For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    I am not sure it is intended, but these two verses seem to connect laziness with wickedness and hard work with righteousness. This connection is not one-to-one (that is, not everyone who is lazy is wicked and not everyone who works hard is righteous) but there is definitely a link between these things. Oftentimes people resort to evil because they are unwilling to do the hard work necessary to acquire the things they want. On the other hand, part of being righteous is working hard so that we have the resources to meet the needs of those unable to supply for themselves.

    What an appropriate reminder this psalm is when the news is about the Christians who were killed for their faith in Libya.

Rather than turn from their rage, those who committed this act embraced it. They allowed their anger to dictate their actions and harm was the result. But God is in control and they will be destroyed. Let us not follow their example so as to not follow them to their end.

    C.S. Lewis wrote that when it comes to evaluating Jesus we have three choices. Either He was who He said He was, the Son of God, or, He was crazy, or, He was evil. In today’s passage we see that the writer of the Gospel of Mark thought the same way. He tells us that at one point Jesus’ family came to take Him away because they thought He was crazy. At about the same time, the teachers of religious law said that He was evil, possessed by the Devil.
    Jesus refuted both of these claims by pointing to the results of His actions. The first thing to remember about Jesus is that He claimed great power and authority. Jesus points out that the way to evaluate Him was to look at the results of His actions. If He was serving Satan, His actions would clearly result in greater evil. Instead His actions resulted in greater good. Further, anyone who was crazy would be unable to act in a manner which was consistently good. We would be able to see how His actions were erratic, sometimes healing, sometimes harming.
    Finally, Jesus points out that the greatest sin is attributing the actions of the Holy Spirit to evil intentions. Those who attribute the good actions they witness to the evil motives of those who perform them will never be able to see how the Hand of God works in the world. I frequently see people condemning actions which have good results because the person who performed those actions had “evil” intentions. Those same people will forgive actions which have terrible results because those who performed them had “good” intentions. It is important for us to recognize that when good things result, it is because of the actions of the Holy Spirit. If someone claims to have good intentions and the results of their actions are good, we should accept their claim and give glory to God.

    I have heard wonderful sermons preached from this passage and am always impressed by the insights gained about our lives today. However, when I read these passages today all I could think was about how hard it was to meet the sacrificial regulations of the old covenant.

     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. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day, or more. in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     God will provide for the needs of those who follow His commands, but He will not satisfy the cravings of those who seek only their own pleasure. Laziness leads to poverty, hard work to financial security.

     The psalmist reminds us not to worry because there are wicked people in this world and not to be envious of those who do wrong. Rather let us focus on trusting the Lord and doing what is good. It is not my place to worry about what others are doing. I need to commit to do what God desires that I do. If I commit all of my actions to serving the Lord, He will help me. I will not worry about the actions of the wicked, nor get angry because they are doing wrong. I will remain in the Lord’s presence and wait for Him to act. God will bring about the downfall of the wicked in His time. It is my job to do what is right, not to punish the wicked.

     Large crowds followed Jesus from all over the region. Out of those crowds Jesus called those He wished to be His disciples and out of those disciples He appointed twelve to accompany Him. He would from time to time send those twelve out to preach, giving them power to heal and cast out demons. I struggle with the message of this passage. Out of the many who desired to follow Jesus He only chose some to accompany Him. Mark does not tell us what led Jesus to choose some over the rest. Mark does not even tell us what led Jesus to choose the twelve out of the rest who He chose to follow Him. The important thing to remember is that we have been chosen. Some of us have been chosen for one role and others for another. Let us fulfill the role which Christ has chosen for us.

     God instructed Moses that when someone sinned by in some manner depriving another of what was rightfully theirs the person who sinned needs to make restitution. Once they have made restitution to the person they have sinned against they must come before God and offer a sacrifice to make themselves right with God once more. In order to be right with God, we need to at least make the attempt to make things right with those we have sinned against (to the degree which that is possible).