For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Someone who refuses to change their actions, even after repeatedly being told what they are doing wrong, and why it is a mistake, will suddenly be destroyed (well, at least from their perspective). By the time they fall it will be too late to mount a recovery. You know the type of person the writer is talking about. Those people who are even more determined not to change their ways after someone has told them they are wrong.

    I love how this psalm opens:

I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Are we glad when people invite us to go somewhere to worship God? Do we look forward to our opportunities to join with others in worship? I was going to say that as I get older I find greater joy in doing so, but that is not really true. I have always found great joy in joining others in worshiping the Lord. It is just that I used to be more easily distracted by other pleasures. I have come to realize that the joy I get from worshiping God lasts longer than the pleasure I get from other things (except doing other things to serve the Lord, but that is a form of worship as well).
    The psalmist asks us to pray for Jerusalem to be at peace. This is certainly something we should do. We should pray for peace in all the earth, but there is something especially symbolically important about peace in Jerusalem. Let us pray that one day soon there will be peace in Jerusalem, and that that peace will spread throughout the earth.

    In yesterday’s passage, John told us that if we sin, we have an intercessor who pleads our case with God. However, in today’s passage he tells us that those who keep on sinning belong to the devil. Those born of God will not continue to sin. Taken together these two passages teach us that, while God will forgive us for our sins, if we rely on that forgiveness and refuse to change (that is, we do not attempt to stop sinning) we do not belong to God. It is possible to know if we are children of God. If we live righteously and love our fellow believers, we are children of God. If we do not do those things (which are really one and the same thing), we are children of the devil.
    Those who do not live righteously will hate those who do. It should come as no surprise when those who do not strive to follow Christ hate us. What should surprise us, and make us question whether we are being faithful, is when those who reject Christ like us (there will be times when it happens, but we should be very careful when it does). Even when others hate us we should show our love. It is not enough to say that we love, love is not passive. Rather true love is active. If we love those around us we will demonstrate that love by our actions. If we do that which love compels us to do, our actions will show the truth of our faith in Christ for all who see.

    Today’s passage continues to lay out events in Daniel’s future. It talks about a king who will rise to power and will act against God’s people. This king will ally with those who once served God but have chosen to reject God’s will. However, those who truly know God will stand strong and resist such blasphemy. The ending of this passage describes a time when the government will persecute those who attempt to remain faithful to God. Such times have come in the past and will come again in the future. Are we prepared to remain faithful servants of God in the face of persecution?