Meditating on the Word with the Daily Bible

  Luke 17:1–10 "What Is True Faith?" The first part of today’s passage speaks about stumbling blocks . The word “stumble” comes from the Greek word skandalon (σκάνδαλον) , which originally meant a trap or snare for catching animals . Spiritually, it refers to something that causes a person to fall into sin or turn away from faith . To cause someone else to stumble is more than just disappointing them—it means leading them to fall away from their faith . That is an extremely serious matter. In Luke 11, Jesus rebukes the religious leaders of the time—the Pharisees and the teachers of the law—saying “Woe to you!” One of His indictments against the teachers of the law is found in Luke 11:52: “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” These teachers lived hypocritical, self-righteous lives that were far from true faith. Because of their example, not only ...

  Luke 16:14–31 "Reversed Fate, Speaking of the Essence" What is the greatest enemy of our faith? There could be many answers to this question. Broadly speaking, we would say it is Satan. But through Satan, the most prominent enemy that appears in our lives is undoubtedly material wealth . We often say that money is not everything in life, and that happiness doesn't lie in material things. Yet, the very next thing we often say is, "Still, it would be nice to have plenty of money." What we commonly refer to as the “idol of materialism” is Mammon . This word originally comes from the Aramaic word mamona (מָמוֹנָא) , meaning wealth or possessions . It was later adopted into Greek as mammonas (μαμμωνᾶς) and into English as mammon . The Bible describes material wealth as an idol . And among all the idols people are prone to serve as if they were serving God, money is the easiest and most tempting. In Luke 16:13, which we meditated on yesterday, it says: “No s...

  March 27, 2025 - Meditation Luke 16:1-13 Ruling or Being Ruled? The term "steward" frequently appears in the Bible. The Greek word for "steward" is "oikonomos (οἰκονόμος)," which is a combination of "oikos (οἶκος)" meaning "house" and "nemo (νέμω)" meaning "to manage." Thus, a steward is "one who manages a household." When a master entrusts his wealth to a steward, what he expects is that his assets will not be wasted or lost. However, what kind of steward do we see in today’s passage? Verse 1 says: "Jesus also said to the disciples, 'There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.'" This steward was wasting his master’s resources. He was of no benefit to the master, so the master decided to dismiss him. The master ordered him to settle the accounts and step down from his management role. Facing dismissal, the ...

  The Story of the Two Lost Sons  Luke 15:11-32 Today's passage is the well-known "Parable of the Prodigal Son." A father had two sons . One day, the younger son asked his father for his share of the inheritance. Taking his portion, he went to a distant country and squandered everything in reckless living. When he had spent all he had, a severe famine struck the land, and he was left with nothing. He was so desperate that he had to feed on the pods given to pigs. At that moment, he made a decision to return to his father. In verse 17, we see his reasoning: "But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!’” The younger son thought of his father’s hired servants who had plenty to eat. However, he was not a hired servant—he was his father’s son . The status of a son and a servant are not comparable. The reason he viewed himself this way was because he believed he had lost hi...