Today’s reading is Matthew 19:1-20:34.

“They said to him, ‘Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so’ ” (Matthew 19:7-8).

This reminds me how easy it is to twist what is written to get what I want to out of it. Notice the Pharisees asked, “Why did Moses command…” and Jesus responded, “…Moses allowed…” Do you see the difference? Moses did not command Jewish husbands to give their wives certificates of divorce and send them away. Rather, Moses commanded that if they were going to put their wives away they needed to give a certificate of divorce. He also gave some other restrictions about this divorce. That is not God commanding divorce. Rather, it is allowing it and governing it when it did happen.

How easy it is to shore up our own positions and ideas by using various colors and shades of words to subtly shift meanings. How easily we can make ourselves look good by shading our words with various meanings. How easily we can justify what we want to do by twisting the intent and meaning of God’s Word.

This just reminds me that today I need to be careful to understand God’s Word and use it accurately. I must not twist it to produce a command that isn’t there or find permission that isn’t granted or condemn something that is authorized. I need to be completely, utterly, and 100% honest with the text and just let that govern my teaching.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Click the following link to add your input: Post a comment.

Acts 19-20 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Acts 19:1-20:38.

“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

I have to be in God’s word today. Why? Not because it is my Christian homework assignment. Not because I have to read 5 chapters or 30 minutes per day to go to heaven. Not because my mother told me to. I need to be in God’s word today because I need to be built up. I want the inheritance. I want to be sanctified. I want to know Jesus. The Bible is where I meet Him.

When Bible reading becomes a checklist homework assignment, it doesn’t help me at all. While it remains my lifeline to God, I grow. That is why what we do here at giveattentiontoreading.com is so important. This time in the word, the discussion, the help, the encouragement is all about getting into the word of God’s grace. It is about getting closer to Him and letting Him fill us with His grace and strength.

That’s why I always end these posts by saying,

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Add your input by clicking here.

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 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?

Today’s reading is Luke 23:1-24:53.

I just can’t help but be drawn to one of the issues about which I think people today make way too big of a deal. In the earnest desire to make eating a major aspect of Christian work, folks have looked for any straw they can grasp to make eating together more important.

Don’t misunderstand, I do believe Christians should spend time together in social settings (cf. Acts 2:46). However, this story about Jesus meeting the men on the road to Emmaus is not about the Lord’s Supper and it is not intended to make eating together the central act of Christianity.

It is true that when Jesus broke the bread and blessed it, their eyes were opened, and they saw Jesus for who He really was. However, that is not trying to make the breaking of bread some significant act. That was merely the moment at which Jesus finally revealed Himself to these two disciples. This was not a re-enactment of the Lord’s Supper for these men. They were not of the 12 who had participated in that feast. In fact, when they realized they had seen Jesus, they went back to find the 11 (Luke 24:33). They had no baseline to remember the moment when Christ broke the bread and instituted the Supper, so this would not be a reminder to them of that. It is just the moment when Jesus finally opened their eyes.

Further, this is not saying that in eating together Christians meet Jesus. How can we forget what Paul said in Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” With verses like this, why do we try to elevate eating to the status of some amazing spiritual act?

Having said all this, did you notice the response of the two on the road to Emmaus? “They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’” (Luke 24:32). 

There is the key. There response was not, “Oh, look how important eating is.” There response was rather, “Why didn’t we get it while He was explaining the Scriptures?” They saw what was important. They understood that their hearts burned while they heard the truth of God expounded from God’s word. 

We really need to grasp that today. Sure, Christians should spend time together. We should eat together. It is absolutely true that the Lord’s Supper is an important part of our submission. However, we need to know that this passage is not elevating eating as the highest act of Christian work. It is actually elevating hearing, knowing, and teaching the Scriptures accurately. That is were we need to spend our time.

***Question: How have the Scriptures helped you serve God better?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

I love to tell people about the time my wife and I rode a plane with Deborah Harry (lead singer of the 70′s and 80′s band Blondie). Or the time my wife rode a fair ride with Mark Slaughter (lead singer of the 80′s and 90′s band Slaughter). I also like to tell people about my friend Dan Degarmo who went to high school with Brad Paisley. I can’t wait to tell people I shook hands with Ken Starr. And one of my prized possessions is a photo with John Maxwell.

We naturally like to tell people about our connections with famous people. It is almost like a bit of their importance and fame rubs off on us just because we can establish some connection. But, of course, I don’t actually know any of these people. 

