For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 24:26

    An honest answer is a better indication of care and respect than a kiss.

Psalm 78:1-31

    The psalmist reminds us of the importance of teaching the stories of our past to each new generation. When I was growing up, my family, and many others in my church, had a book called “The Martyr’s Mirror”. This book was an account of Christian martyrdom from the first century through the 17th century. By reading this book I learned the price that many have paid for following Christ. Furthermore, I learned that they paid that price joyously.

Colossians 2:8-23

    When we came to Christ we were figuratively circumcised in that our spiritual nature was cut away from us. In that sense we died with Christ when we were baptized and were resurrected with Him. Our sins, and our sinful nature, were nailed to the cross with Christ. Now, God has raised us spiritually with Christ to a new life. We should not allow people to convince us that we need to follow certain dietary rules, or observe particular rituals, or hold celebrations on specific days in order to be saved. The Gospel message is not one of “do not do this and do not do that.” The Gospel is not a set of rules which govern our behavior. Instead our behavior is guided by our love of God and of others.

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7

    God has offered people guidance. He has told us to follow the old way, the good way, but people have responded, “No, we want a different way. We don’t want to follow the path followed by the godly men and women of the past. They were fuddy-duddies. We want to follow the new, cool path. We need to be culturally relevant.” God has sent us watchmen who tell us to respond to the sound of the trumpet, but people have declared, “We have more important things to do. We will not listen for the sound of the trumpet, let alone respond to its call.”
    God warns us that He is raising up an army in a far away land. That army will be a destroying army and it will march upon us. There is no force that will stand in their way. Yet, even now, there is still time to turn from our sins. There are those who look at what is happening and are saying, “That cannot happen here.” Do not be fooled. It most certainly can happen here. It will happen here if we, as a people, do not start treating each other with justice. God is calling us to stop exploiting foreigners (think about why the Chamber of Commerce does not want immigration laws enforced), widows, and orphans.
    Do you really think that you can cheat and lie, steal and murder, commit adultery and other sexual immorality and never suffer any consequences? All of those actions have consequences and if we do not turn from them and start doing good, we will experience those consequences. Let us look at what has happened to other nations which were once mighty. The consequences of their evil came upon them and they were destroyed. I will pray for the people of my nation that they may turn to God.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 24:26

    Giving an honest answer is an act of love. If you truly love someone, you will not lie to them. Since we are called to love our neighbor (which Jesus defines as everyone we come into contact with), we should give everyone honest answers.

Psalm 78:1-31

    It is important to tell and retell the stories from the past. They can serve as a reminder not to repeat the mistakes made by those who went before us. While each generation must make its own mistakes, it is worth trying to learn from the mistakes of those who went before us. Let us teach those who come after us the mistakes which we made, so that they can avoid them. Let us not give up just because they have not listened to us before and have already repeated some of the mistakes we warned them about.
    The people of Israel in the Exodus story repeatedly saw God’s mighty hand work on their behalf, yet time and again they doubted His ability to deal with the next hardship which came their way. This sort of behavior is not limited to the ancient Israelites, people of every generation have made the same mistake. Time after time throughout history people have experienced God’s miraculous aid, then when a new problem arose they complained and whined, rather than asking God what new wonder He was going to show them.

Colossians 2:8-23

    When we come to Christ, He cuts away our sinful nature and removes its authority to rule our bodies and lives. We do not overcome our sinful nature by rigorous bodily discipline. It is not by strict ascetic behavior that we are released from bondage to our sinful nature. The cleansing of our sinful nature does not happen by avoiding certain foods or drinks, nor by eating certain foods or drinks. It is not accomplished by following certain ceremonies or rituals. We should neither condemn others for what foods they eat or drinks they drink, nor should we allow others to make us feel wrong for those things. Following such rules makes us feel that we have earned our salvation and such is not the case. We do not become righteous by following rules and rituals. It is only by Christ that we receive righteousness through the Holy Spirit. We will not defeat our sinful nature by our own pious self-denial. Such things will only give our sinful nature another way to control us. It is only by surrendering our whole being to Christ that we can be freed from our sinful desires, our sinful nature.

