Wait! Don’t surf away/delete this e-mail just because you aren’t Catholic. Or Christian. Or a believer at all. Even if that is the case, I would be hard pressed to believe that there isn’t a single tidbit of advice, encouragement or support for you to glean from any of the quotes below. Give the words a chance to change your day.
As you may remember, it was my New Year’s resolution to read the Bible, and I have already shared my favourite quotes from the Gospel of Matthew. I have since made my way through the other three Gospels, and have collected here the passages that meant the most to me.
Mark
“Let the children come to me, do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” 10:14
“For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” 10:27-28
“One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied ‘The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” 12: 28-31
Luke
“Love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the most high.” 6: 35
“Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” 11:9
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 14:11
John
“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8:7
“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” 11: 25- 26
“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” 13:34
And the final words of the Gospels:
“There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” 21:25
Such beautiful words!
Good for you for reading the entire Bible! I did a Bible in 90 days program last year. It wasn't a Catholic program, so for Lent this year I went back and read the Catholic books. Such an incredible thing to read it all!
I like to remind myself that we are all the same, and we are all God's children. ALL.
I take this with me to my work, because it helps me have compassion and be humbled.
And I agree, good for you to read the bible. That is definitely on a to-do list of mine somewhere.
Have you heard of Seeds of Worship? They take Bible verses word for word and make amazing songs. They have one for Luke 11:9 that I was just listening to today. Check them out — you can listen to them online even. http://www.seedsfamilyworship.net/listen-online/