For today, One Year Bible Online links here. It does not seem like it has been a year since I last read the book of Esther, yet, here I am starting it again today. I think this is a good thing. It tells me that my reading through the Bible each year is increasing my familiarity with with it. More importantly, it is making me more aware of the lessons taught by the various portions of the Bible.

    The wise store up wealth and good things while fools spend all of their money as soon as they get it. The only way to avoid poverty and acquire wealth is to minimize spending on things we do not need.

    If we cry out to the Lord, He will protect us from those who attack us solely because we serve Him. He will pay back those who do us wrong because of our faith. He will humiliate and disgrace those who make themselves our enemies because we follow His will. On the other hand, the Lord will bless those who come to our defense.

    It seems that Paul is being sarcastic in the first part of this passage when he says, ” But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!” Time and again Paul tells us not to attempt to lift ourselves up above our fellow believers, but to consider others better than ourselves. It appears to me that here he is telling the Corinthians (and us) that the divisions in the Church are a result of those who wish to be seen as more closely in tune with God and thus better than others.
    All too often when we gather as the body of believers we come together we our own agendas. I grew up with this passage being interpreted as to the importance of having the right spirit when we take Communion. This is not wrong, but it misses Paul’s main point. When we gather each Sunday, we should be seeking to worship God and how we can work together in order to accomplish His will. This means that we should not be seeking to further our own interests as part of the Sunday worship.
    Just as hunger is a legitimate need, so too may some of our interests be legitimate needs for us to pursue. However, we should pursue them on “our own time”, not on the time we are dedicating to worshiping God and forging unity with the body of believers. There is a time and a place for advancing our needs and interests. That time and place is not when we gather with our brothers and sisters to advance God’s will in this world.

    This passage has a lot of things for us to learn. The first is the danger of acting while under the influence of alcohol. The passage tells us that Xerxes threw a big party and that the alcohol flowed freely. After seven days of partying, Xerxes sent for his queen while he was well into his cups. When she refused his request he was furious (something that happens to many heavy drinkers when they do not get their way). Rather than wait until he was sober, he immediately sought counsel from his advisers, who were also rather drunk at this point. He was given advice which everyone present thought was sensible, of course everyone present had been drinking heavily for seven days. The action he took was to irrevocably put aside his queen and send out a ruling declaring that every man should be the ruler of his own home and say whatever he pleased. However, once he sobered up, Xerxes began to regret his actions, but he was unable to undo what he had done. How many times have people made decisions under the influence of alcohol which they came to regret later when they were unable to change things?