Today’s reading is Mark 15:1-16:20.

“And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!’ So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also reviled him” (Mark 15:29-32).

The irony in these verses astounds me. (I think I’m using the word irony correctly.)

The lookers-on wanted to see Jesus come down from the cross as proof that He could rebuild the temple in three days. What they do not understand is that He was in the middle of fulfilling that very statement. According to John 2:21, He was actually talking about His body. That temple was being destroyed and on the third day it would be raised up.

Then they asked Him to come down from the cross so that they might see His power and believe. What they could not comprehend is He was going to do something even greater. He was going to stay on the cross, die, then be buried in the ground, and come forth so they could see and believe. Anybody can come down off the cross if they have the right help. But only God can bring somebody up out of the grave. That is what Jesus did.

Sadly, not everyone who saw it believed. But many did. That is the powerful message.

I see Jesus’ mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Instead of catering to the whims of the crowds who said they would believe if certain things happened, He stayed the course of God’s plan and great things did happen God’s way. I need to learn that same lesson. Many will mock us when we go God’s way. Many will claim that if we will just compromise to where they are, they will follow Jesus with us. We must stay the course and follow God’s way. Only then will truly great things happen.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Click here to add your input.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

^This is a repost with a correction. For some crazy reason, I dropped “not” from the title when I originally posted this one. Please forgive. I hope the post itself is clear, however, that I believe we should not compromise God’s way no matter what anyone promises.

Sorry for the sabbatical over the last week and a half. I’ve been struggling with balance in both preaching and personal life. Lately, I’ve felt like I’ve got too many irons in the fire and, therefore, none of them are getting hot enough. So, I’ve been doing some soul-searching on what aspects of what I do are really important.

Additionally, I have to admit that writing this blog and God’s Way Works offers me a constant spiritual struggle. I love to write. I love to share my ideas. I want to be helpful to as many as possible. But there is a constant battle between how much of this writing is to serve God and others and how much of it is to promote me and sell books. I’d love to hear any experience, strength, and hope from others on dealing with this struggle. Therefore, there is always an internal battle of wondering if I should keep this blogging thing up.

Having said all of that, I want to say thank you to those who have missed my posts over the past week. Thank you for responding about it. Thank you for encouraging me to get back in the saddle. Thank you for letting me know that these blogs are helpful. Your encouragement has helped me more than you know.

With that, I will get back to regular posting on Monday. We will be discussing Philippians 1-2.

Thank you. Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I want to offer a special thank you to all of you who have been following along with Give Attention to Reading. It’s hard to believe we’ve been reading the New Testament together for 2 1/2 years. We’ve read through the entire New Testament 5 times. What is left to do? Read it again. An amazing thing I’ve found is every time I read God’s word, I find more. I learn more about me. I learn more about God. I learn more about living for God. I hope you are finding the same thing.

I hope you will continue to read God’s Word with us. I’d like to invite you to join in by sharing what you get out of each days reading. Additionally, if you’ve found any of these posts beneficial, please let your friends know about Give Attention to Reading. Invite them to subscribe to the e-mails or on a feed reader. Just click the “Share” Button at the bottom of this post and pass it along.

If you have any suggestions for how to make Give Attention to Reading better and more fruitful, please let me know.

Have a great day. Have a great year.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Mark 3:1-4:41.

“‘If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.’ And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you’” (Mark 4:23-24).

I have ears; I need to hear. This is great. Jesus didn’t say if I was just one of a specially chosen few I could get it. He didn’t say I could try and try and try and maybe someday He might bestow a gift of understanding on me. Rather, He said if I pay attention and give diligence to what He has to say, more will be added to me. What a relief. I’m not spinning my wheels spending time in His word. If I pay attention to what He says, Jesus will bless me. If I blow it off and only take a dip in it every now and then, I probably don’t need to expect much. But what confidence I can have that if I focus on Jesus’ word, I will be blessed by Him and more and more will be heaped on to me.

I’m glad I’m spending time in His word, paying attention to what He says today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Luke 17:1-18:43.

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan” (Luke 17:15-16).

God has healed me of more than leprosy. However, I find it is easy to forget about that as I press on with my daily life and routine. How quickly I can take for granted God’s precious gifts. When I take the time to write out a gratitude list and then pray it, I can’t believe the grace that fills my life. I am reminded that God really isn’t picking on me with the bad things but is abundantly supplying me with good things. How can I be depressed and despairing when I remember these blessings? My fears that God won’t take care of me tomorrow start to abate. Thanksgiving is good for me. 

An example: Right now I’m breathing deeply and there is still oxygen. My fingers are able to move across this keyboard. I am able to get out of bed and drive to the office today. I still have food in my refrigerator and pantry today. I have clean clothes to wear today. My children are sleeping healthfully this morning; so is my wife. But more than these physical blessings, I’m able to pray today, read my Bible today, be in fellowship with loving brethren today. I am cleansed today by Jesus’ blood. I am an adopted son of God. My Father owns the universe. (That beats out your Father, unless you are my brother or sister, then we can be thankful together.)

