Matthew 1-2 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Matthew 1:1-2:23.

“…and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar…and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab…And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah…” (Matthew 1:3-6).

Wow! Look at Jesus’ family. They are messed up. Tamar pretended to be a harlot to be impregnated by her disobedient father-in-law. Salmon married a harlot. David committed adultery, murder, and wife-mulitplying, then had a child by the woman of the man he murdered. This is where Jesus came from? Really?

Maybe something good can come from my family too.

I am comforted today. If God could make a silk purse out of the sow’s ear of Jesus’ family, then God can do great things through me and my family as well. I don’t have to despair because we aren’t good enough or like someone else’s family. The great issue is not how great my family is but how great my God is. That’s where I’m going to rest today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

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

I Peter 1-2 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is I Peter 1:1-2:25.

“When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (I Peter 2:23).

If only I could learn this. When I am reviled, I want to revile in return. When I suffer, I want to threaten. I call up my friends to vent and fume in my own frustration. I want others to know I have been wronged. I want vindication. I want vengeance. And I want it on my terms. I want the one who has wronged me to grovel at my feet, declaring to the whole world how wrong they were to mistreat me. And if no one else will get them to do it, then I will. I start to turn a cold shoulder. I start to harp on their sins. I try to get sideways digs whenever I can. I always do that with a passive aggressive approach so I can say I was just kidding or they didn’t understand what I really meant.

But that is not how Jesus responded. Jesus simply entrusted Himself to God. God will judge justly. If the other person deserves judgment, God will give it. Jesus did not have to. That left Him free to simply save the world.

How freeing is that? God doesn’t need me to do His judging job. I can let Him do that. When I increase my faith in Him to do what is right by me and everyone else, I am free to love as He loves. I am free to have peace because I don’t have to anxiously be worried that somebody might get away with something. I don’t have to develop ulcers over worrying about what everyone else is doing. I can just accept what is happening, own my side of it, and trust God to take care of it. Not to mention all the work I can get done if I use that venting and fuming time for more constructive purposes.

Today, I’ll let God be the judge. I’ll just work on trusting Him and loving others.

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.

Today’s reading is 1 Peter 3:1-4:19.

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19).

Usually, when I suffer, I think God is picking on me. Why has He singled me out for this suffering, I wonder. The fact is God let’s me suffer because suffering helps me grow. Through suffering I can become more like Jesus who also suffered.

Instead of turning my back on God when I suffer, I instead need to turn into God. I need to entrust my soul to Him. He will care for me. He will work it all out for my good. I can trust Him. I can be like Jesus who while suffering on the cross said, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Today, no matter what I suffer, I will commit my spirit into the Father’s hands. I will not put my life in my own hands. That only leads to failure and, ultimately, more suffering. God will take care of me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Philippians 1:1-2:30.

“…for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

I can relax today. I don’t have to give myself ulcers worrying about how I’m ever going to be pleasing to God. I don’t have to fret that I’m just not ever going to be good enough for Him. He’s working on that. He is working in me both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Part of me wants to rebel against that. Part of me wants to say, “NO! I will do this.” But a very real part of me has come face to face with exactly how badly it goes when I am trying to do this. I have failed again and again and again. Today, instead of failing, I can just give up. That’s right. I can quit. I can surrender. I can admit I am powerless and only botch things myself, so I’ll just have to surrender my life to God and let Him be in control, simply doing what He says.

No, this doesn’t mean I sit on my backside and wait for the cosmic puppet master to pull my strings. It means I can have confidence to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because God is working in me. It means all I have to do is learn God’s will and surrender to that. My job is simply to do the next right thing. God is working in me. I can trust that He will get me where I need to go if I simply surrender to Him today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Ephesians 1:1-2:22.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

What a thought! I am not my workmanship. I am God’s workmanship. Obviously, I’m making choices in my daily life. This doesn’t mean I’m nothing more than a puppet with God literally pulling the strings. But it does mean I’m not alone. It means I don’t have to direct the way for me to be all that God wants me to be, all that I want me to be.

God has created me in Christ Jesus to walk in His good works. But is His workmanship merely a moment in time switcheroo? Does Paul simply mean when I was baptized into Christ, God did some work but now He is sitting back hoping the switch took? I don’t think so. This verse means God is still working in me. He is providing me with progressive victory over sin and progressive victory in righteousness.

This doesn’t mean I sit on my backside and wait for God to pull the strings. But it does mean I can take comfort today that God is working in me. I am His workmanship and He is the Master Craftsman. He may not always work on my timetable, but He is working.

