The Living Word: A Daily Devotional with Jeff & Dale from The Jenkins Institute

Have you ever made lunch plans and forgotten about them? You

get a call around lunch, and the person asks, “How far away are

you?” You realize that you totally spaced on lunch, and you are not

on your way. In fact, you are over an hour away. You apologize

profusely, but you still 

The Bible says, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the

judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure

you use it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2, ESV). You see

this principle in this acted-out parable. The prophet baits King

Ahab into making a pronouncement against the prophet who has

allowed the prisoner to go free. The deal was that the prophet

would have to pay a silver coin or have his life taken from him.

Ahab states that the man’s life will be taken from him. 

This might not be true, but I’ve heard it to be the case. In

prison, people will hit each other with soap bars. Maybe this is

an old tale or myth, and I do not know for sure, as I have never

experienced prison or jail before, thankfully. The reason

prisoners do this is to inflict pain, but they do not get in

trouble for doing so since the soap bars do not leave a mark.

You got fired for being late. You had to go to court for a speeding

ticket. You were upset because you had a performance review for

missing the numbers. In reality, perhaps we are being too sensitive

to punishment in this time of history. In 1 Kings, the man who

disobeys God’s command by refusing to slap the prophet is eaten

by a lion.

She walked to the back of the church building. She was 68 years

old, and she was marrying a man who was 86. The engagement was

announced that week. We all have heard about younger women

marrying older men for money. Plainly, at 68, this was not the case,

so the joke “Are you marrying him for money?” seemed innocent.

However, it was not, as her hand sweeping across my face indicated

clearly. She was mad.