October 21st One Year Bible Readings

Jeremiah 37:1-38:28 ~ 1 Timothy 6:1-21 ~ Psalm 89:38-52 ~ Proverbs 25:28
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Old Testament - We read about some very interesting dynamics in Jeremiah chapters 37 & 38 today... Jeremiah goes from dungeon to prison to cistern to prison to being the king's confidant. Being a prophet is quite a life!!

I continue to admire Jeremiah's boldness in speaking the truth in these chapters. 37:17 stood out: "Later King Zedekiah secretly requested that Jeremiah come to the palace, where the king asked him, "Do you have any messages from the Lord?" "Yes, I do!" said Jeremiah. "You will be defeated by the king of Babylon." Jeremiah goes right to the truth... no beating around the bush! And then 3 verses later he asks Zedekiah - "Listen, my lord the king, I beg you. Don't send me back to the dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for I will die there." He speaks a harsh truth to Zedekiah and then asks for a favor. I like that! Do we speak the truth in our lives? Even if we know we'll need to ask for a favor of someone later, will we still speak the truth?  Or will we default to the un-truthful position of "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil...."

New Testament - Today we wrap up First Timothy!  Second Timothy begins tomorrow!  First Timothy chapter 6 today is full of great wisdom. Verse 7: "Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth." Are you seeking true religion? What is true religion? I think Paul gives some great hints to us in verses 11-14: "Run from all these evil things, and follow what is right and good. Pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for what we believe. Hold tightly to the eternal life that God has given you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. And I command you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, that you obey his commands with all purity."  Are you holding tightly to the eternal life that God has given you?  Hold tight!

Verse 10 is powerful today - "For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." It is important to note that the "love of money" is the root of all kinds of evil. Not money in and of itself - that's not the root of evil. But the love of money... this is a great distinction and a great truth. Do you love money? If so, should you be worried about this? If we love money, might we wander from the faith and pierce ourselves with many sorrows?

Psalms - Psalm 89 verse 48 is something important to keep in mind as I think it does help us think about how we are really living our short earthly lives - "No one can live forever; all will die.  No one can escape the power of the grave."  Knowing this, how are you living your life?  Are you living your life with love?  Are you loving God and loving other people with all that you are?  Are you living your life intentionally?  Are you living your life as God would want you to live your life?  I heard someone once state: "Just keep in mind that we're not going to live forever.  100 years from now on this planet?  It will be all new people."  That is an interesting thing to keep in mind...  100 years from now...  all new people.  Hopefully this is a fact that encourages each of us not to waste our precious time here on things that are not of God!  No one escapes the grave.  Our condition is terminal.  But of course our condition can be eternal through faith in Jesus!

Proverbs - Today in Proverbs 25:28 we are taught: "Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control."  Does this Proverb remind you of our recent readings in Jeremiah?  Are there parallels to the captivity of the Israelites and this Proverb?  How does this Proverb speak to you personally?  Are your walls in need of some repair? Will you allow Jesus to repair them?  Will you allow Jesus to restore self-control in those areas of your life that are lacking in self-control?

YouTube:  In 1 Timothy 6 verses 1 through 3 today we read about slaves in New Testament times.  I realize this can be a hot topic as to whether the Bible approves of slavery.  I don't think the Bible approves of slavery, although it certainly recognizes the reality of it in our Fallen world in the Old and New Testaments.  I encourage you to check out this link and this link for some more detailed thoughts on why the Bible does not approve of slavery.  This second link includes this:  "In 1 Corinthians 7 Paul does make one significant pronouncement: In v. 23 he says, "You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men." Here we clearly see his attitude toward slavery and the seeds of social freedom embedded in his words. The gospel and slavery are incompatible because someone else has already purchased us."  I presume most of us would agree that slavery is not compatible with the gospel? Well, would it surprise you to know that there are an estimated 27 million slaves in our world this very day?  It's a staggering number - more than ever before in the history of the world.  And perhaps the question to each of us who believe in the gospel is what, if anything, are we doing about slavery in our world this very day?  Let me give you a book recommendation on this subject.  This book was written by a 15 year old boy named Zach Hunter, who truly can be called a modern day abolitionist and activist who spends much of his time working to end slavery around the world.  If you have teenagers this could be a great book to get them inspired!  But I think adults or anyone in youth ministry can get a lot out of this book too.  This Zondervan book is titled "Be the Change - Your Guide to Freeing Slaves and Changing the World!"  Check it out on Amazon.com here.  Below is a YouTube video featuring Zach Hunter:

Please visit Zach's MySpace page at this link for more information on his campaign to end slavery.

