The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,900 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.
The scripture for today, December 1 (12/1), is Jeremiah 12:1ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible [it is a little long]:
“Lord, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you to decide. Now let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil men so happy? You plant them. They take root and their business grows. Their profits multiply, and they are rich. They say, ‘Thank God!’ But in their hearts they give no credit to you. But as for me ~ Lord, you know my heart ~ you know how much it longs for you. And I am poor, O Lord!”
Now compare this with Job 15:20-24:
“All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him. Terrifying sounds fill his ears….He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword. He wanders about ~ food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. Distress and anguish fill him with terror.”
These two passages contradict each other. So what is the problem? The words spoken in Job were by Eliphaz, one of Job’s well-meaning friends who took it upon himself to help Job figure out why he had lost all his wealth, all his children, and all his health. Was Eliphaz right?
At the end of the book of Job, is this: “The Lord…said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends because you have not spoken of me what is right.” Then God ordered Eliphaz and his friends to sacrifice seven bulls and rams (not small sacrifice!), then ask Job to pray for them so God “will not deal with you according to your folly.”
When we read scripture, let us be careful to investigate its context and ALL other scriptures on the same subject. Only then can we have the whole picture. Only then can we avoid religious folly.
The scripture for today, October 14 (10/14), is John 10:14 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me ~ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father ~ and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
How amazing that Jesus is willing to follow us when we do not follow him, and bring us back to his protective fold. He died while doing just that.
Yet we continue to leave him and his instructions that would keep us safe, and we wander into thistles, near cliffs, into pits. This requires more work for Jesus. Yet we do it anyway. Catch me if you can! We may laugh, but he weeps because he knows the danger we are headed for.
How much grief do we give our spiritual Father, our spiritual Big Brother, our spiritual family? If they are not laughing over what we’re doing, perhaps we should not be either.
God, forgive us when we wander from You.
The scripture for today, October 1 (10/1), is Romans 10:1f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for ______ is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.”
Being “religious” isn’t enough. There are lots of religions. Feeling “spiritual” isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that induce a “spiritual” feeling. Confidence of salvation isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that create questionable confidence of salvation. Dedication to prayer isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that require much prayer.
Sincere Christian leaders today may want us to rely on feelings and inducements and confidence and dedication, but they can be sincerely wrong. If we base our salvation on feelings and inducements and confidence and dedication only, we have zeal, but our zeal is not based on knowledge. Some may defensively call this legalism.
God gave us his Word ~ the Bible ~ for a reason. He wanted us to reason. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is accepting the evidence ~ not wishful thinking. Romans 10:17 says faith comes from hearing/reading the Word of God for ourselves ~ not someone’s sermon. Let us search the scriptures daily for ourselves. And, let us not be afraid to approach our religious leaders and try teaching the teachers. Then their zeal as well as ours can be based to knowledge.
The scripture for today, September 28 (9/28), is Hebrews 9:28 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
Waiting is hard to do. We wait for relatives to arrive at our house for a visit. We wait for our next promotion. We wait for babies to be born. We wait for enough money to buy new clothes.
But what about waiting for something that we have never seen? Waiting for something we believe in by faith? Waiting an entire lifetime?
All the more reason to keep our eyes on the Word, our activities in good works, and our hearts on our Creator and Savior. It’s a long spiritual walk. But just keep walking, and keep walking, and keep walking until some day in the distant future you walk right through the gates of heaven.
Then, when you look back from eternity, you will say, “The wait wasn’t so long after all.”
The scripture for today, September 18 9/18), is Leviticus 9:18ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“He slaughtered the ox and the ram as the fellowship offering for the people. His sons handed him the blood, and he sprinkled it against the altar on all sides. But the fat portions of the ox and the ram ~ the fat tail, the layer of fat, the kidneys and the covering ofthe liver ~ these they laid on the breasts, and then Aaron burned the fat on the altar. Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh before the Lord as a wave offering, as Moses commanded.”
