My Daily Pause

It is difficult to commit a sin that doesn’t hurt someone. Even the little sin we justify by saying it is only hurting ourselves will at some point effect another:

• Missing church? – You have deprived me of our fellowship
• Going off your diet? – You might deprive us of your earthly presence too soon
• Cheated on your taxes? – Someone will likely be deprived of some program or grant

Here’s how to make it easier to avoid these kinds of sins: We have to love others more. Paul reminds us of that in Romans 13:8-10. He lists off a few of “the big sins” as ones that we would never commit against a loved one, but the idea trickles all the way down to the “small” secret sins.

The Good Samaritan – Rembrandt – 1630

Loving everyone is tough. There are many that do a poor job of making themselves lovable, but we have to try and work through that. When we love someone, we wouldn’t even think of sinning against them. This is the point Paul s trying to drive home in Romans 13:9 – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” – even when you don’t think you can for those that “don’t deserve it.”

Who else said that? Jesus not only said those exact words in Matthew 22:39, but he said something else that was even more extraordinary – He referred this commandment to the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37) as being just like it!

To love your neighbor is loving God

As I leave you to consider this, I hope you will take a look at The Parable of the Good Samaritan for some insight into just what Jesus had in mind when he taught about everyone to love your neighbor.

Daily Bible reading for October 21

Psalm 81
1 Kings 14:1-20
Ezekiel 44
Romans 13

It is better to get wisdom than gold,
and to choose understanding rather than silver! – Proverbs 16:16 NCV

I am looking forward to another Biblepalooza tonight. When I think about the value we have gotten from doing these this year, I think about how highly Solomon placed wisdom in his priorities. Followed up by God rewarding him so richly for wanting wisdom above all else, we can understand how important God thinks it is.

Imagine how different the world would be if everyone dedicated 25% of their entertainment time to learning something.

What if we turned off the computers and televisions for 90 minutes and

• read from the Bible?
• had a deep conversation with someone smarter than ourselves?
• attended a class or lecture?
• read a non-fiction book?

These are the kind of things that increase not only what we know, but how well we can absorb new knowledge. The net effect will be our having ability to dig deeper into God’s word with greater understanding.

Daily Bible reading for October 18

Psalm 78
1 Kings 12:1-15
Ezekiel 40
Romans 9:30-10:21

I am the most stupid person there is,
and I have no understanding.

I have not learned to be wise,
and I don’t know much about God, the Holy One.

Who has gone up to heaven and come back down?
Who can hold the wind in his hand?
Who can gather up the waters in his coat?
Who has set in place the ends of the earth?
What is his name or his son’s name?
Tell me, if you know! – Proverbs 30:1-4 NCV

There is a running joke, (or a meme, if you know what that word means) about “first world problems.” We hear so many complaints about how poorly our day is going, when about 4/5 of the world would gladly trade their problems for ours. Problems like hunger, shelter and clean water as opposed to smart phones that don’t work, birth control that isn’t free or $40,000 cars we can’t make the payment on.

If I could make myself heard by every Christian, I would challenge every one of them to center their focus on getting to know God, to find out what he wants from them and realign their priorities before it is too late.

In the above passage, the Proverbs writer sets an example of the humility we need to have in God’s presence. Contrast his admission of ignorance with the pride and arrogance of the average person today. Just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:2, we are only at the beginning of the things there are to know about God.

God has laid out a really nice plan for us. We should try that now.

Daily Bible reading for October 17

Psalm 77
1 Kings 11
Ezekiel 39
Romans 9:1-29

Three day old parrot being fed at the Prague zoo.

I read a blog post this morning about the content we choose to read. The masses tend to consume the easy to understand, non-threatening material while skipping the stuff that makes them think. They do not want a conflict in what they have already been taught. They want their beliefs affirmed.

Even worse, most people will quit reading when a post uses unfamiliar words or concepts. I’m not sure how we (the masses) expect to learn anything new when we are unwilling to learn new words or risk disturbing some deeply held belief.

An awful lot of people do that with their Bible study. Take the book of Romans – read all the way through, we see the full plan of Salvation laid out for us.

• We sin
• We need salvation
• Christ made it possible
• Through obedient faith we join his body
• Through our gratitude we serve him

The details of Romans are challenging and require lots of study and thought. All too often, Romans is cherry picked for specific words and sentences, leaving the context behind.

We should all be more like the noble Bereans. (Acts 17:11) Everything we read and hear about the Bible should be challenged, especially when it is a “new” idea to us. Without that we collectively become less knowledgeable about what God wanted for us. We risk only knowing what someone else wants us to think God wanted for us!

So to restate what got me thinking about this from a Bible perspective:

If we avoid Bible study that isn’t spoon fed to us, all we’ll end up doing is eating from a spoon.

As I continue to think about how the Holy Spirit is in the New Testament Christian from the previous post, I realize there is plenty of disagreement about whether the Spirit actually indwells in us or is given to us in the form of the word of God. I never fully understood how to make my own decision until I took the time to read Romans more deeply – especially chapter 8.

When we understand Romans 8 and other supporting passages, we can understand that we will never have the full measure of the Spirit, like the apostles had, in this lifetime. We can also understand that he will not act upon us to direct our actions. Whether we follow the flesh or the Spirit is up to us. Paul told us that we get an earnest portion of the Spirit, which is just enough to serve us until we get to our reward. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

The Holy Spirit is not available to us before we become Christians. The idea that he might push us into believing and obeying the Gospel is wrong. The scriptures are quite plain:

• He’s not available until after the word of truth is heard – Ephesians 1:13
• He’s not available until after belief – Ephesians 1:13
• He’s not available until we are sons of God – Galatians 4:6
• He’s not available until after baptism, the point the gift is received – Acts 2:38

Those who have chosen to follow the Spirit instead of the flesh exhibit certain characteristics. Those things are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith and meekness. (Galatians 5:22-23) These “fruit of the Spirit” are a result of our personal decision to avoid the sinful ways of the flesh and follow him to God.

Daily Bible reading for October 15

Psalm 75
1 Kings 9:1-9
Ezekiel 37
Romans 8:1-17