Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 25:8 (New Living Translation)

Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.

God is speaking to the people of Israel through Moses. God wanted the people to build a special place—a holy sanctuary. That place had requirements of entry of special people who had special jobs and entered on special occasions. The following text lists all those special things.

Then we come to the question, “Why should the people build a holy sanctuary?”

Simple, so God could live among the people.

Note, this is a time after the people had escaped slavery in Egypt. They were on a journey that would last two generations. This was neither a nice place nor a nice circumstance. Still, God wanted to live among God’s people.

Let’s run that one by one more time: God wants to live with God’s people.

Little poor pathetic me? God wants to live with me? That makes no sense. We all have a special place in the heart of the Creator God. Of all the magnificence of God’s creation, God wants to be with me and us.

Please God, help me to live worthily of this special place. Give me the humility to try.

2 Corinthians 10:4 (New Living Translation)

4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

The writer is telling the readers in Corinth about some of the ways that God has made Christians different (if we accept that). Once different, we destroy false arguments using God’s mighty weapons. We don’t use the human weapons of rhetoric and logic and all that stuff some people study at great length.

We pray. We love. We embrace. Wait, are those weapons? If you want to think of them as weapons, go ahead. They are some of the tools God gives us by God’s power. The world cannot withstand those things. Think not? Look around. Those who followed that poor carpenter’s kid from nowhere Nazareth are still here. There is no earthly reason why that should be the case, but it is.

Hmmm, maybe if we think of it that way. One of the necessary things for me is to accept that God has made me different. I need to act like God made me different. I need to claim God’s promises and live them. Some days I’d rather just throw rocks through a window and spray paint a car. Wrong. Pray, love, embrace, and so on. The tools are there in front of me.

1 Chronicles 21:30 (New Living Translation)

30 But David was not able to go there to inquire of God, because he was terrified by the drawn sword of the angel of the Lord.

This is the conclusion of the (hi)story of God sending an angel to destroy Jerusalem as punishment for one of David’s sins. 70,000 people had died suddenly from a plague. Stop and consider that one. 70,000 people dead. What do you do with the dead bodies? How do the cries of anguish of the families sound?

The angel had descended upon Jerusalem to destroy the city. David met the angel of the Lord at a famous spot in the city. David was terrified by the sight of the angel.

Consider David. He was a warrior. He killed and killed and killed other warriors in brutal hand-to-hand combat. That was gruesome and horrific. I cannot imagine what David had experienced. I cannot imagine messin’ with David. He could be a terrifying person himself.

Yet, David was terrified by the sight of the angel.

The angel of God was more horrific than anything David had lived on the field of battle. If David was terrified, I would melt to a puddle of goo at the sight of the angel of God.

Yes, we read of angels encouraging and blessing people. Still, angels can be terrifying.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 (New Living Translation)

12 And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.

The writer to this church is sending a written prayer. The writer prays that everyone in this distant church loves one another more each day. Two things here I can do everyday:

1. Pray that each person I meet loves others more each day.
2. Love everyone I meet more each day.

As I consider these two things, there is no thing and no person with the power to stop me from doing either of these. It is up to me alone. Gosh. No excuses. Don’t ya’ just hate it when you don’t have any available excuses?

Don’t ya’ just love it when you discover that God asks us to do things that we can all do? God isn’t asking me to literally move a mountain or part an ocean. God only asks that I love others and pray that others love others. And when I fail, God tells me, “Try again tomorrow. I am still here for you.”

Thanks be to God for grace, mercy, and unending love.

1 Chronicles 29:19 (New Living Translation)

19 Give my son Solomon the wholehearted desire to obey all your commands, laws, and decrees, and to do everything necessary to build this Temple, for which I have made these preparations.

David is praying. David asks God to give things to his son Solomon. I love this phrase “the wholehearted desire to obey.” David does not ask that his son obey him, but obey God.

Sure, my sons and my relatives and the folks I know aren’t about to build a temple. They are about to wake on a Saturday morning and not do every little thing their heart desires. They have other people in their lives who need them for this and that and a dozen other things. Won’t those people just go away and …

No, God puts these people in our lives for us to love and serve. And some Saturday mornings we just don’t feel up to … oh wait, what was that sound? Is someone making a mess in the kitchen again or fighting over the … Life.

