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

     The Lord told Jeremiah that He was going to make a new covenant with the people. He will write His commands on their hearts. Indeed He has now done so. God then instructs Jeremiah to buy land from his cousin, despite the fact that God had been telling Jeremiah to predict the destruction of Jerusalem. This was God confirming His promises that He would bring the people of Judah back to Jerusalem after a time in exile. By buying the property, Jeremiah demonstrated his belief in the prophecies he was preaching. This gives a measure to hold those who claim to be delivering prophecies from God about the future. Do they take actions that are consistent with what they claim is coming? An example from the recent past. When Harold Camping most recently predicted the date of Jesus’ return, he did not sell his possessions (which he claimed he would shortly have no more use for) and use the money to alleviate the suffering of the impoverished. There are other prophets whose actions are inconsistent with their prophecies, look at most of those declaring that man-caused global warming will bring about a tragedy in the near future. How many of them reduce the amount of CO2 that they are responsible for to the bare minimum? Or closer to home, do we ourselves live our lives according to what we claim to believe? If we say that we believe that God calls us to care for the poor, what are we doing about it?

     Paul here lays out the requirements for an elder in the Church. First an elder must be a man who lives a life that is above reproach. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home and be able to teach. He must not be violent or a heavy drinker. He must be gentle and not quarrelsome.. He must not have a love of money. He is to be the husband of one wife whose children respect and obey him. He must not be a new believer and people outside of the Church must speak well of him. Unfortunately, because of the controversy about what it means that Paul says that an elder must be the husband of one wife, we spend not nearly enough time looking at the other qualifications. I have rarely seen any time spent considering whether a potential elder is hospitable. I am not sure I have even seen enough emphasis on the ability to teach. Paul then goes on to lay out the requirements for someone to be appointed as a deacon. They are similar to those of elder, except that they do not include a requirement that they be able to teach and includes what appears to be set of requirements regarding women as deacons (although it could be a reference to deacon’s wives, but my interpretation is supported by other New Testament writings–including some by Paul–which refer to women deacons).

     Do we continue to cry out to the Lord, even when it seems like He does not answer? Do we call out to the Lord for His help every day? Do we wait for the traps to close around us before we cry to the Lord for help? There is nothing wrong with crying out to the Lord for help when our troubles have overwhelmed us. As a matter of fact we should certainly do so. However, we should not wait until we are the end of our strength to call upon God for help. We should call on Him for His help, even when things seem to be going well with us.

     Being cheerful and bubbly to someone who is experiencing sorrow is like pouring vinegar in an open wound. We should do good to those who have done evil to us, that will cause them more discomfort than what they have done to us. But that should not be our goal, our goal in doing good for others is to serve the Lord and receive a reward from Him.