Contemplative Bible Reading

3 John 1:11 (New Living Translation)

11 Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.

John is writing to a dear friend named Gaius. A man named Diotrephes wasn’t welcoming traveling teachers. That was not right. That was setting a bad example of how to live.

John’s urging is simple: follow good examples and don’t follow bad examples.

Yes, that is simple. That should be easy to do, huh? Well, it must not be easy to do because I don’t do it enough. What is wrong with me? How can I be so foolish? I can excuse it as part of the failure of the human condition, but no, that is just an excuse. I should do better.

What is remarkable is that God still accepts me. God’s grace still covers my failings and keeps me clean so that I can be in God’s presence. Thanks be to God. And please God, help me in my unbelief.

1 Corinthians 1:23 (New Living Translation)

23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

Paul is writing to the Christians at Corinth. Paul is discussing what he and others have been saying and how people have reacted to it. Part of Paul’s message is simple: this fellow Jesus from that little town of Nazareth was the Son of God anointed to take away the sins of the world.

Many of the Gentiles who heard this message about a Jew simply said, “It’s all nonsense.”

It made no sense that some poor, uneducated guy from a conquered and occupied people was somehow a direct descendant of a deity. If anyone was sent by a god, it would be someone who was part of the ruling class or civilization. All nonsense.

Not much has changed in 20 centuries. This idea of Jesus the Son of God is pretty much dismissed as nonsense by most folks. Sure, there are hundreds of millions of persons all over the world who believe in the Christ. Still, the educated classes generally scoff.

Not much has changed in 20 centuries. And that is a big part of the good news. God is still God. The blood of Jesus still cleanses mankind from sin. Let’s celebrate that not much has changed.

Ezekiel 22:30 (New Living Translation)

30 “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.

God is talking to the people through the prophet Ezekiel. The political and religious leaders of the people have not done what God told them to do. They are stealing, lying, cheating, and not teaching the difference between right and wrong—the difference between righteousness and evil.

God searched for someone who would do what is right. God searched for someone who would “rebuild the wall of righteousness,” but found no one. Sigh. It is over. Doom is coming.

Sometimes life is complicated and sometimes life is simple—easy. There is right and there is wrong and I know what is right and what is wrong. But, but, but you have to understand. There are these many factors and there are all these different factions of people and there are … nope. There is still right and wrong and all my attempts to make the simple complicated are just excuses to make me feel better.

Leaders are to have a wall of righteousness about the people to protect the people and allow the people to live in what is right and good. It is the same as parents protecting small children from evil. It is simple. Please God, don’t let me make it sound complicated.

Romans 14:1 (New Living Translation)

1 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.

There is something about much of the writings of the New Testament and how they are translated into English. This little something bothers me. This sentence is one example. There is a statement, “Accept other believers.” There is a little phrase that modifies the statement, “who are weak in faith.”

Folks seem to focus on these little phrases that modify the statements instead of the statements. Allow me to revise the sentence to:

Accept other believers, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.

The following sentences in scripture use the topic of food as something not worthy of argument of right and wrong. “You, fellow follower of Jesus, should cut the carbs!” Can you imagine arguing that?

And sometimes we focus on, “who are weak in faith.”

Oh, well, you have to understand that fella’ over there. His diet is all out of whack in opposition to what the Bible teaches. Our bodies are temples of God, and he abuses his body and tears down God’s temple because of his diet. Well, he is “weak in faith,” so we’ll just let him slide into whatever bad place the weak in faith slide and be done with him. We can’t expect the “weak in faith” to meet our standards of strong in faith.

Nope. Nope. And more nope. Other believers are believers. They eat other this, wear other that, live other there, and all sorts of other things. Argue about those things? Nope. Who wants to join the believers if all the believers do is argue about all those things? Let’s do much better. Please God, help me to do much better.

Ezekiel 20:26 (New Living Translation)

26 I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them, and I allowed them to give their firstborn children as offerings to their gods—so I might devastate them and remind them that I alone am the Lord.

God is speaking to the people through the prophet Ezekiel. The prophet is reminding the people of the actions of their ancestors and telling them that they are repeating those actions. What did the ancestors do? Among other things, they threw away what God wanted and instead went to what other people practiced in the worship of their gods. They killed their firstborn children to gain favor with these other gods.

Stop and consider this. These people actually killed their first children in a religious ceremony. Does the God we know, the God of the Holy Bible, ever ask for something like that? Do followers of the Christ, i.e., us Christians, do anything like this? Why would anyone do anything like this? Yet, that is what the people did and continued to do. How far away from God can you go?

