Reflective Bible Study

²³ This is what the Lord says:
“The wise must not brag about their wisdom.
    The strong must not brag about their strength.
    The rich must not brag about their money.
²⁴ But if people want to brag, let them brag
    that they understand and know me.
Let them brag that I am the Lord,
    and that I am kind and fair,
    and that I do things that are right on earth.
This kind of bragging pleases me,” says the Lord.

²⁵ The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh: ²⁶ the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people who cut their hair short. The men in all those countries are not circumcised. And the whole family of Israel does not give itself to serving me.”

Read Jeremiah 9:23-26 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

²⁹ As the people were gathering around him, Jesus said, “The people living today are evil. They look for a miraculous sign. But the only sign they will get is the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ Just as Jonah became a miraculous sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a miraculous sign to the people living today. ³¹ The queen from the south will stand up at the time of judgment with the men who live today. She will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom. But look, someone greater than Solomon is here! ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the time of judgment with the people living today. Since the men of Nineveh turned to God and changed the way they thought and acted when Jonah spoke his message, they will condemn the people living today. But look, someone greater than Jonah is here!

³³ “No one lights a lamp and hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, everyone who lights a lamp puts it on a lamp stand so that those who come in will see its light.

³⁴ “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is unclouded, your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is evil, your body is full of darkness. ³⁵ So be careful that the light in you isn’t darkness. ³⁶ If your whole body is full of light and not darkness, it will be as bright as a lamp shining on you.”

Read Luke 11:29-36 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Read Matthew 7:1-5 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

²⁵ “So I tell you, don’t worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. ²⁶ Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. ²⁷ You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. ²⁹ But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. ³⁰ God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don’t have so little faith! ³¹ Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³² The people who don’t know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them. ³³ Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. ³⁴ So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Read Matthew 6:25-34 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!