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Wayward Emotions, Thoughts, Spiritual Warfare, contentment, Discontentment Dana Rongione Wayward Emotions, Thoughts, Spiritual Warfare, contentment, Discontentment Dana Rongione

What Were You Thinking?

During my devotion time this morning, I had an “aha” moment while reading another familiar passage. I’ve been making it a practice to stop and think about every word in each verse instead of just getting the gist of the verse. This has opened my eyes to many things, and this morning was no different.

Do all things without murmurings and disputings: - Philippians 2:14

In the past, when I read this verse, I summed it up like this: do everything without complaining—a command which is far more difficult to obey than it appears at first glance. However, as I broke the verse down into individual words this morning, I had to ask, What’s the difference between murmuring and disputing?

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God's love Dana Rongione God's love Dana Rongione

One Last Day

As I strolled with Tess on our daily walk, I pondered the inquiry. It’s a question that’s been asked more times than any of us could ever count: if you knew you only had one day left to live, how would you spend that day?

What would I do? For starters, I would throw the words “diet” and “exercise” out the window and pig out on all my favorite foods. After all, if it’s my last day on earth, I don’t have to worry about weight gain, right? I’d also want to spend as much time as possible with the ones I love.

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Spiritual Warfare, weariness, Encouragement Dana Rongione Spiritual Warfare, weariness, Encouragement Dana Rongione

Tired of Playing Games

A little over a week ago, I was reading through the Lewis Carroll classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It had been so long since I had read the tale that I wanted to refresh my memory. At one point, I laughed aloud while wiping tears from my cheeks. It wasn’t that the scene was that comical but rather that I could relate so very well at that moment.

While playing croquet with the Queen of Hearts, Alice soon discovers that the game is anything but ordinary. The mallets were live flamingoes, and live hedgehogs served as the croquet balls. The card soldiers bent backward to form the arches through which the balls could roll. The problems with this setup were many.

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the Word of God Dana Rongione the Word of God Dana Rongione

Why Should We Study the Bible?

It’s funny how the most familiar verses can also be the most overlooked and unexplored. Take, for example, II Timothy 3:16. This is a verse I’ve been able to quote since I was a child, but it wasn’t until a few days ago that I realized I didn’t fully understand what it was saying.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: — II Timothy 3:16

As I looked at the verse with fresh eyes, I saw what seemed to be two redundancies. Doctrine means teaching, but doesn’t instruction also mean teaching? If so, why is “teaching” listed twice? Likewise, isn’t reproof simply a form of correction, so why is it, too, listed twice? At first glance, it appears the verse could be summed up to say that all scripture is profitable for teaching and correction, right?

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