Please join me in memorizing a verse of Scripture today:
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."  1 Timothy 6:10 NIV

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you from today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

Grace, love, peace, and joy!
Mike

Comments

[Caryn]

On Jeremiah in general:
A number of times I have found myself thinking "Okay, okay, I get the message! Israel and Judah must turn from their wicked ways! Can we move on now?". Then there was a verse in yesterday's reading: (Jer 36 v 3 from The Message)"Maybe the community of Judah will finally get it, finally understand the catastrophe that I'm planning for them, turn back from their bad lives, and let me forgive their perversity and sin."

That's really the point. They didn't "get it" so God kept on at them. The number of times Jeremiah repeats the same message from God is testimony to God pursuing his people.

I remember when we were reading through the history of the kings of Israel and Judah after David, and how they all went pear-shaped. I remember thinking at the time - where was God in all this? After Him being so closely involved in everything that David did how did it happen that hundreds of years passed where he seemed to be just watching from a distance? The thought occurred to me - Didn't God care anymore what happened to his people?

Now, reading Isaiah and Jeremiah and knowing they existed in the abovementioned time, I realise that God WAS actively pursuing his people, and getting under the kings' skins, but they kept pushing Him away. Of course He cared!

The monotony of the warnings in Jeremiah are because God cared and wanted to give His people a way out of the punishment He had to bring to get rid of evil. If God did not respond radically to the radical evils that His people were involved in, He simply would not be a good God. A Holy God must react to evil.

A last related thought:
In Phillip Yancey's book "When Life Hurts" he explores the painful times we go through. One reason we can say that our painful experiences are not always punishment from God, is because before God punishes He always gives us a warning, and a chance to change our ways. That is what we are seeing in Jeremiah.

[R]

Jeremiah 37:1-38:28

For me what is so compelling about Jeremiah is not that this happened to Judah in the midst of constant warnings sent by God, but that the people that Jeremiah prophesized too, are the same people right here right now. We are the stubborn ones, we are the ones who don’t get it, we are the ones that think because we are “Christians” that we are safe and the messages is not for us.

The Apostle Paul stated:

Let us not tempt Christ as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. Nor should we complain as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. (1 Corinthians 10:9-11 HCSB)

It is important for us to read the prophets and observe the behabvors that they spoke against. As the “preacher’ declared in the Book of Ecclesiastes,

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9 HCSB)

I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him. Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. God repeats what has passed.
(Ecclesiastes 3:14-15 HCSB)

Let us not assume that the stubbornness we are reading about was only peculiar to Israel and Judah. Let us not assume that because we are in church, in a prayer group that the prophet’s warnings are no to us. Let us not live our lives with an arrogance of faith.

[Michael]

Growth...,

I admire the wonder that comes with age and how hard it has been for God to truly mature me....,and yet really so easy.

I only thank God those around me survived it and realize I owe so much to all others for either putting up with me..., or maturing me to the person I am ( and I still have a long ways to go.)

When I read the portions today I thought of how much I liked in my past trying to be a prophet and quite frankly blasting away with the Word of God...

Oh I never thought of myself as one...but act and talk and literally lower the boom and suffer the consequences like one?

Oh Yeah...move over Elijah and Jeremiah here I come.

Then Paul...hehehehe....gee I thought if I had enough Zeal it could make up for depth..., though in those days I suppose I thought I knew so much.

And of course a verse like todays:

"For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." It's interesting - the "love of money" is the root of all kinds of evil. Not money in and of itself - that's not the root of evil. But the love of money.... great distinction and a great truth. Do we love money? If so, should we be worried about this? If we love money, might we wander from the faith and pierce ourselves with sorrows?

Mikes commentary is poignant.

I like this tact though, I use love for People and love them accordingly as God gives me ability...I like money.

I will never love it, but I do like.

When Jesus said Love not the World nor the things of the World I have learned to use the Love of God in me, to love those who really need their love turned vertical and not horizontal.

Money, as Jesus did for the road tax, can be as easy as catching a fish with a coin in it.

But love my enemy, love my neighbor, love my brother....I would rather make a way to love money and only Like my fellow human beings.

For me today I needed todays devotion from Oswald Chambers to remind me my priority in a world that is a master at compromising.

"Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he "followed Him at a distance" on dry land ( Mark 14:54 ).

We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently.

But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus.

It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not.

We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes."

I thank God my todays are a lot easier on the people around me and though God has always loved me..,

I am glad I am liking what He has done in me, so He can love thru me to those around me.

Who don't need to see me religious, but involved in a relationship that is devoted in such a way as to appear as religion.

Maybe true religion really is a relatiionship with "the Living God" that can't help but be seen as a godly life with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

I know I didn't get this way I am today overnight, but I like what God is doing and as long as he keeps doing it....

I think my religion is ...,
all right.

[Diana]

1Timothy6:6-7
6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.