Colossians 3:14 (New English Translation)
And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond.
Love is the perfect, complete, wholly satisfactory bond. Love glues everything else together. All the good, great, wonderful things I may do as a Christian are just that:
a bunch of nice things floating around out there somewhere
Without love bonding them together, well, a waste a time.
And love is greater than bonding good acts together. Love, as a good glue will do, fills in the cracks. I have a lot of cracks in my life, spaces between the good I may allow the Spirit of God to do through me. Love fills those cracks and makes be a complete being who is living for God.
Thank you God for the gift of love.
Tags: Colossians · New Testament
September 29th, 2013 · No Comments
Proverbs 8:22 (New Living Translation)
The Lord formed me (wisdom) from the beginning,
before he created anything else.
Proverbs 8 is about wisdom. This verse tells us that God created wisdom before creating anything else. I don’t know that I can understand that statement. Before the universe, there was wisdom. Wisdom has always existed.
No, I don’t understand what that means. This is a short, simple statement buried in an obscure proverb and it stumps me. Just goes to show that there is much about God and God’s plans for me that are far beyond me.
Tags: Old Testament · Proverbs
September 28th, 2013 · No Comments
1 Timothy 3:14-15 (New Living Translation)
14 I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, 15 so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Funny how one word translated a little differently can make such a difference in the reading of a passage. In the New Living Translation, we are described as being in the household of God. Many other translations use the term house of God.
A house is a building. Hence, “house of God” brings thoughts of the church building, the sanctuary, and such. We are to behave reverently and properly in the church building.
Now consider household:
the people in a family or other group that are living together in one house
Hmm, this, to me at least, carries the thought of family. We know how to conduct ourselves in the family of God.
Let’s start doing that.
Tags: 1 Timothy · New Testament
September 22nd, 2013 · No Comments
Proverbs 1:1-1 (New Living Translation)
These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.
2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,
to help them understand the insights of the wise.
3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives,
to help them do what is right, just, and fair.
This must be a fairy tale, right? The purpose of these Proverbs is to teach people to be right, just, and fair. Why would anyone want to be right, just, and fair? Why would any sane adult think that you can be right, just, and fair and not be trampled every day?
Yet, here it is. These are the words in Proverbs. Perhaps there is something here that we are to take seriously.
First, some other translation use different words. The most oft-used are “righteousness, justice, and equity.” Perhaps those words are a bit more realistic.
Second, forget all the mincing of words. There is no excuse; we are to live what the world considers a fairy tale life. We are to be right as God tells us what “right” means. We are to live for justice for all people no matter how difficult and unpopular it may be. We are to treat each person with equal dignity and love.
Those things are not easy. Those things are fun on some days. Those things are the purpose of Solomon’s Proverbs, and I cannot find a reason why the rest of the scriptures don’t apply that way as well. So, what are we to do? Uh, how about striving to be right, just, and fair everyday – especially toward those people we don’t like? Too hard? Well, we can always pray and ask God to help us.
And some people say that being a Christian is taking the easy way out.
Tags: Old Testament · Proverbs
September 21st, 2013 · No Comments
Psalms 127:1-2 (New Living Translation)
1 Unless the Lord builds a house,
the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
guarding it with sentries will do no good.
2 It is useless for you to work so hard
from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
for God gives rest to his loved ones.
Without the LORD, our work is useless. There, wrote it. Time to move on.
Here is one problem, one thing that seems to keep us from understanding this simple item:
Timing
The world, life, whatever we want to call it, does not operate with the timing that we can understand or the timing that we want. I do something, there is a consequence. Sometimes that consequence occurs one second after my act. Sometimes that consequence occurs one generation after my act.
I may not see the uselessness of my work for a while. That hinders me seeing the truth of these statements from Psalms.
Then again, I can simply believe this Psalm and not wait for time to show me the proof.
Tags: Old Testament · Psalms
September 15th, 2013 · No Comments
1 Kings 10:9 (New Living Translation)
Praise the Lord your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king so you can rule with justice and righteousness.
The Queen of Sheba is speaking these words. She has been impressed by the life and wisdom of Solomon, King of all Israel. As a result, she praises Solomon’s God Jehovah.
Has anyone praised Jehovah because of me lately? EVER?
Ouch.
Tags: 1 Kings · Old Testament
September 14th, 2013 · No Comments
1 Kings 8:48-49 (New Living Translation)
48 If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name— 49 then hear their prayers and their petition from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause.
This is one of the few occasions when the act of praying towards the Temple of Jerusalem is mentioned. The prophet Daniel often prayed towards Jerusalem.
Was there anything more spiritual or powerful about praying towards the Temple or praying in another direction?
I think not. I think the physical act of praying towards the Temple emphasized what was mentioned in verse 48, turning the whole heart and soul to the LORD. Make that plain to everyone by turning your body towards the LORD’s Temple.
Is there an equivalent today? I think so. Bowing, falling to my knees, closing my eyes – these are physical acts that are not necessary to pray, but these physical acts emphasize and show the act of submission in prayer. They are all submissive positions and acts.
Tags: 1 Kings · Old Testament
Psalms 24:3-4 (American Standard Version)
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah? And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, And hath not sworn deceitfully.
Today I am looking at the American Standard Version for a little more poetry in the wording. I am struck by the image of a person with clean hands, and then there is the interior of a clean heart. Who can stand on the high place with Jehovah, the LORD? Only a person who is clean.
Me? Not clean. Well, not on my own. The blood of Jesus washed me, so now I am clean. Now I can stand on the high place with Jehovah.
That is amazing. It sounds simple and, I guess on the surface, it is simple. Yet, it is beyond understanding.
Tags: Old Testament · Psalms
Nehemiah 13:15-18 (New Living Translation)
15 In those days I saw men of Judah treading out their winepresses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in grain, loading it on donkeys, and bringing their wine, grapes, figs, and all sorts of produce to Jerusalem to sell on the Sabbath. So I rebuked them for selling their produce on that day. 16 Some men from Tyre, who lived in Jerusalem, were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise. They were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah—and in Jerusalem at that!
17 So I confronted the nobles of Judah. “Why are you profaning the Sabbath in this evil way?” I asked. 18 “Wasn’t it just this sort of thing that your ancestors did that caused our God to bring all this trouble upon us and our city? Now you are bringing even more wrath upon Israel by permitting the Sabbath to be desecrated in this way!”
This has to fall under the heading what are you thinking!?
I am reading through the Bible using a One Year Chronological Bible from Tyndale. Recently, I have read for days and days about Judah’s troubles, Judah being trampled, Judah being exiled, and Judah suffering beyond what we today can imagine.
After 70 years of exile, some Jews have returned to Jerusalem. And what do they do? They violate the Sabbath: one of the fundamental tenants of the Law. Again, what are you thinking?
How much punishment, how much hard times, how much misery does a group of people have to suffer before they understand the correlation between sin and misery?
I guess we have to ask the same stupid question of ourselves today. How much drunkenness, adultery, greed, hatred, gossip, and other sin must be commit before we realize that God didn’t intend that life for us? Why do we have to live by Satan’s recommendations?
What are we thinking?
Tags: Nehemiah · Old Testament
Proverbs 15:8 (New Living Translation)
Everyone enjoys a fitting reply;
it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!
Do you want to be wonderful? Here is a simple recipe: say the right thing at the right time.
Pretty simple. Now all I have to do is go out and do that.
Tags: Old Testament · Proverbs
