For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    This proverb needs little explanation, except to note that the wicked accept the bribes in secret in order to pretend that they act from noble motives.

    I will call out to the Lord, relying on Him to save me. Verse three struck me: yes, my prayer is that God will take control of what I say and guard my lips so that nothing comes from between them which might fail to glorify Him. The psalmist reminds us that we must be on guard against drifting towards evil. It is so easy to gradually drift into evil, telling ourselves, “It is only a small lie. What harm can it do?” Or something similar. Let us pray constantly that God does not allow us to fall into such a trap. I will look to God for the help I need to avoid such pitfalls. It is by His power that I will be saved.

    While Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch of Syria, some men arrived from Judea and began teaching that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them strongly. Things became so heated that the church in Antioch decided to send a delegation to Jerusalem to ask for a ruling from the Apostles and the elders of the church there. The debate continued in Jerusalem. However, here the Apostles and the elders of the church met together and discussed the issue. After much discussion, Peter stood and addressed the meeting, siding with Paul and Barnabas. Then Barnabas and Paul gave their account of the Spirit’s working among the Gentiles. Finally, James stood and summarized the sense of the council.
    I have long felt that the Jerusalem Council recounted here is a model we should follow in Church governance. They met together and everyone got an opportunity to have their say. When the discussion had gone on long enough and a consensus began to emerge, the leaders spoke up to put the emerging consensus into words.

    In the story of Elisha curing Naaman of leprosy, Naaman was insulted that Elisha did not come out to meet him. After all, he was a great general. He expected Elisha to come out and wave his hands over him so that he was cured. Or, perhaps, Elisha would set him some epic task to prove that he was worthy of being cured. Instead, Elisha instructed him to do something simple and mundane, a little strange, but otherwise of no particular note. Naaman’s reacted by getting angry that Elisha did not show him more respect. It was only when his officers pointed out that he had not come to Elisha to be honoured, but to be cured, that Naaman relented.
    How often do we react in a similar fashion when God gives us a task? We think the task is beneath us? Or that He should have used a more exalted person to assign us the task? We need to accept that sometimes God calls us to a task that has no glory attached to it. Perhaps God is calling us to a task that no one will notice that we are doing. Let us embrace that task and serve God in the role to which He calls us. Let us not seek to gain more attention than is required to do what God has called us to do.