Tag Archives: Religion

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2024 Bible Study — Hate Others and Walk in Darkness, or Love Others and Live in the Light

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 John 1-5.

The writer of today’s passage makes three related points which I want to write about.  He begins by telling us that if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and make God out to be a liar.  We should study God’s word in order to not sin anymore, but he assures us that if we do sin Jesus will advocate with the Father for us.   If we want Jesus to advocate with the Father for us, we need to live in Him.  And, if we live in Him, we will do as He commands.  He commands that we love one another.  So, if we hate a fellow believer, we are not His and are in darkness.  The writer tells us that if we are in darkness we do not know where we are going.  That last bit explains so much about those who do not truly know the Lord.  They think that they are doing what is right and that those who disagree with them are servants of evil.  But how can we tell if it is they, or we, who do not know where they are going?  John answers that.  Those who love others live in the light and see where they are going.  So, if you harbor hate, you are in the wrong and do not see where you are going…even if by chance you are right on every other point, your hatred for another will lead you on a path which will doom you.  Those who deny that Jesus is God or that God became flesh in Jesus are liars and the antichrist, and they do not have the life which God has given us through Jesus and the Cross.  When I started this today I thought I was going to be able to explain how John showed this to connect with his message about love and hate, but it did not come out that way.  It is our faith that God came as a human being in Jesus Christ to show us how to love those around us which empowers us to strive to imitate Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 23, 2024 Bible Study — Eye Witness Accounts, or Fabricated Stories?

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Peter 1-3.

Every year when I read this, my first thought is to write about verses five to nine in chapter one:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

However, as I read today, I came to where Peter writes “For we did not tell you cleverly devised stories…”  then he goes on to tell them that false prophets and false teachers who will use fabricated stories to gain followers and exploit people.  To me, what Peter writes here is both a warning against falling for such false prophets and false teachers and a warning against becoming one of them.  Peter describes them as bold and arrogant.  He also tells us that they despise authority and follow corrupt desire.  In their arrogance they heap abuse on spiritual beings, beings which even angels delivering a message from God do not abuse.  So, while Christ gives us power over such beings, we must remember that it is His power, not our own, and use it with humility and only in such a manner as brings glory to Christ.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 22, 2024 Bible Study — Experiencing Faithfulness Should Inspire Us to Be Even More Faithful

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Peter 1-5.

The first thing which struck me in this passage was when Peter wrote, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” This reminded me of Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good;” which is my favorite explanation of how faith works.  By writing that, Peter tells us that, having experienced God’s goodness, we should crave more of God, more holiness.  We experience that holiness we crave by abstaining from sinful desires and doing good.  Peter gives us a partial list of things to avoid: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.  We should live such good lives that even though they accuse us of doing wrong they will find themselves glorifying God for what we have done.  We should eagerly seek to do good, so that those who wish to harm us for our faith will be able to find no excuse for doing so and will have to admit to themselves that their hostility is based on their unwillingness to obey God.  At all times we should be prepared to explain why we act as we do and hold to our faith.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 21, 2024 Bible Study — Resist Temptation and Flee From Evil

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  James 1-5.

I love the Book of James, but there is so much in it that I always struggle deciding what I want to write about.  I want to write about all of it, but I don’t have the time to do that.  I am going to start writing about what James says about temptation at the beginning of this letter and quarrels later because I think he intends them to be two parts of the same message.  First, he tells us that temptation occurs when our evil desires drag us away and entice us.  I like that imagery of our evil desires dragging us to someplace we don’t want to go, but I also like the implication he makes that we often don’t resist being dragged there as much as we like to pretend.  Then we come to what James says about the cause of fights and quarrels.  He tells us that they also come from our desires.  We desire and covet things, but are unable to get them, so we behave with hostility.  Further, James tells us that we do not have the things we desire because we do not ask God for them.  Or, if we do ask for them, we ask for them in order to satisfy our sinful desires (see what he says earlier about temptation).  Unspoken is that God does not give us those things we only ask for in order to satisfy our earthly desires is because it would be bad for us to receive them).  Or, perhaps not so unspoken, since James goes on to write that being friendly with the world means being hostile to God.  So, let us flee from evil, let us resist being dragged into temptation, then evil will flee from us and we will become ever closer to God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 20, 2024 Bible Study — Persevere by Keeping Our Eyes on Jesus

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

I want to write about a couple of different elements in today’s passage, but I am not sure that what I write will link together.  At the beginning of today’s passage the writer tells us to focus our attention on imitating Jesus.  In doing so we will face opposition from those who refuse to accept righteousness, we should follow Jesus’ example and struggle against sin.  We should be willing to remain faithful even up to the point of facing death, just as Jesus did.  The hardships we face are God disciplining us as a father disciplines his son in order to develop his son into a better person.  God applies such discipline because He loves us, facing hardship provides us with evidence of God’s love.  Part of that struggle is striving to live in peace with everyone.  Interestingly, the writer links doing everything we can to live at peace with others to being holy.  As if we cannot be holy if we don’t do whatever is in our power to live at peace with others.  Of course, that link also creates a limit on what the writer thinks we should do in order to live at peace with others.  In particular, he does not, and tells us that God does not, expect us to do anything which is not holy in order to live at peace with others.  Which brings me to another thought: the areas where we fail at being holy are the areas where we fail to live at peace with others.  The final piece to focusing on Jesus, which will lead us to strive to be at peace with others and to be holy, is showing hospitality to strangers.  The writer reminds us that we never know what blessings we might receive when we show hospitality to strangers and we should be careful to never pass up such blessings.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 19, 2024 Bible Study — By Faith…

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 10-11.