The Law of Moses did not have just Ten Commandments. It had over 600! They were intricate commands that had to be kept exactly. The above is just a small portion of what they were supposed to do for a particular sacrifice. (Yes, both tithes and offerings were required.)
Thank God, Jesus nailed the Old Law of Moses to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Yet some religious leaders continue to dip back into the Old Law to copy showy types of worship ~ robes, candles, choirs, harps, incense ~ many things, and all commanded. But if they do that, they must keep all of the Law of Moses. They can’t just pick and choose which ones they like. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 5:17 “Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised [just one command in the Old Law of Moses] that he is obligated to obey the whole law.”
Old Testament worship was showy and elaborate. New Testament worship is just the opposite.
Mark 14:26 says that after Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper/Communion, “When they had sung a [single] hymn, they went out…”
Acts 2:41-42 says, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people…”
I Timothy 4:13 says, “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”
Nothing complicated about it. Just simple worship. Worship the way Jesus and his apostles worshiped. Worship the way God likes it.
The scripture for today, September 15 (9/15), is 2nd Corinthians 9:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Can you imagine dying in the place of your enemy? Taking your enemy’s punishment for the wrong your enemy did against you? Now try to imagine making your child die in the place of your enemy ~ your sinless, innocent child.
It is indescribable.
It is unimaginable.
It is unthinkable.
But God did exactly that.
How can we thank Him for his indescribable gift of Jesus, His only Son?
We fall silently at His feet and worship.
The scripture for today, September 14 (9/14), is Hebrews 9:14f as found in the New Testament of the Bible.
“How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts [sins] that lead to death so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant [testament] that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance ~ now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant [testament].”
This is a very interesting passage. Just previous to this, the author was talking about the blood of bulls and goats being sacrificed for sins under the old Law of Moses [Testament]. But now that the Son of God, the Lamb of God, had been sacrificed for our sins, we no longer need any more blood sacrifices.
Further, Jesus’ sacrifice was retroactive! It reached back to the faithful who lived under the first/old covenant [Testament] and set them free from their sins too.
Aren’t you glad God did away with the old Law of Moses with all its 600+ rules and regulations, and its requirement for animal blood sacrifices, and brought us a law of grace? What a God! What a Savior! Jesus did all this to save us from hell.
Have a day of gratitude.
The scripture for today, August 27 (8/27), is Mark 8:27 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?’ “
Do we ask our family, our neighbors, our friends how they feel about God? We don’t know unless we ask. A lot of people are just waiting for someone to ask. Otherwise, they don’t know how or when to bring it up.
Whenever I meet someone who has gone through a tragedy, I ask them “How’s your faith.” Now this person may not have darkened the door of a church building for 20 years, but s/he always knows what I mean. Since I am sympathizing with them at the time, they are always honest and reply, “Not very good.”
Then I tell them, “You know, Satan causes bad to happen to people, not Jesus.” They always stare at me a moment, and then breathe a sigh of relief. They hadn’t wanted to blame God for their tragedy, but they had a need to blame someone. They’d forgotten Satan exists, and were grateful they could now put the blame where it belonged..
We must continually be on the watch for people who need help in understanding their relationship with God. Be brave. Go ahead and ask. You’ll be surprised at how many want to talk about it.
The scripture for today, August 20 (8/20), is Proverbs 8:20 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.
“I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice.”
Interestingly, the original Hebrew of “way” is customary path, and the original Hebrew of “paths” is customary road.
If we had a house out in the country, it would have paths leading to and from it. These paths would be taken in our day-to-day life without much thought. In the same way, we live out our principles and moral standards pretty much the same every day on such paths.
But eventually these paths can merge into major roads. Now we have to make major decisions. Our life decisions on such roads must be based on justice.
It is sometimes hard to make right judgments because we can get emotionally involved and start wishing for an outcome that cannot possibly occur. In those cases, we must stand back and consider, “What would be the just thing to do if someone else had to make this
decision?”.
We could also ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?”. After all, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life” (John 14:6).