Let me quickly add something. This is not just about our relationship with God. I’ve found great benefit in being thankful to others. Write thank you notes, make thank you calls, send thank you e-mails, just plain old say, “Thank you,” when people provide a benefit to you. Be amazed at how actually saying thanks lifts your day and your outlook on life.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Hello brothers and sisters,

Thank you so much for your patience with me during my family’s recent transition. We are now getting settled in Indiana and it is time to get back to blogging. What a coincidence. It is time to get started with Give Attention to Reading again.

So, on Monday, we’ll open up to Luke and read the first two chapters. I’ll share what really struck me and look forward to your thoughts as well.

Have a great weekend. I look forward to studying with you.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for being part of this blog. Sorry I’ve not been posting lately. Regrettably, it looks like I’m not going to be posting anything new for a few more weeks.

Our upcoming move to Indiana hit at a high travel time. I’ve had two gospel meetings, plus our own meeting at Franklin, and a family vacation. With working on our house, working on these meetings and trying to get my usual work done, it has pretty much obliterated my writing time.

I just wanted you to know that I’m still alive and I will get back on here. Be patient with me.

However, I probably won’t get back into the full swing of things until our move is finished in June.

Remember to keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Hello everyone,

Thanks for your continued support here. I just wanted to let you know that due to my schedule and the upcoming move, I’m taking a bit of an internet fast.

Please, keep reading you New Testament. I will. But I’ll be off the internet next week.

Keep the faith and keep reading and I’ll see you on April 26.

ELC

A dear friend and brother called today and asked me to peruse the titles of my posts. He was afraid that my titles make it seem like the only person I ever think about is me. When he first said something, I thought, “Well, that’s crazy.” But then I looked at the post titles. More than 2/3 of the first two pages contained the words I, me, my in them. Yikes!

I have two defenses and then a plea for your input.

First, I want this website to be a forum for each of us to share what strikes us in the day’s reading. I try to keep it personal. How good would it be if everyday what strikes me in the text the most is what I think you need to get out of it? I really am reading to see what I need to do. That means my posts are very often self-centered, but I hope in a good way. That’s why I always end with the request to learn how the passage struck you. Second, I’m trying to live by the mantra to lead with my weaknesses. I know when people advise me from a position of their strength, I usually think they don’t know what it’s like to deal with what I deal with. So as I strive to offer help and encouragement, I  offer my experience and hope that come from overcoming my weaknesses through Jesus instead of acting like I’ve got it all together and am passing on my wisdom to folks like you who really need some work. That often means talking about where the text shows that I messed up. 

Having said all of that, as I looked at the titles, I could see what my friend was saying. So, I have a request. With as much kindness and gentleness as you possibly can, let me know if you have gotten the same idea from the posts on here. If so, please let me know what you think will be the most positive and helpful way to write these daily devotions. 

If you disagree with my friend, I’d like to hear that as well, but please be very nice about it as the fellow is one of my best friends.

And thanks to the brother who pointed this out to me. I don’t want to do anything that will detract from the Scriptures we’re reading on here each day.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. Go back to today’s reading and let us know what struck you in it?

Today’s reading is Romans 15:1-16:27.

I needed the reminder of Paul’s ending today.

“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith–to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen” (Romans 16:25-27).

First, there is the reminder that today I need to glorify God. That is my job today, no matter what else my life is about, it should be governed by this overarching principle that everything I do should be to the praise of God’s glory.

Second, the passage describes God and God’s work. God is a strengthener. God will strengthen me. I don’t need to strengthen myself. I don’t need to be strong on my own. God will work in me to strengthen me. However, notice by what means God will strengthen me. It is not simply a sit on my thumbs and wait for God to drop some strength into my body. God strengthens me through the gospel and preaching of Jesus Christ. God strengthens me by that mystery which can now be found in the New Testament. God strengthens me by the message that was kept hidden for so long but has now been made known in the prophetic writings. Through that means, God will strengthen me to bring about the obedience of faith. 

In other words, having the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus is not merely a mental assent to the person of Jesus, it is not merely a happiness with the concept of Jesus, it is not even merely a familiarity with the ideas of Jesus. God will only strengthen me to have His righteousness that comes by faith if I spend time in the gospel and preaching of Jesus revealed by the apostles and prophets that has become our New Testament. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). 

This daily reading must not ever become a homework assignment. If it is nothing more than getting through the text so I can check it of my to-do list, then it won’t don me any good. However, if I’m in the word because I know that is how I can connect to the God who will strengthen me and produce His righteousness in me, then it might do me some good today as I fight the good fight of faith.

Thanks for joining me in this journey to faith.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?