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.

Today’s reading is Hebrews 13:1-25; James 1:1-27.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:19-21).

I have a tendency to equate “save” with “forgive.” While being forgiven is part of being saved, the two are not completely synonymous. Being saved means being made whole, being healed, being fixed. That is what I want. I don’t simply want to be forgiven. I want to be made well. I want the sickness of my sins removed. I want the control of sin removed. I want my defects discarded. I want to be fixed. I want to be saved.

Sadly, I have learned I do not have that power. I cannot save myself. No amount of my good works will do it. No amount of my decision making will do it. I’ve tried that path but I have already let myself become sin’s slave. What am I to do? James says the word of God is able to save me.

Today, if I want to be saved, I need to be in God’s word. I need to be quick to hear it. That is, not only letting its words enter my ears but also allowing them to impact my life. I need to be slow to speak, that is, slow to say the way I think things should be and slow to speak against what I hear. I need to be slow to anger. I may not like everything God’s word says. If I give myself to anger against it, I will not attain the righteousness of God.

I don’t read the word today because God has given me homework. I read it because the word is able to save me and I want saving.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 3:1-4:25.

Today’s reading is a great comfort to me. Especially Romans 4:20-21:

“No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

In this context, Abraham was trusting that God would bring about his promise through Isaac, even if he sacrificed Isaac on the altar. Because of that, Abraham surrendered his life to God even to the point of being willing to sacrifice his own son if God asked. What great faith.

I need to grow in this faith as well. Later in this book, we’ll read God’s promise to us: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30).

Here is God’s promise to me. If I love Him, He will conform me to the image of His Son. I struggle daily with all kinds of problems, temptations, and sins. Sometimes it causes me to want to throw my hands in the air and say, “Forget it. Why even keep trying? I’ll never make it.” But God has promised me that I will. God is working within me to accomplish growth and conformation. I may have botched things today, but God is working on me and will get me there if I simply keep loving Him. God isn’t crossing His fingers behind His back. He’s making a promise and He will keep it.

So the question is am I convinced God will do what He has promised? Am I so convinced that I’ll completely surrender my life to Him in faith, just doing what He asks me to do? That is what I need to work on today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

Today’s reading is Luke 1:1-2:52.

I can hardly imagine being Zechariah or Mary when Gabriel appeared. I wonder what he looked like. I wonder what it felt like with an angel in the room. I’m simply in awe of what that must have been like.

What feelings did it engender? Looks like fear was the common response. But the angel calmed them, “Do not be afraid,” he said. Then he explained interesting events. Elizabeth, barren for many years, would finally have a son (hear Abraham and Sarah’s story in this). Mary, a virgin, betrothed but as yet unmarried, would also have a child.

The part that really struck me today was Mary’s response: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Did she know what she was agreeing to? Did she know the scorn and ridicule she would suffer as an unwed mother? Did she know that people would hold that against her son as he grew up (cf. John 8:41)? Did she know the pain she would experience when her son died a young man, an innocent man dying a criminal’s death?

I have no idea what she knew or thought at the time. She didn’t know either. However, as her father Abraham followed God wherever He led even if he didn’t know where it was going to be, she was willing to pursue whatever God had in store for her.

I need to have this attitude as I read God’s word. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” I need to have the faith and trust that God’s way works. Whatever He has in store for me will be all right in the end, even if it leads through hard and difficult times.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What caught your heart in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 19:1-20:38.

Today’s post is brief. It is just a reminder that what we are doing on this blog is really, really important. Acts 20:32 says, “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.”

Clearly, you don’t have to be on this blog to be in the word of God’s grace. But part of what we are doing here is helping each other stay in that word. Keep it up. If you’ve let your habit slip. That’s okay. Just pick it back up again today. This is really important.

***Question: How does reading the Bible regularly help you?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Revelation 9:1-10:11.

In Revelation 10:4, John wrote: “And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.’”

WHAT?!

I want to know what they said. How could God not let us know? Why even tantalize us by letting us know the seven thunders actually said something and then not tell us? I’m reminded of a line from The Princess Bride. “Get used to disappointment.”

What this reminds me is God’s Word doesn’t tell us everything. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” The Preacher’s point was God has made us curious about everything. However, He simply hasn’t given us all the answers.

However, while He didn’t reveal what the seven thunders said, He did reveal what was needed. I may never know exactly where the Garden of Eden was, what Jesus wrote in the sand, or what the seven thunders said. But I can know what I need to serve God, be forgiven, and dwell in heaven. 

It’s okay to be curious. It’s okay to study and strive to learn as much as we possibly can even about things that aren’t explicitly revealed. However, in the end we have to come to grips with the fact that God simply hasn’t told us everything. But He has told us what we need to know. Our responsibility is to keep what He has said and not get bogged down in what He hasn’t.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?