Lent Readings: Wednesday 21 March

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LEAVING ADDICTION FOR HEALING...

Psalm 101 TNIV

Of David. A psalm.

¹ I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, LORD, I will sing praise.

² I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will conduct the affairs of my house
with a blameless heart.

³ I will not look with approval
on anything that is vile.
I hate what faithless people do;
I will have no part in it.

⁴ The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with what is evil.

⁵ Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret,
I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
I will not endure.

⁶ My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
those whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.

⁷ No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.

⁸ Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the LORD.

Jeremiah 18:1-11 TNIV

At the Potter's House

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." ³ So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me. ⁶ He said, "Can I not do with you, house of Israel, as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

¹¹ "Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.'

Romans 8:1-11 TNIV

Life Through the Spirit

¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you ^[a] free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the sinful nature, ^[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering. ^[c] And so he condemned sin in human flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

⁵ Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind controlled by the sinful nature ^[d] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The sinful mind ^[e] is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not controlled by the sinful nature but are in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life ^[f] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of ^[g] his Spirit who lives in you.

John 6:27-40 TNIV

²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

²⁸ Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

²⁹ Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

³⁰ So they asked him, "What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' ^[a]"

³² Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

³⁴ "Sir," they said, "always give us this bread."

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All whom the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."