time is coming too.
I, the Lord, would like to make
my nation prosper again.

Read Hosea 6:1-11 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹ “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing to pay the workers the usual day’s wages, he sent them to work in his vineyard. ³ About 9 a.m. he saw others standing in the marketplace without work. ⁴ He said to them, ‘Work in my vineyard, and I’ll give you whatever is right.’ So they went.

⁵ “He went out again about noon and 3 p.m. and did the same thing. ⁶ About 5 p.m. he went out and found some others standing around. He said to them, ‘Why are you standing here all day long without work?’

⁷ “‘No one has hired us,’ they answered him.

“He said to them, ‘Work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told the supervisor, ‘Call the workers, and give them their wages. Start with the last, and end with the first.’

⁹ “Those who started working about 5 p.m. came, and each received a day’s wages. ¹⁰ When those who had been hired first came, they expected to receive more. But each of them received a day’s wages. ¹¹ Although they took it, they began to protest to the owner. ¹² They said, ‘These last workers have worked only one hour. Yet, you’ve treated us all the same, even though we worked hard all day under a blazing sun.’

¹³ “The owner said to one of them, ‘Friend, I’m not treating you unfairly. Didn’t you agree with me on a day’s wages? ¹⁴ Take your money and go! I want to give this last worker as much as I gave you. ¹⁵ Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or do you resent my generosity towards others?’

¹⁶ “In this way the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Read Matthew 20:1-16 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!