What Tomorrow Brings

 

Psalm 84 is about the joy of worship in the Temple.

The psalmist opens by remarking on its beauty.

Psalm 84:1 (NRSVue) - How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

In John 14, Jesus tells His followers that He is the way to the Father.

Jesus reminds them of the Father’s house.

It is a house that has room for many.

Christ reminded His followers that He would prepare a place for them.

John 14:2 (NRSVue) - In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

That means He has prepared a place for us as well.

Days ago, we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord.

In His Resurrection we have hope!

We know that death has been conquered!

2 Timothy 1:10 (NRSVue) - but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

We need not live in fear.

We know what tomorrow brings.

We know a dwelling place awaits us.

And we know it will be beautiful.

 

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, April 3, 2026.

I will be back here on Friday, April 10, 2026

Rise!

 

Psalm 9 is about God’s justice and power.

In verse 19, the psalmist calls upon the Lord to prevail against mortal men,

Psalm 9:19a (NRSVue) - Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail;

In Mark 9, Jesus foretells His death and resurrection.

Mark 9:31 (NRSVue) - for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.”

The day would come for His crucifixion,

Upon His death, undoubtedly there were some mortals who thought they prevailed.

They certainly thought death prevailed.

But the resurrection of Jesus proved them wrong on both counts.

The miracle of the resurrection proved that neither mortals nor even death itself can prevail.

For our part, we should be forever grateful for His sacrifice.

It was a sacrifice not made in vain.

For on the third day, the Lord did rise!

And our response of gratitude should be rooted in faith, hope, and love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NRSVue) - And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

 

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, April 3, 2026.

I will be back here on Friday, April 10, 2026

Oh, Brother!

 

Luke 15 contains three parables.

One is about the lost sheep.

The second is about the lost coin.

The third is about the lost son.

The three parables teach about the lost.

They also teach about repentance and the joy in recovering the lost.

But there is one part of the parable of the lost son that always makes me pause and think.

It concerns the son that did not leave and his reaction to his brother’s return.

Luke 15:28-30 (NRSVue) - Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!

This brother was angry.

He felt it necessary to remind his father of his service.

He accused his brother of wasting his inheritance on prostitutes.

Scripture states his spending was reckless but says nothing about prostitutes.

This was an assumption.

He also accuses his father of favoritism.

He basically asks, “What have you done for me lately.”

In this parable. Jesus is comparing the son that stayed home to the Pharisees.

Yet how many of us can identify with the son who stayed home?

How many of us can relate to “What have you done for me lately?”

This part of the parable reminds me to be grateful and not vindictive.

In short, I should not expect to be rewarded now for doing what I am supposed to do.

Matthew 6:2-4 (NRSVue) - “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, March 20, 2026.

I will be back here on Friday, March 27, 2026