Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Father, thank you! Thank you a million times over! May my words of praise, my gifts of thanksgiving, and my life of service be the beginning of thanks to you which I anticipate sharing with you in a more perfect way and in a more perfect place when I stand before you face to face and share in the joy of my coming home. In Jesus' name, and by his gift of grace, I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. Jesus went into the Pharisee's house and took a place at the table. There was a sinful woman in that town. She knew that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. So the woman brought some perfume in an alabaster jar. She stood at Jesus' feet, crying. Then she began to wash his feet with her tears. She dried Jesus' feet with her hair. She kissed his feet many times and rubbed them with perfume. The Pharisee that asked Jesus to come to his house saw this. He thought to himself, "If this man (Jesus) were a prophet, he would know that the woman who is touching him is a sinner!" In response, Jesus said to the Pharisee, "Simon, I have something to say to you." Simon said, "Let me hear it, teacher." Jesus said, "There were two men. Both men owed money to the same banker. One man owed the banker 500 silver coins. The other man owed the banker 50 silver coins. The men had no money, so they could not pay their debt. But the banker told the men that they did not have to pay him. Which one of those two men will love the banker more?" Simon answered, "I think it would be the one that owed him the most money." Jesus said to Simon, "You are right." Then Jesus turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet. But she washed my feet with her tears and dried my feet with her hair. You did not greet me with a kiss, but she has been kissing my feet since I came in! You did not honor me with oil for my head, but she rubbed my feet with her sweet-smelling oil. I tell you that her many sins are forgiven. This is clear, because she showed great love. But the person that feels only a little need to be forgiven will feel only a little love when he is forgiven." Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." The people sitting at the table began to think to themselves, "Who does this man (Jesus) think he is? How can he forgive sins?" Jesus said to the woman,"Because you believed, you are saved {from your sins}. Go in peace."

Related Scripture Readings

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has great mercy, and because of his mercy he gave us a new life. This new life brings us a living hope through Jesus Christ's rising from death. Now we wait to get the blessings God has for his children. Those blessings are kept for you in heaven. Those blessings cannot ruin or be destroyed or lose their beauty. God's power protects you through your faith, and it keeps you safe until your salvation comes. That salvation is ready to be given to you at the end of time. This makes you very happy. But now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad. Why do these troubles happen? To prove that your faith is pure (true). This purity of faith is worth more than gold. Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold will ruin. The purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ appears (comes). You have not seen Christ, but still you love him. You can't see him now, but you believe in him. You are filled with a joy that cannot be explained. And that joy is full of glory. Your faith has a goal. And you are receiving that goal—your salvation.

The Father (God) has loved us so much! This shows how much he loved us: We are called children of God. And we really are God's children. But the people in the world (people who don't believe) don't understand that we are God's children, because they have not known him (God). Dear friends, now we are children of God. We have not yet been shown what we will be in the future. But we know that when Christ comes again, we will be like him. We will see him like he really is.

In the past, your spiritual lives were dead because of your sins and the things you did wrong against God. Yes, in the past you lived doing those sins. You lived the way the world lives. You followed the ruler of the evil powers over the earth. That same spirit is now working in those people who refuse to obey God. In the past, all of us lived like those people. We lived trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We were {evil} people. We should have suffered God's anger because of the way we were. We were the same as all other people. But God's mercy is very great, and God loved us very much. We were {spiritually} dead. We were dead because of the things we did wrong against God. But God gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God's grace (kindness). And God raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the heavenly places. God did this for us who are in Christ Jesus. God did this so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace. God shows that grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus. I mean that you are saved by grace. And you got that grace by believing. You did not save yourselves. It was a gift from God. No! You are not saved by the things you have done. So no person can boast {that he saved himself}. God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would do good things. God had already planned those good things for us. God had planned for us to live our lives doing those good things.