Tag: Christianity

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 26, Deuteronomy 27
NT: Luke 10:38-42, Luke 11:1-13
Ps: Psalm 76
Pr: Proverbs 12:15-17

Today´s notable verse:

A fool shows his annoyance at once,
but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

Proverbs 12:16 (NIV)

I think the prudence of overlooking an insult rather than making known our annoyance of that insult benefits us both externally, with respect to our reputation, and also internally, since vocalizing our annoyance acts to cement a root of bitterness or unforgiveness for that insult. To overlook an insult demonstrates humility, since we recognize that we ourselves have likewise insulted others, and it demonstrates our obedience to God’s command to love those who persecute us and our recognition of God’s sovereignity and rightful place to avenge.

The One Year Bible Blog asks:

Today in Luke chapter 10 we read about Jesus visiting Mary & Martha and Martha becoming upset with Mary for sitting at Jesus’ feet and not helping her work in the kitchen. To which Jesus says to Martha in verses 41 & 42 – “But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it–and I won’t take it away from her.” What do you think is the one thing worth being concerned about Jesus is referring to? Is this really the only one thing you are concerned about in your life today? Or are you possibly being distracted by other “details”?

It appears to me that Mary’s one concern was her desire for closeness and intimacy with the Messiah, to have relationship and fellowship with Him, and to listen to His words. I think my perspective in this regard has improved as I have grown older and matured in my walk, but certainly, I still get detracted at times by the “details” – whether “spiritual” details of my calling, service, church life and activities, etc. or else “worldly” details about my job and finances and everything else. However, the more time I spend in the Word, the more I am reminded of this primary concern of my relationship and intimacy with my Savior.

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 23, Deuteronomy 24, Deuteronomy 25
NT: Luke 10:13-37
Ps: Psalm 75
Pr: Proverbs 12:12-14

Today´s notable verses:

⁷ However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” ⁸ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” ⁹ his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” ¹⁰ That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

Deuteronomy 25:7-10 (NIV)

Nothing profoudly spiritual to note here; this regulation just struck my curiosity. “The Family of the Unsandaled”… interesting.

¹⁸ He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰ However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Luke 10:18-20 (NIV)

Certainly, Jesus has given us authority; but our response is to be one not of pride, but of humility. We are to be astonished not because the things over which we have been given authority submit to that authority, but because of the grace and mercy God has shown us.

An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk,
but a righteous man escapes trouble.

Proverbs 12:13 (NIV)

Honesty truly is the best policy! Lies always catch up to us eventually. Conversely, acting and speaking with integrity will always result in our favor.

The One Year Bible Blog asks:

What a great opening line – Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit! In your life today – are you full of joy through the Holy Spirit? Do you want to be? I read a great commentary from Tyndale’s One Year Bible companion on this verse with this wonderful Q & A – “What was Jesus’ relationship to the Holy Spirit? Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, baptized by the Holy Spirit, anointed by the Holy Spirit, guided by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and filled with the Holy Spirit. He lives in union with the Holy Spirit, and was dependent upon the Holy Spirit.” What is your relationship with the Holy Spirit today? Are you dependent upon the Holy Spirit in your life?

I would not have survived the past several months without an intimate relationship with, ministry of, and counsel from the Holy Spirit. It really is that simple. It is such a wonderful, liberating, comforting realization truly to know what it means to be sustained and empowered beyond one’s own ability to cope, withstand, or endure hardship – and it is likewise an incredibly humbling understanding.

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 21, Deuteronomy 22
NT: Luke 9:51-62, Luke 10:1-12
Ps: Psalm 74
Pr: Proverbs 12:11

Today´s notable verse:

¹ If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. ² If the brother does not live near you or if you do not know who he is, take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. ³ Do the same if you find your brother’s donkey or his cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it.

Deuteronomy 22:1-3 (NIV)

Reading these verses, I am reminded of the words of James:

Anyone then who knows the good he ought to do, and doesn’t do it, sins.

James 4:17 (NIV)

We are called to holiness – to perfect, Christ-like love of God and man. We are told here very clearly that passive willingness not to do something in love is just as sinful as acting willfully contrary to love. We must seek out and be observant of the needs around us, and we must act upon them when we see them. Ignorance and apathy are entirely contradictory to Christ-like love.

