DAY 27 - Morning
Theme: BUILDING A SAFE HOME: Creating a Marriage Where Love, Respect and Peace Can Grow.

Reflection
Protect Your Marriage from Comparison

Good morning,
Social media can make another person's marriage look perfect.
You see the anniversary photograph.
The beautiful dinner.
The holiday.
The new car.
The romantic message.
But you don't see the conversation that happened after the camera was switched off.
Comparison can make you despise the blessings already sitting in your own home.
Your marriage has its own story.
Don't measure your chapter against someone else's highlight reel.

God's Word
"Let us not become conceited or provoke one another, envying each other." — Galatians 5:26

Today's Love Action
Tell your spouse one thing about your marriage that you are grateful for.

Let's Talk
How can comparison quietly damage a marriage?

Prayer
Lord, teach us contentment. Help us celebrate our own journey without envying another couple's journey. Amen.

From The Counselor's Chair
Comparison often makes us blind to blessings because we are too busy measuring what we have against what someone else appears to have.

Marriage Nugget
"Don't compare your real marriage with someone else's edited picture."

Remember
In marriage, it is not about winning the argument; it is about winning each other's hearts.

Jesus died, He was buried, and He rose again.

#HeIsRisen #TheTombIsEmpty #JesusIsAlive #ResurrectionSunday #VictoryOverDeath #FaithInJesus #LordsbookApp

My prayer is not:

"Lord, make me famous."

My prayer is:

"Lord, make me faithful."

Give me people I can lead toward Christ.

Give me sheep I can faithfully shepherd.

Give me the courage to preach the truth even when it is unpopular.

Give me the grace to prepare souls for the coming of the Lord.

Even if there are only ten sheep...

Let me lead them faithfully
https://youtu.be/KEbgJb0bG3g?si=CQFSI4-QwOca_zIB

Dear Father,

I pondered on the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman. I was particularly struck when she said, “I have no husband,” and His response to her, saying, “Thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband...”

Five husbands?! What exactly fueled this drive? Should I call it a need, an obsession, or the air she thought she must keep breathing to stay alive? How was she able to seek more after having two, even after having five? I may never know the exact reason she kept trusting that, after five failed relationships with men, what she still needed was a relationship with one more, but I see a case of fitting wrong solutions into unrelated problems. And sadly, some of us are guilty as well--of seeking perfection in imperfect things.

We may not go seeking and obtaining a list of husbands and ex-husbands, but perhaps we have obtained a list of certificates and still seek more, whose acquisitions may not be bad in themselves but are still faulty because of our motives for acquiring them: to be better or to feel complete? In this context, there is a need to distinguish between fulfilment and complements: people and material things can become complements to what You are doing in our lives, but they are not designed to be the source of our fulfilment.

So the issue arises when we strive to find fulfilment in complements, and with temporary satisfaction, we seek even harder, seeking the right things in the wrong places. I pondered again on the various areas of my life where I may be found wanting.

Translations;
Slide 1: English
Slide 2: French in comments
Slide 3: Bengali
Slide 4: Hindi
Slide 5: Urdu

#LettertoGod
#fulfilment
#completeness
#perfection
#solutions

Look Up

It’s normal, as well as understandable, to spend our time, energy, and attention focusing on the here and now. We’re busy, after all. Sometimes we're preoccupied. And when we stop to really think about it, it’s difficult to perceive something beyond our five senses.

But in his letter to the Colossians, Paul encourages his fellow believers to look up:

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

As you think about Paul’s words and the realities of heaven, here are four things to consider:

- First, heaven isn’t some vague, dream-like state. It’s a real place, with real people, where God is the true King.

- Second, there will come a day when we will all meet God face to face. We will no longer need faith or hope, because that which we’ve hoped for will finally be revealed.

- Third, our troubles and our heartbreaks (and even death itself) are temporary! Scripture tells us that, eventually, God will do away with pain and death and sickness and suffering—forever.

- Lastly (and most importantly), God is still on His throne, with Jesus beside Him in the place of honor. No matter how crazy, senseless, or heartbreaking the world can seem, we can have confidence knowing that nothing is outside of God’s sovereign plan.

So when you’re tempted to look around at others or look inward at yourself, look up instead. Heaven is wherever God is, and that’s the truest reality of all.

WHAT IS SIN?

1 JOHN 3:4 KJV 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Sin is breaking the Law, missing the mark set by God.

The word "sin" is a translation of the Greek word "hamartia" which means to miss the mark.

ROMANS 3:23 NLT 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.

Religious tradition labels many things as sin which the Bible does not. People make up all kinds of rules based on what they think is right. But God is the judge and only God can decree what sin is.

MARK 7:9 KJV 9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

God has not left us to wonder what sin is. The Bible reveals it to us. We don't have to guess, or make it up as we go.

Just because you do something someone else thinks is wrong does not mean it is a sin. So don't let people condemn you over things the Bible does not clearly say are wrong. God is the judge.

COLOSSIANS 2:8 NKJ 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

Another error is to think being tempted is a sin. Temptation itself is not sin. You cannot help being tempted. Even Jesus was tempted -- but He never yielded.

HEBREWS 4:15 NKJ 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

A common mistake is believing that having bad thoughts is a sin. It is not a sin to be tempted with bad thoughts. It only becomes a sin when we embrace those thoughts as our own and decide to act on them.

JAMES 1:15 NLT 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

God is against sin because it is deadly. Sin brings forth death, not life and blessing. God loves people, so He is against everything that harms people.

All sin harms people. (Just because you don't see how a sin would harm anyone, does not mean you know more than God.)

But no human can be right with God by never sinning. We have all fallen short and need a Savior. It is only by God's grace and His forgiveness that we can be right with God.

ROMANS 3:20 NLT 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

We can be glad because Jesus came to save sinners, and He paid the price for the forgiveness of all sins by shedding His blood.

EPHESIANS 1:7 NKJ 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

SAY THIS: Only God has the authority to decide what sin is.

God bless you!

#Jesus #HolyMass #SureshDungdung

#Jesus #HolyMass #SureshDungdung

#Jesus #HolyMass #SureshDungdung

#Jesus #HolyMass #SureshDungdung