I really feel what the writer has to say about faith today.  He starts by telling us that faith allows us to understand that the universe was formed out of nothing by God’s command, rather than believing that nothing just became everything which is.  Then he writes that it was by faith that Abel brought his offering to God, a sacrifice which accorded to the Law given to Moses many years in the future.  The writer goes on to describe others who were praised because of their faith.  He tells us that they considered themselves foreigners and strangers on this earth.  They looked forward to a heavenly home in the city which God had prepared for them, which God has prepared for us.  By faith the Israelites passed out of Egypt on dry land on their way to the country God had promised them, while the Egyptians, lacking that faith, were drowned in the Red Sea.  In the same way, we will pass through the threats and dangers of this life in order to enter into God’s holy city.  By faith, he tells us, these examples chose to face persecution and suffering because they would not embrace this world and its pleasures as their home, instead striving for a home with God.  The world was not worthy of them.  I am not worthy of them, but I strive to maybe one day be worthy of what they suffered.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 18, 2024 Bible Study — Jesus, Our High Priest Forever

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

When the writer of this book writes about Melchizedek people often get caught up in the details about the Melchizedek mentioned in Genesis.  The writer is describing the symbolism of Melchizedek.  When he writes that Melchizedek does not have parents, I do not think that he believed that the lack of Melchizedek’s parents being mentioned in Genesis necessarily meant that Melchizedek did not have parents.  Rather, he was using the fact that no genealogy was given for Melchizedek as a metaphor for Jesus’ lack of pedigree to be a priest.  The point of the writer noting that Melchizedek has no genealogy is not that Melchizedek was a figure whose existence was miraculous.  The point the writer is making is that Melchizedek’s priesthood did not rely on his genealogy, unlike the priests who were in the order of Aaron.  The writer does not talk about Melchizedek to reveal something to us about Melchizedek.  Instead he uses Melchizedek to illustrate the perfection of Jesus and His ministry.  Jesus is holy and blameless which means that He is able to save us for eternity by His sacrifice.  Further, He continues to intercede for us with no chance that death will interrupt Him in that task.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2024 Bible Study — Today, if You Hear His Voice…

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

I am not sure that where I am going with today’s blog accurately reflects the message which the writer intended to convey, but I do believe it is a biblical thought.  The writer writes “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ”  As I initially read that, the writer is telling us to be careful that we do not rebel against God.  However, the next sentence after the one I quoted reads, “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ”  Which suggests to me that the writer is telling us to encourage and build up our fellow believers in order to assist them in resisting temptation.  The writer says a lot about the failure of those who rebelled to obey God’s instructions, but he also tells us that those who rebelled did so because they did not share the faith of those who did obey.  So, let me write out my take aways from this passage:  When God instructs us we must listen and obey, but our obedience will grow out our belief and trust that God has saved us.  Further, we need to build up and encourage the faith of those around us so that they do not fall short of what God desires for them.  We are each responsible for our own actions, but we should seek to take responsibility for helping others do good as well.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2024 Bible Study — Characteristics for Which All Believers Should Strive

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Titus and Philemon

In Paul’s letter to Titus while Titus was on Crete, he gave a description of the characteristics a man must have to be considered for a leadership position in the Church.  A few years ago I realized that when we pay attention to this passage we focus on how to interpret applying this passage to selecting leaders in the Church and not enough on the fact that all followers of Christ should strive to have these characteristics (to the degree to which they apply to that individual).  We should all strive to be blameless.  Those of us who are married should be faithful to our spouse.  Those who have children should strive to raise them to be believers and so that they are not seen as wild and disobedient.  We should not be violent or quick-tempered.  We should be self-controlled and disciplined, upright and hospitable.  Again, while we should not appoint anyone who does not have these characteristics to leadership positions in the Church, more importantly, we should strive to have those characteristics in our own lives.

When Paul wrote to Philemon about Onesimus, who was legally a slave to Philemon who had run away, he writes that he was sending him back because Philemon had legal claim to Onesimus.  Paul does not outright tell Philemon that he should free Onesimus, nor does he in any way write that slavery is wrong.  However, he does tell Philemon that he should welcome Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a brother in Christ.  It seems to me that Paul was telling Philemon that he was not obligated as a follower of Christ to give Onesimus, now a fellow follower of Christ, his freedom, but that doing so would be the better thing to do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 15, 2024 Bible Study — Do Not Be Quarrelsome, Instead Gently Instruct Those Who Disagree

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Timothy 1-4.

Paul begins this letter to Timothy by encouraging him(and us) to not be ashamed of the gospel nor of his fellow believers who were imprisoned and/or otherwise suffering for the gospel, because Christ has saved us and called us to a holy life.  Christ did this for His own purposes, not because of anything we have done (Paul includes himself along with us among those who did nothing to obtain salvation).  Paul goes on to warn us against quarrelling and godless chatter.  He tells us that we should not be quarrelsome, instead we must be kind to everyone and not resentful.  We must gently instruct those who disagree with us, hoping that God will grant them repentance and lead them to understanding the truth.  Otherwise, they will remain captive to the devil to do his will (instead of God’s).

I was not originally going to go here, but in the middle of that Paul mentioned that a large house has articles made of gold and silver, and other articles made of wood and clay.  The former being made used for special purposes and the latter being used for common purposes.  This resembles what he wrote in  1 Corinthians 3, where he wrote that if we built on the foundation of Jesus using good materials what we built would last, but if we used poor materials what we built would be burned up.  In either case, we would be saved.  Here he seems to suggest that those who fully follow his instructions abut living a holy life will be given glory in God’s kingdom, while those who do not will serve in more menial roles, but both will still spend eternity in God’s House (as long as they built on the foundation of Jesus, to mix his metaphors).

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.