The One Year Bible Blog notes:

Deuteronomy chapter 22 has various rules & regs, including sexual purity. It makes sense that there needed to be rules & regs for 1 million+ Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years – and for them as they are now about to enter the Promised Land. Essentially, these rules & regs kept the peace. But, hopefully more than that, they kept the Israelites minds & hearts focused on God and not on sin.

Similar sentiment to what I was discussing earlier, though I focused in one one particular regulation from the passage. What I am loving about reading the books of OT law is how clearly they foreshadow the more perfect Law of Christ. When we take the time to look past the “dos and don’ts” and see the underlying principles, we realize that those principles – specifically, love and holiness – lead us to a place of understanding in which the decisions represented by the OT Law are no longer even salient. We become so focused on knowing what it means to love one another, to love God, and to pursue His holiness that the rules and regulations codified in the OT Law would become meaningless. In other words, when I act in love in the pursuit of holiness, I will never need to concern myself with choosing between acts that are sinful or not. If I truly act in love toward my neighbor, I never risk sinning against him. If my entire being is focused on presenting my life as a sacrifice to God and my every thought captivated by becoming conformed into the likeness of God, then I never fear sinning against Him.

It is a lofty goal, to be sure; but, it is one to which each of us is called.

13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)

Remember, the pursuit of holiness is not a destination but a journey. Press on!

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 18, Deuteronomy 19, Deuteronomy 20
NT: Luke 9:28-50
Ps: Psalm 73
Pr: Proverbs 12:10

Today´s notable verses:

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:26 (NIV)

Reading truths such as this one, and knowing them, is one thing – but living and walking out these truths cements our belief, and the experiences that bear out these truths become the building blocks of an ever-deepening faith.

A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal…

Proverbs 12:10a (NIV)

That one’s for you, Kelly! 😉

The One Year Bible Blog asks:

I read an interesting commentary that said Peter was suggesting that 3 shelters be made because Peter thought at that time that the faith was built on these 3 pillars: The Law (Moses), the Prophets (Elijah), and Jesus. Whereas, Peter later understood that through the New Covenant our faith is now built on Jesus, “a chosen and precious cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6).

Interesting: I had never thought of the Transfiguration in this symbolic manner; but, it makes sense!

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 16, Deuteronomy 17
NT: Luke 9:7-27
Ps: Psalm 72
Pr: Proverbs 12:8-9

Today´s notable verse:

Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 16:19 (NIV)

No commentary today; just catching up from yesterday with the One Year Bible Blog.

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 14, Deuteronomy 15
NT: Luke 8:40-56 , Luke 9:1-6
Ps: Psalm 71
Pr: Proverbs 12:5-7

Today´s notable verses:

Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.

Deuteronomy 14:23 (NIV)

A question about the tithe: the Israelites brought the tithe of their crops, vineyards, and flocks to the temple, and ate them in the presence of God as a fellowship offering. How does this principle apply to us today – or does it? The concept of the tithe today is that it is simply given away – or, given back to God, as it were. How do we practice “eating [our] tithe…in the presence of the Lord”?

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Luke 8:46 (NIV)

What strikes me in this passage is the passive transferrence of healing power from Christ to the woman. What a beautiful example of faith being the effective or permissive agent to enable Christ’s healing power. Note that it was not merely the act of touching Jesus that brought healing – for the crowds were pressed around Him, and yet Jesus took note of the touch of one specific person: the touch that came from faith in Jesus’ power to heal. Many were touching Jesus, intentionally or unintentionally, yet one one was healed: the one who touched purposefully, in faith. Would that we would seek to touch Jesus today, and through our faith receive the spiritual, physical, or emotional healing that is His gift to and desire for us!

The One Year Bible Blog asks:

I find it interesting that these verses say both – there should be no poor and that there will always be some poor among you.

The poor will always be among us, for several reasons: some are able yet unwilling to work, and so do not prosper; others are physically or mentally unable to work; others are able and willing to work, but are facing a short- or long-term trial of some sort. Regardless, that we will always have the poor among us serves as a visible reminder that we are all interdependent. Just as we who are able are commanded to care for the poor, so too we realize that we have needs that can only be met by others – and all of us have a need that can only be met by Christ.