Us Christians today, us educated folks today, we would never go this far away from God. Or do we? Are there things we do today that are this far off the path? Perhaps. I have to look at myself and try to consider my life. What am I doing? What am I thinking? What am I saying? Where is my money? Where is my time? Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Romans 10:3-4 (New Living Translation)

3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. 4 For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.

There is so much in these few sentences. Let’s discuss a phrase from the second sentence. People—us, me—cling to our own ways of getting right with God.

I want to be right with God (good). I want to be right with God my own way (bad). God provides a way (good). God’s way is simple (good). God provided God’s way (even better). God’s way is simply through belief in Christ (this gets even better).

Still, I want to do it my own way. What is wrong with me? And even better, God forgives me for my selfish and childish wishes to “do it myself.” What is wrong with me? Please God, help me in my unbelief. And, thank you God for providing a miraculous way be being right with you.

Zechariah 8:16 (New Living Translation)

16 But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace.

God is talking to the people through the prophet Zechariah. The preceding sections tell how God is going to restore the people. The good times are returning. Everyone be happy about this.

And then comes direction of what you must do when the good times return. Save the money? Sing songs? Build up the army? Invest in the arts? What? What is it the people must do when the good times return?

• Tell the truth to each other.
• Render just verdicts in court that lead to peace.

Well, uh, seems sort of ordinary. Surely there must be something magnificent to do? Nope. Just these plain old things. Truth. Justice. Peace. Hmm. Plain old stuff. Perhaps there is something magnificent hidden in this plain old stuff. Perhaps we think too much and strategize too much and lean on our own brain power too much.

Truth. Justice. Peace. Something we must do.

Romans 9:11b-12a (New Living Translation)

11 (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.)

I am quoting an odd scripture or an odd translation of scripture. This is a phrase in parentheses that spans two verses. Odd way to put something, but I didn’t do the translation. Anyways…

Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome and mentions how God used Rebekah, the wife of the patriarch Isaac. It gives me one insight into the workings of God. I don’t always like the way God works, but that is a problem I have with God being God and me not being God (a common failing).

God chooses people to do the things God wants accomplished here on earth. There is something to be done, and God knows who is the right person to do it. God doesn’t worry too much about the person’s prior actions. God chooses.

Well, surely God would choose those whom I would choose? Right? Wrong. God chose David, the runt of the family of Jesse. God chose Samuel, a little boy not in the tribe of Levi. God chose Peter, a conniving fellow who often spoke before thinking. God chose Zacchaeus, a small fellow who couldn’t work like a man so he chose tax theft to make a living. The list of examples goes on.

God chooses people to His own purposes. I don’t know where God is going with something. I don’t understand how God chooses or why or when or where. Serve God in whatever way.

Malachi 1:14 (New Living Translation)

14 “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!

Cursed is the cheater. The cheater promises a fine animal for a sacrifice. Then on sacrifice day, the cheater brings in a ram that is defective and would die in a day or too from its defects.

There are several things about the cheater. One, the cheater says one thing, but does something else. Just say something nice and expected in front of people, but turn around and do whatever whenever when no one is there.

Another, the cheater is less than devoted to God. Yes, the cheater brings in a ram and gives it away. Okay, giving up livestock is giving up money. The cheater, however, gives up a ram that is almost worthless. The cheater’s flock is better without that defective ram. The cheater benefits from his less-than-devoted choices.

Cursed is the cheat. Not a good place to be.

Romans 8:12 (New Living Translation)

12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

Hear ye! Hear ye! You (we) are not obligated to your sinful nature.

The word obligated (oblige) means to bind morally or legally, as by a promise or contract. If I am obligated to something, I have a binding contract with that something. I must do what the contract says.

Paul writes to the Christians in Rome. Hey, we have a sinful nature. Here, however, is the good news: we are not obligated to the sinful nature. We don’t have a binding contract with the sinful nature. We are not forced by some sense of law or morality to do the things the sinful nature urges us to do.

We are free from the sinful nature and we can do the righteous things God encourages!

Wait a minute. We live in a dog-eat-dog world. Look out for number one. Don’t take any gruff from anyone. Don’t get even, get ahead. All that stuff. Nope. No obligation to any of that worldly wisdom from the sinful nature.

Great news. We are free. Let’s live like it. Please God, help me to live like it.