Four Passages to Live By

Here are four passages of Scripture which have meant very
much to me. There are many others, but these stand out. Each has a promise
attached. The promises are in bold.

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them
as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your
children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of
your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your
children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers,
as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth” (Deuteronomy
11:18-21).

“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a
man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for
lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to
the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of
injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break
every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the
poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to
turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth
like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness
will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you
will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say:
‘Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing
finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you
always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen
your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters
never fail’” (Isaiah 58:5-11).

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the
birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of
you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about
clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I
tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of
these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today
and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you
of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall
we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things,
and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25-34).

“For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord,
and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light
shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this
treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and
not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed,
but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not
destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:5-9).

This post coordinates with today’s reading in the To
the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan,
please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.