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7

    When we chose a path for our life let us choose the old godly path. All too many people when it comes time to choose a path do not want to follow the old, tried and true path of godliness. They want to find a new path to righteousness. They think the old path is stodgy and boring. They want a path that is exciting and new. They want to demonstrate that they are better, brighter, wiser, more cool, more hip, more with it than those who went before them. Be that as it may, the old, stodgy path is the only one there is, if you want a path to righteousness. I will tell you that it may appear stodgy and boring, but it is more exciting than you can imagine. In order to discover that you need to be willing to travel down that path some distance. If you stay within sight of the other paths so that you can change your mind, you will never see the excitement which the old godly path has on it.
    God has posted watchmen to sound the alarm when trouble is coming. Those watchmen are now calling out that trouble is coming, but the people have chosen to ignore their warnings. They rejected the idea that the watchmen God posted could tell them anything. People have become like the person who works in a building who ignores the fire alarm because they think it is just another drill. There is a reason we conduct fire drills. God has sent prophets to warn us before. As in a fire drill, people responded and turned to Him. The danger they were warned of never materialized, so they are convinced that it will not materialize this time either. They do not consider that perhaps the reason it did not materialize was because they turned to God.

     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.

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7

     God tells us that when we need to choose a path, we should seek out the old, godly path. That is the path to find rest for our souls. He has set watchmen to sound the alarm when danger approaches, we need to listen to them. Let us not make the mistake of rejecting the godly path because it is “boring”, “old-fashioned”, or “out-of-date”. Following God’s leading has never been fashionable and never will be. When God’s prophets warn us about the dangers of the choices we are making, I will listen and mend my ways. I do not want to be labeled by God as ‘rejected silver” and be discarded.
     If we exploit foreigners (see how illegal aliens are treated…by those who encourage them to come to this country), orphans, and widows, God will bring judgment on our society. When we harm ourselves by worshiping idols, God will not protect us from the consequences of our actions. It is only if we quit our evil ways and follow the instructions which God has given us that we will be able to turn aside from the coming destruction.

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   &nsp; I cannot get the words to come together for what this passage says to me about our society. All too many people go to great lengths to worship idols in ways which hurt themselves. People do things which God has warned us against and then when they suffer the consequences of their actions they demand them someone protect them from those consequences. Rather than turn to God, they turn to the government. They do not want to be “enslaved” to God, so they ask the government to enslave them instead. God does not give us instructions that are arbitrary. His rules and regulations are to keep us from harm. If we do not listen to His commands, it is not His fault when troubles come upon us.

Colossians 2:8-23

     Paul warns us against getting caught up in hollow, deceptive philosophies. All too many people attempt to separate the Gospel teachings about how we should live and treat each other from the spiritual parts of it. They try to rework it into something without the death and resurrection of Christ. However, without the death and resurrection of Christ, the Christian message is hollow and empty. It does not lead to contentment and fulfillment.
     It is by allowing our sinful nature to die with Christ that we can be raised to a new, spiritual life with Him. It is through the cross that God removed our obligation to the spiritual powers of this earth. It is not by rules and regulations that we experience God’s power. we must not fall into the error of thinking that rituals and special ceremonies will give us salvation. This does not mean that there is no value in rituals which bring us close, but they must be activities that have meaning for us, not rituals we follow because someone else tells us that we must. And we must never become enslaved to the rituals and ceremonies because their value is not in and of themselves, but in bringing us closer to God and showing us how to do His will. Rules will not help us overcome our sinful desires. Only by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit can we defeat our selfish desires.
   &nsp; I will not fall into the trap of relying on rules which tell me, “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” Instead, I will follow the leading of the Spirit which says, “Do not call anything unclean which God has made clean.” I will add one important caveat. I will wait for the leading of the Spirit. It is not up to me to declare that something is clean, but I will not refuse to help those in need because they are not “pure enough”, or because it might violate some rule.

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Psalm 78:1-31

     The psalmist tells us the importance of telling the next generation of the wonders which God has done. It is up to each generation to set its heart on following God for itself. You cannot commit your children to follow God, they must make that commitment for themselves. The Israelites in the wilderness are an example of an all too human tendency. When they cried out for water, God split open a rock and gave them water. But rather than acknowledge God’s great power, when food began to run short they doubted and wanted to turn back. They did not trust that God could and would provide them with food. The result was that God was angered with them and many of them died as a result of their rebellion. Let us train the next generation in what God has done throughout history, and in our own lives, so that they do not repeat that mistake.

Proverbs 24:26

     All too often in our society the only people we give honest answers to are those with whom we are in a close relationship with. And even then, all too many people are not honest.