Daily Reading: 30 June

(from www.christianaid.org.uk)

Peace

Today’s contributor is the Rev Phyllis Thompson, the Education Director for the New Testament Church of God-Leadership Training Centre.

Go in peace.

- 1 Samuel 20:42 .

Something to read

Something to think about

Recent hype from 'prosperity gospel' platforms has disengaged many from the theology of generosity.

In this text, Paul encourages us to be generous in all our material and spiritual undertakings. In other words, live open-handedly as opposed to tight-fistedly.

The tight-fisted limit themselves to what they can hold at any given time. The open-handed person will have the free flow of the blessings of the Lord always, because according to Scripture – the more we give is the more the Lord gives to us.

Scripture points us to Jesus as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) God’s people are blessed with the means to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) and God’s desire for us to have a peaceful life (Numbers 6:26, John 14:27).

Peace is relational (Romans 12:18, 14:18-19, Matthew 5:9) and it is God’s will that we, like Jonathan and David, share kingdom peace with each other. The challenge is immense but through the power of the Holy Spirit we can bring about the peace of God in our world.

Let’s consider and seize the many opportunities we have to bless each other, beyond the confine of the communion tables in our churches, with the pastoral blessing to: ‘Go in peace to love and serve the Lord’ in our personal and public life.

Something to do

Find out about our work to build peace around the world and consider how you could get involved. 

Something to pray

God of Peace,
we pray that you will strengthen
relational peace-building initiatives
across the world.
May people in the global South and North
discover ways to work in harmony
and bring your peace on earth.

Today’s contributor is the Rev Phyllis Thompson, the Education Director for the New Testament Church of God-Leadership Training Centre.