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Blogger Note: … OOPS! Any reader who follows Our Daily Bread
, which I use as a focus for my journal entries, will notice that I posted my entry for 10/19 from the ODB entry for 10/20. So, today I’m filling by posting from the 10/19 ODB entry today. Sorry for any confusion!
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 8:7 [NKJV] ... 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them (the Jewish leaders), “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
… Jesus shows His compassion on the sinful woman and yet, His strength, in standing up to the Jewish leaders bent on stoning the woman.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 8:1-11 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Jesus displays both strength and compassion when confronted by the blood-thirsty mob and the accused adulteress.
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Reference Passage : …Matthew 21:12-14 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus shows both his “steel” in cleansing God’s Temple of the thieves and robbers and yet His velvet compassion in gracefully healing those who needed His healing touch.
Reference Passage : …Luke 5:17-26 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus shows reaches out with compassion to heal a paralytic and also to forgive the man of his sins; but in doing so, His steel of commitment was illustrated before the Pharisees who accused Jesus of blasphemy.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Bill Crowder, uses a reference to Carl Sandburg calling Abe Lincoln a rare man of “steel and velvet,” and then making reference to Jesus being the ultimate “steel and velvet” character in history. . … The ODB author wrote: Poet Carl Sandburg wrote of former US president Abraham Lincoln, “Not often in the story of mankind does a man arrive on earth who is both steel and velvet, . . . who holds in his heart and mind the paradox of terrible storm and peace unspeakable and perfect.” “Steel and velvet” described how Lincoln balanced the power of his office with concern for individuals longing for freedom. Only one person in all history perfectly balanced strength and gentleness, power and compassion. That man is Jesus Christ.
And most certainly we read in the Bible of Jesus showing His “steel and velvet” character often when our Lord reached out to heal or heal the infirmed or forgive a repentant sinner (see Scripture passages above), … illustrating His “steel,” by confronting the Pharisees, but yet also reaching out with His healing/forgiving “velvet” of compassion.
And this confronts us with the question … do we exhibit Christlike “steel and velvet” in the way we live? … Do others see Jesus in us, standing with the “steel” of Christlike commitment to righteousness on issues like standing for life when so many are clamoring for the pro-abortion agenda? Do we reach out with Christlike “velvet” to help those accused of sexual/addictive sin when a fellow Christian desires to confess and repent?
As Joy Williams sings in the linked song … Do others see the “steel and velvet” of Christ in thew we live?
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for giving us grace to be strong and compassionate like You.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me to do all we can to have others see Christ’s steel and velvet in the way we live. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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