I think today, I’ll just surrender to God’s way. I’m pretty sure it works. And I’m pretty sure it will work on me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

PPS. For those who haven’t seen it elsewhere, here is a great video from the Skit Guys about God working on us. Even if you have seen it, you may want to watch it again. Enjoy.

God’s Chisel by the Skit Guys

Here is the link for my e-mail subscribers: http://giveattentiontoreading.com/?p=1620

Today’s reading is Acts 27:1-28:31.

“But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for th eland, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land” (Acts 27:43-44).

That is phenomenal. 276 people in a shipwreck and every single one survived. Boy they sure were lucky to have all that flotsam and jetsam to help them get to land. I can’t help but remember Acts 27:24. “God has granted you all those who sail with you.” God did this. What intrigues me is trying to actually find God in the saving. What did He do exactly? I don’t know. Did he give those who could swim extra strength? Did He do it miraculously or had He prepared them for this moment all their lives so they would have the right amount of strength? Did he provide the flotsam at just the right place?

I just don’t know the answer to these questions. All I know is God was working. God did the saving. I may not be able to see God working in my life today. But I can take comfort that He is. Since that is the case, I think I can keep working too (cf. Philippians 2:12-13).

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 13:1-14:28.

“…strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Paul didn’t say tribulations come with the kingdom of God. He didn’t say tribulations happen to coincide with entering the kingdom of God. He actually said we enter the kingdom of God through tribulations. In other words, if there are no tribulations we won’t get into the kingdom of God.

Too often, I have the mindset that since I’m entering the kingdom, I shouldn’t have tribulations. Why isn’t God taking better care of me? Then I read this and learn that God actually knows better. In some way, the tribulations prepare me for the kingdom and usher me into it. If God took my tribulations away, then I wouldn’t enter the kingdom.

This is what Paul says in Romans 5:3-5. Suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character. Character produces hope. Hope doesn’t put us to shame. But without suffering and tribulation, there is no endurance, no character, no hope.

Thank you, God, for not giving me everything I want, but instead giving me what I need.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 7:1-8:40.

“And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household” (Acts 7:9-10).

But that took 13 years (cf. Genesis 37:2; 41:46), over 1/3 of Joseph’s life to that time. Then it was at least another 7 years before seeing his family again. What were those 13 to 20 years like for Joseph? While enslaved did he wonder if God was with him? When his enslavement ended in imprisonment, did he begin to think that maybe God had forgotten him? I don’t know about him, but that is the kind of thinking I do. If my afflictions aren’t resolved in a matter of months, weeks, and even days, I begin to wonder what on earth God is doing up there in heaven.

I learn from Joseph that God is with me during my afflictions, not that God is with me if I’m kept out of affliction. Some afflictions may even last for quite some time. But I can trust God to see me through to the other side. If there is no great “victory” in this life, there will be eternal life in the next.

I can have confidence that whatever affliction I’m facing today, no matter how long it lingers with me, God is with me and He is stronger than the affliction. In His good time, He’ll get me through it to glory and victory on the other side.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Luke 7:1-8:56.

“And as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger” (Luke 8:23).

What? God in the flesh asleep on the job? How can that be? Doesn’t He know we are in danger? Doesn’t He know we might perish? Doesn’t He know if He doesn’t act right now all will be lost?

I know that feeling. Too many times I’ve thought God was asleep on the job. Why doesn’t He fix this problem? Why doesn’t He resolve that issue? Why doesn’t He help me overcome some struggle? I can’t see the ends from the moment. But God does.

The disciples could have had faith that even while Jesus was asleep, God would do what was right by them and take care of them. I need that faith as well. It may seem to me like God is asleep because He isn’t calming the storm on my timetable. But God knows how to calm the storms. More importantly, God knows when to calm the storms. My job is to keep bailing water and turning to Him for help. I’m sure that He is probably giving me more help already than I even realize.

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.

“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John’” (Luke 1:13).

How long has it been since Zechariah actually offered that prayer? Clearly, by his response, he didn’t think having children was possible at his age. He thought God had simply said, “No” and let it go at that. But now, in God’s good time, in the time that could most glorify God, He granted Zechariah’s request.

I’m so happy to read this today. I may think God is saying, “No,” when really He is simply saying, “In My time, not yours.” I have to learn to trust God’s judgment because He can see all ends and what will most glorify Him. Of course, what that means is today, I have to be more concerned about what will glorify Him in the long run than what I want in the moment.

I just hope I don’t have to be struck mute for 9 months to learn to trust God and His timing.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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