For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The rich often think that their wealth indicates that they are wiser than others who are poorer. They are mistaken.

    As we do what we understand about God’s directions for us He will reveal more to us, so that we understand His will better with each passing day. On the other hand, when we know what God wants us to do and fail to do it, we will gradually become less able to discern what He desires of us. There are a series of points in this psalm I want to highlight:

• Make more eager to do God’s will than to acquire money
• My sinful ways are shameful, only with God’s help will I be able to abandon them
• It is only by doing as God instructs that we can be free

Oh Lord, guide me in doing Your will and help me to cease each and every one of the sins which plague me.

    Peter reminds us to live obedient to God and avoid slipping into living our lives for our own pleasure. Living for ourselves is an empty life with no meaning or purpose. Peter tells us how to live a life with meaning and purpose. Love each other with deeply and with sincerity. Rather than living our lives for our own pleasure, let us seek to bring joy and peace to those around us. We were cleansed of our sins, so let us put them behind us and embrace the new life into which we have been born.
    God wishes to use us as living stones to build His Temple of this new covenant He has made with mankind. If we are going to be part of this Temple, we need to allow God’s Spirit to chisel off of us all of our evil behavior: deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and unkind speech (all sins involve one or more of these to varying degrees).

    I continue to struggle with the meaning of this section of Ezekiel. However, there is one point which I take out of this. Those in positions of authority who gather funds from those over whom they have authority have an obligation to use those funds to further God’s purposes on this earth.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The rich often think that their wealth is evidence of their wisdom, but their are many poor people with far greater wisdom. Wealth is not an indicator of wisdom and those who think that it is are fools.

    Throughout this psalm the psalmist tells us how to live good, happy, and joyful lives. The path to that end is to follow God’s instructions, to meditate on His word. Let us be more eager to know and follow God’s law than we are to acquire money and things. Let us abandon our shameful ways in favor of God’s. Let us seek both to receive God’s unfailing love and to express it to those around us. Let us delight in God’s decrees and speak of them to all we meet. This is the path to a joyful, fulfilled, happy life.

    God has chosen us to be holy. We must not slip back into living to satisfy our own desires. We had an excuse for doing so when we did not know any better. But now that we have learned how to be like God we must seek to be holy, just as He is holy. We are temporary residents, foreigners, in this world. Let us strive to send our wealth to our home country. As I read this I was reminded of the fuss over illegal immigrants going on right now. In particular I was reminded of the fact that many of those illegal immigrants send a large portion of the money they earn back to their families in the country they came from. They are not in the U.S. because they desire to be in the U.S. (this may be an oversimplification and is not my point). They are here because here they have greater opportunity to acquire wealth to send home.
    In a like manner, we should not live as if we desire to live in this world. Rather let us desire to send our wealth to our home country, the kingdom of God. This means getting rid of evil behavior: hypocrisy, deceit, jealousy, and unkind speech (the NIV translates those last two as envy and slander). We have been born again to a new life. Rather than partake in the evil behavior listed above, let us have sincere love for each other. We can build up wealth in heaven by using our wealth on this earth to show how deeply we love each other.

    Ezekiel continues to describe the procedures and rituals that the Israelites are to follow when God restores them to Jerusalem and the land of Israel. As I have said over the last few days, I find it hard to see what God’s message is for me in these instructions from Ezekiel. However, one thing struck me today. Ezekiel describes the tax which is to be collected for the “Prince”. My understanding is that this is what the people are to pay in taxes to the government in the restored Israel. It is a wealth tax, but the rate is the same for everyone. It is not a progressive rate, not a greater percentage from those who have more. If you own 200 sheep, your tax is one sheep. If you own 400 sheep, it is 2 sheep. If you own 200,000 sheep, your tax is 1,000 sheep.

     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 in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     Ezekiel lays out the tax which the people are to give to their ruler. He then says that the ruler shall provide the sacrifices to be offered at all of the regularly scheduled worship services. From this we learn that the leaders are to provide for the people and assist them in coming before God. This passage provides yet another model of the rule that those who lead shall be servants of those being led.

     Peter instructs us to think clearly and exercise self-control. He tells us to live as obedient children of God and not to living to satisfy our own desires. God has ransomed us with something more valuable than material wealth. He ransomed us with the lifeblood of Christ. We were thus cleansed from our sins and failures. Let us therefore love one another with a sincere and pure heart. I need to keep it in the forefront of my mind that God is using me as a building block to build His house/Temple, the place where He lives. I need to remember that I am always in a holy place because I am part of that holy place.
     Peter points out that to those who trust and honor Christ He is the cornerstone, the linchpin of both their lives and the Temple of which they are a piece. However, to those who reject Christ, everything about Him is a cause for them to stumble and fall.

     I read this psalm and feel for those who reject Christ because following God’s commands is the only path that truly leads to happiness and fulfillment. I want the eagerness for God’s law to which the psalmist refers. O Lord God, help me abandon my sinful, shameful ways and follow your guidance. I will follow God’s ways and not be ashamed to speak of them, no matter who my audience, from the lowest to the highest. I will meditate on God’s commands.

     The rich are always sure of their wisdom, but sometimes the poor are more discerning. Never make the mistake of refusing wise advice because the person giving it has suffered hardship.