God, bless my sons and their wives and children. Bless my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and on down the line. Grant them the wholehearted desire to follow You. And God, help me along the way as well. Help me to pray and love and serve, too.

2 Corinthians 10:7 (New Living Translation)

7 Look at the obvious facts. Those who say they belong to Christ must recognize that we belong to Christ as much as they do.

Paul is writing to a church in Corinth. There is a lot of fussing going on. Some say Paul is a phony. Paul is not a real Christian like they are. Paul defends himself. We are Christians just as much as they are Christians.

Funny, a few thousand years ago folks were fussing about “we” and “they.” Not much has changed since.

And now we come to the part of the blog post where I use this centuries-old sentence to bonk myself in the noggin’. Those folks over there are Christians, too. They read the Bible; they pray, and they love everyone. And they probably read and pray and love and care more than me and us. And they don’t agree with me and us on everything.

I can spend all my time and energy fussing with they. I can spend all my time and energy loving those who need such. It is my choice. God, help me in my unbelief.

Ephesians 4:34 (New Living Translation)

24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

The writer is explaining what Jesus Christ has done for them. Jesus made their lives different. They are better.

NO! WRONG!

My life isn’t different. My life isn’t better. My life isn’t improved.

My life is N E W.

We have this phrase today used in ads all the time, “New and improved.” Jesus did not make me “new and improved.” Jesus made me N E W. Jesus didn’t work on a few of my faults to lessen them. Jesus didn’t work on a few of my strengths to increase them.

Jesus made me N E W.

The old (good and bad) in me is gone, forgotten, vanished. I am N E W.

Every moment of every day I need to act like it.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (New Living Translation)

9 There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. 10 He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request.

Buried here among all the lineages of the Chronicles is a short mention of a man named Jabez. This is the only time this man is mentioned in the Bible. The name “Jabez” is sort of Hebrew for “pain.” This is like naming a boy “Burns” because his birth brought burning pains to his mother.

Anyways, this obscure man with a painful name prays to God. This short prayer is one for the ages. It is one of those things that I, and everyone I know, can pray everyday.

Please God, be with me in all that I do.

Thank you, Jabez. And thank you God for your never ending mercy and grace.

Mark 10:45 (New Living Translation)

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Let’s think a moment about ransom. If someone kidnapped my wife and told me, “We want a dollar in ransom money.” I use “a dollar” as an example, multiply by whatever number seems appropriate.

If I pay the dollar as ransom, that means I want my wife more than I want the dollar. That is what a ransom is—something I want less than something else.

Now consider Jesus as a ransom for many (I am in the group “many”).

God sent Jesus as a ransom for me. God wants to be with me more than with His own and only Son. There must something wrong in translation here. That is silly. God wants “me” more than his Son? Yes, that is what it says right here in black and white in front of me. God wants to be with pathetic little me more than with His righteous and sacrificial Son.

I’ll have to think on that one a while. Perhaps I should straighten up a bit. Perhaps I should love a bit more. Perhaps… the list will be pretty long.

Romans 10:3 (American Standard Version)

3 For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

Righteousness is a state of being right. I got it right. ‘Nough said (wrong).

Paul is writing about those people who want to establish their own definition of right and wrong. We know, them. Let me make a list of them so we all know who they are (wrong, again).

Paul then writes about people who subject themselves to God’s definition of right and wrong. Now Paul is writing about me, right? I certainly know God’s definition. All of us here do. Right? Do I have to write “wrong, again and again?”

Nope. I must set aside my definition of right and wrong and come to God on God’s terms. Well, I’m so good that I … Wrong. I’m not so good. If I was so good I wouldn’t need God, and boy is that ever wrong.

I am using the word “wrong” a bunch of times in this little blog post. I suppose I should read my own words with a little more care.

We are all wrong. We all want our definition of right and wrong. We all must subject ourselves to God’s righteousness. Please God, help me day by day, step by step.