Silent Time

A lot of things had happened in Jericho. Over the time, a lot of darkness had come up, robbery, worship of idols, wrongdoing and sin, curse and all its negative effects. In such a sense, the city can be a symbol for the world: over shadowed by darkness. But Jesus approached the city. How many people in the city understood who Jesus is and the relevance for their life? Similarly in the world, also...

What gives you distress? What do you fear and worry about? People of different times and in different places, have different kinds of worries and fears. People who live in good times, in wealth, in freedom, they may have relatively smaller kinds of worries and fears. But one thing is same for everybody: we all know that one day there will be a time, when this earthly life will come to an end and t...

When we work in the garden or outside, cutting the hedge, it may happen, if there are thorns, they may cut our skin. It may hurt. How much more the thorns of which the crown was made by the soldiers by that time that was put onto the head of Jesus. But not only the soldiers of that time. We all bear responsibility for the pains of Jesus. He suffered on our behalf and has won the victory for us.

Does it have relevance for your life? Does the message of the bible apply to your life? Many of its statements do not sound familiar. For example “the punishment is on him, so that we may have peace”. What is it all about?

What did Mary think when she stood at the empty tomb? Sadness, fear and worries filled her heart. The resurrection seems to be impossible and too good – and yet it is true and real. What does your heart fill today? What a joy it must have been for Mary, when she understood.

Distance and proximity. Do you also know both in your life? At times, we want to come close to the Lord. And many other times we are drawn away from him by various things of this world, its glamour and so forth.

What is the purpose of the mouth and the lips?

What is your slogan of life? Usually people will reply with their dreams and goals. Or they define oneself by the group they belong to. Or someone might say “I try to become a better person”. But hardly anybody would describe oneself as “dedicated”.

Do you get harmed by other people? Do you suffer from their behaviour? Or do others at times suffer from your selfishness? Even in good times, people harm each other. Let alone the severe injustice in crises, such as war times. Yet, “Love is patient and kind, not irritable”.

Holiness – what comes to your mind? Is it something old fashioned? Is it something only for special people? Nobody can become holy by oneself. We are all far from perfect. But God in his holiness is patient. And in Jesus the victory over all evil has already been won.

Is it better to be religious or not? What would you say? The bible reports of times, when the air was filled with incense and many altars available. The people were very religious. We would expect that God was pleased with the people of that time. The decisive point is not about the outside but about the inside. Not about how many religious practices we follow. Rather, what is the priority inside...

In everyday life, the need to persuade others is quite common: Sales people need to persuade customers to buy the product or service. Managers need to persuade the employees of new structures. And in so many other situations, people need to convince others. By contrast, the bible does not try to convince us. It is different than the structures in the world. There is no attempt to persuade. It simp...

Where do you stay? In your home? Or far from your home? In a certain way, we are all far from home. Wherever we live on the earth, our soul lacks a real home, as long as we are far from God. We try to find input from all kinds of sources and opinions of others and get even more confused and disappointed. Real peace can be found when returning to the Lord.

How would you complete the sentence: “A person who has done wrong, needs to be …”? Punished? Praise the Lord, that he uses another logic. God does not want to punish us. He calls us back. He calls us back with words of love. Despite we have done wrong and walked away from him.

Under which conditions do you live? Do you have enough? (for example sufficient variety of food for a healthy body) Or do you live in scarcity and need? Or do you even have more than enough? St. Paul writes about food and joy “for the heart”. Should it not read as “... for the body”?

“Fighting against God” – it sounds strange. What do you think about it? The bible reports that people of all times were fighting against God. Long time ago the people tried to build a huge tower in order to be better than God. And in the end times, people unit with the enemy of God. And all of us by our human nature easily do not like the guidance of God. We do not respect his authority. We do not...

There are very few tribes left on the earth, who still live an original lifestyle as our predecessors did several hundreds of years ago very close to the nature. Supposed someone offered to them a huge amount in bank notes or digital money, they would most likely not understand its worth. In the same way, we often do not understand the value of heavenly things, of spiritual blessings. Most people...

The good news should be proclaimed via all channels. But we as humans do not want to hear, we do not want to listen to God. We have lots of excuses. Still, the good news is available to everybody. God offers life in its fullness.

What consequences do you take for your life, as it is announced that the king of kings is coming? Do you take a moment to think about it? Do you welcome and receive the Lord in your heart? Many do not pay attention and try to keep themselves continuously busy with things that will ultimately turn out to be much less important. Still, the sovereign Lord offers amazing gifts to every human individua...

In the modern world, there is hardly a time of real silence. All around the clock noise from cars, motor bikes, airplanes, constructions works, … It would be interesting to experience the silence and listen to the angel choir, which was revealed to the shepherds by the time of the birth of Jesus. The great song of praise. Are those songs still available nowadays?

When hiking in the mountains, there is sometimes only a narrow path with the risk of falling off on both sides, like on a double cliff trail. In life we also have the risk of falling off on either side: Either to get satisfied, proud and arrogant, rejecting the love of God as if it was not required. Or remaining in despair in feelings of guilt and shame, assuming that what we have done is too bad,...

What happens to those, who lived long time, before Jesus was born? And how about those who never in their lifetime have the chance to hear the good news? Even long time before the love of God was revealed in Jesus, it was already available. Abraham put his trust in the Lord and it was counted as righteousness to him. No matter where we are and in what times we live, we can turn to the Lord.

Who impacts your mind? As we all know, nobody is perfect. But the question is, how do we handle our failures? Either with extreme thinking of either guilt or of pride. Or do I let Jesus be my great advocate? Do I let his grace impact my mind and learn from him?

What consequences does it have for your life, that Jesus came into this world? First of all, let’s be joyful about the victory that Jesus has won over devil, death, sin and hell. He offers to save us from all evils. But then the question is: what do we do with that fantastic news? Do I want to stay as I am or do I want to change and to become as God wants me to be?

Do you also long for justice? Some people pressure us, they act in injustice, they hurt us, they persecute us. If we are honest, we are also not perfect. Praise the Lord that the chain of punishment, revenge and hatred is broken. A new beginning has started that brings life, freedom and justice.