If you’ve fooled around with the same woman two of your sons already fooled around with...
you might be a Jewish redneck: Genesis 37:1-38:30
Demon Hunter: Matthew 12:22-45
Pleasures Forevermore: Psalm 16:1-11
Withold not good: Proverbs 3:27-32
Today’s Bible reading is full of LILYMI – Live It Like Ya Mean It
The story in Genesis is the kind of story that’ll make you blush if you read it out loud. :)
To understand parts of the story, we must first realize that in the ancient Middle East it was a huge shame to die of old age without ever having kids. The people around you thought that you must be an awful person to have been cursed by God with childlessness.
It seems like a perverted thing for Judah to command his son, Onan, to marry Tamar & make babies through her in his brother’s name. But in reality Judah was trying to do both the memory of his son & his still living daughter-in-law a favor by giving them the honor of having kids in their name.
Onan tried to take advantage of his sister-in-law’s situation by getting his kicks from her on a long term basis while at the same time trying to give himself & his kids a bigger piece of the inheritance pie. As long as she was not pregnant, Onan could keep taking advantage of the situation in a sexual manner. As long as Onan’s late brother didn’t have a son, then Onan would get half of Judah’s wealth when he died (with the other half going to Onan’s still living brother, Shelah).
We’re called on to help the needy, not take advantage of them. Apparently, God takes this very seriously.
Jesus’ teaching in Matthew backs this up. “For a tree is recognized by its fruit.” Jesus said this in the context of trying to explain to the Pharisees that He is not a chief demon. Our works make it clear who’s side we’re on -- Jesus' or Satan's. Now, we can’t run on a tangent & say that our works get us into Heaven – lots of places in the Bible say that we’re saved by grace. Yet, we can’t throw out this part of the Bible either. We must love our fellow man – case closed.
Tomorrow when the youth go to work at the mission, we must remember that God puts us in situations like that to help people. We represent Him, not the world. Our behavior needs to reflect God’s love, not Satan’s selfishness.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Saturday, January 17
Genesis 35:1-36:43
Matthew 12:1-21
Psalm 15:1-5
Proverbs 3:21-26
When reading today’s passage from Matthew, it’s hard to imagine some people having a problem with Jesus healing someone on the Sabbath day. They couldn’t simply be impressed with Jesus healing someone. You’d think normal people would go, “Wow! Cool! That dude from Nazareth just healed a man’s hand! Maybe he can get rid of my athlete's foot!” Instead, the Pharisees reached in their back pocked, pulled out their organizer, and checked the date to make sure it was the wrong day of the week. :)
But we do the same thing today. We try so hard to make Jesus conform to what we want Him to be, or what we expect Him to be. I guess that’s why we have so many churches & so many denominations. Which, by the way, is why Matt is wanting all of us to read the Bible. When some of you boys were in my Sunday School class, you were taught what I thought was right & wrong, what I thought was most important, & how we should apply it to our lives. Yet, if you’re reading the whole Bible this year you’ll have a better handle on Jesus as He really is, not what someone else wants you to think He is.
Jesus doesn’t have to conform to us or our expectations. We have to conform to Jesus. It’s easier to do that if we know who He is & what He’s like.
Matthew 12:1-21
Psalm 15:1-5
Proverbs 3:21-26
When reading today’s passage from Matthew, it’s hard to imagine some people having a problem with Jesus healing someone on the Sabbath day. They couldn’t simply be impressed with Jesus healing someone. You’d think normal people would go, “Wow! Cool! That dude from Nazareth just healed a man’s hand! Maybe he can get rid of my athlete's foot!” Instead, the Pharisees reached in their back pocked, pulled out their organizer, and checked the date to make sure it was the wrong day of the week. :)
But we do the same thing today. We try so hard to make Jesus conform to what we want Him to be, or what we expect Him to be. I guess that’s why we have so many churches & so many denominations. Which, by the way, is why Matt is wanting all of us to read the Bible. When some of you boys were in my Sunday School class, you were taught what I thought was right & wrong, what I thought was most important, & how we should apply it to our lives. Yet, if you’re reading the whole Bible this year you’ll have a better handle on Jesus as He really is, not what someone else wants you to think He is.
Jesus doesn’t have to conform to us or our expectations. We have to conform to Jesus. It’s easier to do that if we know who He is & what He’s like.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
January 16 reading -- how to win a fight, and wisdom too :)
Can you imagine a worse death? Genesis 32:13-34:31
Matthew 11:7-30
Psalm 14:1-7
Proverbs 3:19-20
Some of the stories in Genesis are so ridiculous they can be funny without trying to be funny.
Matthew & Proverbs both speak out to me today. In Matthew, 11:17-19, Jesus tells the people of that day they were foolish for not heeding John the Baptist’s teachings of repentance & of the coming Messiah, Jesus. All they could do was come up with religious sounding logic for refuting first John the Baptist, then Jesus. Yet, as Jesus put it, wisdom is proved right by her actions.
For starters, wisdom is referred to by the female gender. When male writers of old ascribed femininity to something, they were =trying to portray it with romantic overtones to show how dear that something is. Wisdom is a precious thing.
Secondly, wisdom is an active concept. It has actions. The amount of wisdom each one of us has is not based on just what we know, it’s based on how we live what we know.
Finally, wisdom was used in God’s marvelous design of everything (today’s proverb). If wisdom is good enough for God to use, it’s certainly good enough for us too.