However, I can have a relationship with the most important being in existence. Of course, you know where I’m going with this. I can have a relationship with God. I can go beyond just having ridden with him on a plane or a fair ride. I can go beyond just having my picture taken with him. I can actually get to know Him. I Corinthians 2:10-13 explains how.

“For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” (I Corinthians 2:10-13, ESV).

There is only one way to get to know God. We get to know God by getting into the word He has revealed by the Spirit. That is why what we are doing at Give Attention to Reading is so important. Only through reading, studying and meditating upon God’s word can we come face to face with God while we are still in this life. We can’t know God by watching Oprah or Dr. Phil. We can’t know God by tearing up over “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” We can’t know God by merely talking with our friends about Him. We can only get to know God when we get into the word that the Spirit has revealed about Him. 

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God…” and the rest of the Bible proceeds to tell us His story. Yes, our story is in there too. But this is His story and if we want to know Him we have to…

…keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

In Mark 12:18-23, the Sadducees who did not even believe in the resurrection asked Jesus a question. It had been a stumper that history tells us they had used to boggle the Pharisees who did believe in a resurrection. The question was not sincere. They didn’t really want to know the answer. They only wanted to cause Jesus problems. They were unprepared for His wisdom. Just like the Sadducees, I have heard and had hard Bible questions. I hope the questions I hear and have had are more sincere than the Sadducees were, but hard questions are…well, hard. I gain three lessons from this story about hard Bible questions.

1. We can think of some pretty tough questions.

Let’s face it, the Bible is not a primer. It is not “Cat in the Hat” or “See Dick and Jane.” It is deep and every time we read it we get deeper. It doesn’t spoon feed all the answers to us. Rather, it makes us dig. Therefore, we can come up with all kinds of tough questions that are difficult to answer. Sometimes, the answers may not seem readily available. 

I don’t know how many times I have studied with someone who had a hard question from the Bible that they couldn’t answer easily, so they began to question whether the Bible was accurate. Some even lost their faith. I would like to share a different perspective. We hold in our hands a book that purports to have the answers to our real problems. It claims to be from the infinite God. It tells us the meaning of life. It talks about spiritual living. It offers salvation. Do we honestly think such a book could exist without engendering some pretty tough questions. The reality is, if we couldn’t possibly come up with any tough questions about it or because of it, then we should question if it is really from God.

We can think of some pretty tough questions. That doesn’t mean the Bible is wrong.

2. There are even some questions we cannot answer.

Jesus answered the Sadducees direct question. That is, whose wife would that woman be. What intrigues me is from where He got the answer. As far as I know, there is no place in the Old Testament that said what Jesus said in Mark 12:25. Rather, Jesus, as God in the flesh, was providing new information here. In other words, the Sadducees and Pharisees could have studied their scriptures backwards and forwards and never learned what Jesus taught them here.

The fact is, the Bible has not been written to provide the answers to every question we can possibly imagine. It is written to teach, reprove, correct and train us in righteousness. It is written to equip us for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17). This means we may even come up with some questions for which we simply cannot find an answer. 

Once again, that doesn’t mean the Bible is not from God. It doesn’t mean the Bible is not true. Again, think about this from reality. Can we really expect the infinite God who knows all things to provide us with a book that contains infinity within? Don’t let the questions you can’t answer come between you and God. 

Mark Twain is reported to have said that it isn’t the parts of the Bible he doesn’t understand that bothered him but the parts that he did understand. In similar fashion, we must not dispense with the answers God did give just because there are some answers He didn’t.

3. The tough questions do not change the straightforward scriptures.

Jesus knew the Saducees were not interested in the answer to their actual question. They merely wanted to deny the resurrection. Jesus gave them the answer to their question but then hit their real problem head on. They didn’t believe in the resurrection. They didn’t believe in a spiritual realm with angels and the departed spirits of man. Jesus gave a scriptural answer to their main objection.

He commented on Exodus 3:6 in which God proclaimed He was presently the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Since God is a God of the living and not of the dead, then those men must have in some sense been alive even though their physical bodies had died long before. 

Here is the point. The Sadducees could develop any kind of difficult question they wanted about the resurrection. It wouldn’t change the fact that there is a resurrection.  We can come up with all kinds of questions. We can set up scenarios and situations that are hard to answer. However, those questions do not deny the simple and straightforward truths God has revealed in the Bible. 

As we keep reading, we will have all kinds of questions. However, we must not let them get us down or turn us from God’s truths.

So, as always, we must keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Acts 27:9-10 used to give me a great deal of trouble.

“Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, ‘Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives’” (ESV)

After all, here was Paul, an inspired apostle, saying there would be great loss of life on this ship. But, in the end, no life was lost. Acts 27:44 says, “And so it was that all were brought safely to land” (ESV).

