I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Hezekiah succeeded his father Ahaz on the throne. His first act was to reopen the Temple and repair its doors. He summoned the priests and Levites and instructed them to purify themselves. He asked them to cleanse the Temple and resume the worship of God there. Hezekiah determined to restore the worship of God in the Kingdom of Judah. It took the priests and Levites sixteen days to clean and purify the Temple. At the end of that time they reported to Hezekiah that the Temple was ready for people to resume worshiping in it.
The following morning Hezekiah summoned the city officials and went to the Temple to worship the Lord. Hezekiah and the city officials brought animals to sacrifice as sin offerings for both themselves and the people of the kingdom. Hezekiah commanded the priests to sacrifice the animals as sin offerings for all of the people of Israel. As the offerings were being presented to the Lord, Hezekiah instructed the Levites to lead the people in songs of worship. When the priests were done sacrificing the animals which he had brought, Hezekiah told the people that now that they were consecrated they could bring their sacrifices and thank offerings. The people responded by bringing so many animals as sacrifices that there were not sufficient priests to prepare all of the animals for sacrifice. So, the Levites helped prepare the animals for sacrifice.
Paul tells us to accept those who are weak in faith. He instructs us to avoid quarreling over disputable matters. Paul gives us a couple of examples of things we should not argue over. He tells us that some people believe that it is OK to eat anything, while others believe that Christians should eat only vegetables. Paul states that no matter which side of that debate you find yourself on, you should not only not condemn those on the other side, but you should remember that they are honoring the Lord as they practice the position they are taking. Another issue that Paul brings up is that some people believe that we should worship God on a particular day, while others hold that it does not matter what day we choose to worship God since we should worship God every day (Paul was probably referring to a debate over keeping the Sabbath). Paul tells us that we should not condemn another believer over issues such as this. It is up to us to judge our fellow believers, we should leave that up to God (although we need to remember that Paul was not saying we should ignore all types of sin. I will discuss the other side of this when I cover the passage where he talks about it in Corinthians).
Paul continues by saying that he is convinced that there is no food that it is wrong to eat. However, if someone else believes that it is wrong to eat something, than it is a sin for them to eat it. He tells us that we should not encourage someone to do something which they believe to be a sin. If we do we are causing them to sin.
In this passage Paul addresses both sides and says that they should not be judgmental of those who feel differently. However, it appears to me that he puts the greater burden on those who feel that things are not a sin than on those who think that they are. He tells those who think that eating meat is not a sin that, if by eating meat they might cause someone who believed it wrong to stumble in their faith, they should not eat meat. My reading of this is that those who believe that certain activities are not sin are under obligation to avoid pushing that belief on those who believe those activities are sin.
I read this psalm and the opening verse really struck me. Not as something new, but just as the theme for me today.
The world and all its people belong to him.
Everything and everyone on this earth belong to God. I have nothing that does not belong to God. He is merely allowing me to use it. I need to treat this earth like it belongs to someone else, someone who will hold me accountable for any damage I may do to it. But more than that, I need to remember that every person on the face of the earth, no matter what I may think of them, belongs to God. I should treat them with the respect that a servant of God deserves, even if they are not willingly doing so. It is up to God to mete out any punishment that may be due, not me.
God has given us ears to hear, so we should listen to what God has to say. He has given us eyes to see, so we should actually look at what is in front of us. God has given us the gift to judge for ourselves what we hear and what we see.