Matthew 11:7-30
Psalm 14:1-7
Proverbs 3:19-20
Some of the stories in Genesis are so ridiculous they can be funny without trying to be funny.
Matthew & Proverbs both speak out to me today. In Matthew, 11:17-19, Jesus tells the people of that day they were foolish for not heeding John the Baptist’s teachings of repentance & of the coming Messiah, Jesus. All they could do was come up with religious sounding logic for refuting first John the Baptist, then Jesus. Yet, as Jesus put it, wisdom is proved right by her actions.
For starters, wisdom is referred to by the female gender. When male writers of old ascribed femininity to something, they were =trying to portray it with romantic overtones to show how dear that something is. Wisdom is a precious thing.
Secondly, wisdom is an active concept. It has actions. The amount of wisdom each one of us has is not based on just what we know, it’s based on how we live what we know.
Finally, wisdom was used in God’s marvelous design of everything (today’s proverb). If wisdom is good enough for God to use, it’s certainly good enough for us too.
January 14 readings
Hi, all. I had to take a break for a couple of days to help my parents get the pool ready for the hard freeze we're liable to have tomorrow. While reading the past few days of Bible readings, I realized that we forgot to post January 14. So here it is.
My maid’s better than your maid! Genesis 30:1-31:16 No wonder there were 12 tribes in Israel.
Matthew 10:1-23
Psalm 12:1-8
Proverbs 3:13-15
I joked about how the some of the tribes of Israel were the result of the “battle” of the maids. But Matthew recorded Jesus recruiting & utilizing His 12 disciples. Jesus had many disciples, but the twelve were the closest to Jesus. Those of us who are Christians should probably pick a couple of people close to us who are not as spiritually healthy as we are and give special attention to them.
Also, note the spiritual war. Jesus gives us the ability to cast out demons. Yet, some people try to execute the spiritual war in the flesh by harming other people (verses 17-23). For 2,000 years Christians have been hunted down in various parts of the world by various peoples & governments. And it still goes on today.
My maid’s better than your maid! Genesis 30:1-31:16 No wonder there were 12 tribes in Israel.
Matthew 10:1-23
Psalm 12:1-8
Proverbs 3:13-15
I joked about how the some of the tribes of Israel were the result of the “battle” of the maids. But Matthew recorded Jesus recruiting & utilizing His 12 disciples. Jesus had many disciples, but the twelve were the closest to Jesus. Those of us who are Christians should probably pick a couple of people close to us who are not as spiritually healthy as we are and give special attention to them.
Also, note the spiritual war. Jesus gives us the ability to cast out demons. Yet, some people try to execute the spiritual war in the flesh by harming other people (verses 17-23). For 2,000 years Christians have been hunted down in various parts of the world by various peoples & governments. And it still goes on today.
Thursday, January 15 Readings
Good Morning!
Your Bible readings for the day are:
Genesis 31: 17- 32:12
Matthew 10:24- 11:6
Psalm 13: 1-6
Proverbs 3:16-18
I am really enjoying these daily readings. I'm so proud I'm keeping up! (I'd love to know how many youth are doing it. Let me know if you're reading it!)
All of the readings were really good for today, although I am constantly amazed by the dysfunctional families in the Genesis stories (I guess it can make me feel good about the craziness in mine sometime too! lol). But the Matthew passage is what jumped out at me today.
Two excerpts especially made me think:
32"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
I listen to a lot of sports talk radio and one of the main topics of conversation lately has been about Tim Tebow and how outspoken he is in his faith. People are becoming really critical of him, questioning why he has to talk so much about his beliefs. Why does he always have to thank Jesus first whenever he gives a speech? they are asking. While certainly we can show our faith by how we act and live--and many other athletes and "normal" people do that all the time--Tebow thinks that his best way to serve Christ is to share Him with others through his words.
The Bible says that if we acknowledge God in front of others, He will acknowledge us. It sounds like God wants us to be bold in how we show our faith--in both words and actions.
And then this second passage--
37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
This has always been a really tough couple of verses for me. Christ wants us to love Him more than our parents, our children, our friends, our jobs, our families, ANYTHING. How often do I show that I love Christ more than any of these things? It is a challenge, that's for sure!!
Your Bible readings for the day are:
Genesis 31: 17- 32:12
Matthew 10:24- 11:6
Psalm 13: 1-6
Proverbs 3:16-18
I am really enjoying these daily readings. I'm so proud I'm keeping up! (I'd love to know how many youth are doing it. Let me know if you're reading it!)
All of the readings were really good for today, although I am constantly amazed by the dysfunctional families in the Genesis stories (I guess it can make me feel good about the craziness in mine sometime too! lol). But the Matthew passage is what jumped out at me today.
Two excerpts especially made me think:
32"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
I listen to a lot of sports talk radio and one of the main topics of conversation lately has been about Tim Tebow and how outspoken he is in his faith. People are becoming really critical of him, questioning why he has to talk so much about his beliefs. Why does he always have to thank Jesus first whenever he gives a speech? they are asking. While certainly we can show our faith by how we act and live--and many other athletes and "normal" people do that all the time--Tebow thinks that his best way to serve Christ is to share Him with others through his words.
The Bible says that if we acknowledge God in front of others, He will acknowledge us. It sounds like God wants us to be bold in how we show our faith--in both words and actions.
And then this second passage--
37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
This has always been a really tough couple of verses for me. Christ wants us to love Him more than our parents, our children, our friends, our jobs, our families, ANYTHING. How often do I show that I love Christ more than any of these things? It is a challenge, that's for sure!!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
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