This actually teaches me something about apostleship and inspiration. I don’t know why I have ever referred to the apostles as the “inspired apostles” as if somehow everything they said came directly from God. The Bible never calls them that. And yet, I have heard that taught and I have said it myself. This passage, however, demonstrates that the apostles were not inspired. The Bible teaches that the Scriptures the apostles wrote were inspired in II Timothy 3:16-17, but it never says the apostles themselves were inspired.

When Paul told the captain there would be no loss of life, he wasn’t speaking for God. His every word was not inspired. Only what God wanted him to write down as Scripture was. Therefore, God did not fail here. Paul did not fail. Paul was simply relying on his knowledge of sea travel to make this statement. Of course, it would have been true had God not intervened.

When Paul later told his shipmates no loss of life would come, that was true because that came from the angel of God.

Anyway, the whole point of this is to clarify our language. Paul wasn’t an inspired apostle. Neither were any of the other apostles. Rather, God used the apostles and prophets to record His inspired word. We had better listen to it.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

And Now I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.–(Acts 20:32, ESV)

Why are we doing this? Why do we crack open that dusty old book, written by men of outdated cultures to people who are behind the times?

Is it because God has declared, “Here is my rule, read your Bible every day!”? Is it because some preacher has guilted us into thinking we are only spiritual when we read our Bible every day? Is it because when we read our Bibles every day it makes us better than all those other people who aren’t as spiritual as we are?

No. No. And No. We are doing this because Jesus has the words of eternal life (cf. John 6:68). The only way for us to get that life is to be in His Word. We aren’t busy trying to draw all the lines, dot all the i’s, cross all the t’s so we can be good enough and have read our Bible’s enough to go to heaven. That fact is, we can’t be that good. We can’t read our Bible’s enough to earn heaven. 

However, when we get in the Word and get the Word in us. Then the life that flows from God pours into our hearts. Then we are built up. Then we gain the inheritance reserved for the sanctified and set apart. That doesn’t happen because we checked daily Bible reading off our to do list. It happens because we surrendered to God and His word.

Keep the faith today and keep reading.

ELC

The liberal critics like to make hay in Luke 7:1-10.

“You see,” they tell us, “these Bible writers just couldn’t get it right. They were making up the stories and not even checking with each other to make sure they told it the same way. Why, look here at Luke 7:1-10 and at Matthew 8:5-13. Luke said the centurion sent Jewish messengers to make his request of Jesus, but Matthew says he came himself. There is just one of the many contradictions in the gospel accounts and throughout the whole Bible.”

But is that really what is going on here? Is this really a contradiction?

Actually, it is not. In fact, calling this a contradiction merely demonstrates those critics have yet to figure out the purpose of the four gospel accounts. Sadly, many Christians are not truly aware of the purpose of these accounts. When asked what the gospels are, many will say, “Those are the life of Jesus” or “Those are a biography of Jesus.” That is not correct. The gospel accounts were not written to provide us with moment by moment detailed chronicles of Jesus’ life. As John said in John 20:30-31, the gospels were written not so we would know the life of Jesus but so we would know Jesus is the Life and believing that we might have life.

Thus, as these four gospels were written by different authors for different audiences, we would be surprised to see them tell all the stories exactly the same way. This is not contradiction, this is selective perspective.

Matthew was writing for a Jewish audience while Luke was writing for a Gentile audience. Both wanted their audience to see the miracle of Jesus, demonstrating His Messiahship and Deity. However, they both had differing secondary purposes in this account. Keep in mind that these gospels were written during a time of transition and turmoil as Jews and Gentiles were coming into Christ’s church and trying to figure out how to get along with such divergent backgrounds. Matthew wanted the Jews to see that Jesus worked a miracle for a Gentile without regret. Luke wanted the Gentiles to see that Jews and Gentiles had worked together to accomplish great ends.

Do these statements contradict? No, they just tell the story from a different perspective. Even though the centurion asked through emissaries, he still made the request. Matthew didn’t lie or make a mistake when he claimed the centurion came to Jesus and asked. He simply told the story in the way that would make his point to the Jews. The centurion did come but he did so through friends. 

So, is this a contradiction in the Bible? Or is it simply selective perspective? 

We can trust our Bibles and Luke is a great place to learn this.

Have a great 4th of July.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

P.S. For a more in depth look at this principle check out a sermon I preached on this issue at the Franklin Church of Christ. You can get the outline and the audio at the following the link.

“Why Do the Gospels Contradict Each Other“