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 11, Deuteronomy 12
NT: Luke 8:22-39
Ps: Psalm 70
Pr: Proverbs 12:4

Today´s notable verses:

⁴ You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. ⁵ But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go…

Deuteronomy 12:4-5 (NIV)

The place the Lord chose as His dwelling place among the Israelites – the place they were to go to worship – was the tabernacle, and eventually the temple. Today, because of Christ, the Lord has chosen as His dwelling place the hearts of His believers. Since the Old-Testament dwelling place of God was a place of worship, the New-Testament dwelling place of God is also a place of worship. Thus, we are living, breathing, walking vessels of worship. No longer must we go somewhere external and fixed in order to worship our Lord; instead, our lives and our worship have become intimately and inexorably united.

But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

Deuteronomy 12:23 (NIV)

“The blood is the life.” This statement explains why bloodshed is required as atonement for sin: since the wages of sin is death, sin demands shedding of blod – that is, shedding of life.

The One Year Bible Blog asks:

Do you believe in the existence of evil in our world today? Do you believe that Satan exists? Do you believe that demons exist? Do you know the one true Remedy and Salvation and Protection from all evil? Will you run into Jesus’ arms for this safety forever?

One cannot turn on the television or read a newspaper or magazine without being confronted by the stark presence of evil the the world. Despite the cloud of relativism and the camoflauge of post-modern philosophy, Satan cannot completely obscure his existence. I know his agents – demons and evil spirits – exist, because I have witnessed their influence with my own eyes. Even as a teenager, I had witnessed the interaction of the forces of evil in the spiritual realms with our natural world. Yet, I have never needed to fear that evil, nor do I dwell on it. He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. I am safely in the arms of Christ, and nothing will happen to me that He does not allow and work out for my good. And I praise God for that!

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 9, Deuteronomy 10
NT: Luke 8:4-21
Ps: Psalm 69:19-36
Pr: Proverbs 12:2-3

Today´s notable verses:

When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.

Deuteronomy 9:9 (NIV)

Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD’s sight and so provoking him to anger.

Deuteronomy 9:18 (NIV)

Moses fasted for eighty days straight!

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

Luke 8:15 (NIV)

One word jumped out at me, as if for the first time, while reading the parable of the Sower: persevering. It is by our perseverance that the Seed planted in us produces a crop. It is perseverance to which we are called. Ours is not to struggle, but to stand firm:

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Ephesians 6:13 (NIV)

I think sometimes as Christians we try to take on too much of the struggle ourselves, rather than let God fight the battles He has told us are His to fight. In the grand scheme, our primary job is to hold our own ground. Now, that doesn’t mean that we don’t have very real struggles with very real responsibility to overcome them in our own lives. But our tactical battles are only a part of the overall strategy of the Great War – a war that has already been won, God’s strategy having defeated our enemy already.

The One Year Bible Blog asks:

Okay, I’m really getting into the New Living Translation little commentary headers before sections of our readings – as I discussed in yesterday’s post, these are not from the original text so should not be considered Biblical text. Nonetheless, I personally do find them useful. And I really do like the first header in Deuteronomy chapter 9 today in the NLT – “Victory by God’s Grace.” You’ll note that you won’t actually find the word “grace” in any of the verses that follow. However, I think we do get a good overview of how grace works in this section…

The same thought struck me: that the underlying theme of this passage was God’s grace. The line that focused my attention on grace was this one:

Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the LORD listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.

Deuteronomy 10:10 (NIV)

Through all of Israel’s rebellion, the one thing God desparately wanted to demonstrate was His love and grace for His chosen people – love and grace that extend to us today, three thousand years later!

Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 8
NT: Luke 7:36-50, Luke 8:1-3
Ps: Psalm 69:1-18
Pr: Proverbs 12:1

Today´s notable verse:

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates correction is stupid.

Proverbs 12:1 (NIV)

Well, David certainly wins awards with this proverb, for brevity and bluntness! But how true his words: great wisdom lies in learning from discipline, and foolish pride the despises correction is the epitome of stupidity.

The One Year Bible Blog has a lot of great commentary today, but I am too worn out to contribute. I’ll be back on my game tomorrow (Lord willing)!

Little’s Blog Things, welcome to the OYB Blogroll!