For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
Be careful about befriending and associating with people who have trouble controlling their temper. their lack of control will tend to rub off on you. We learn to behave like our friends and those we associate with. Let us choose our friends and associates accordingly. Let us befriend and associate with those who behave in a godly way so that we learn from them to behave accordingly.
Only by God’s mercy can we be cleansed from our sin. Ultimately, all of our sins are against God, it is to Him we must answer. Only God has the standing to hold us morally responsible. Other people are our equals and have no moral authority over us, except that which is derived from God.
Nevertheless, we are all sinners before God. None of us have the ability to redeem ourselves, we cannot do so by offering sacrifices. We cannot make up for our sins by doing good, since whenever we are not doing good we are adding to our burden of sin. It is only when we recognize our sin and brokenness that we can approach God. It is when we call on God to heal our sin, contrite for our failure to live according to His desire that we will receive His forgiveness and healing. If we call out to God with remorse for our sins, He will create a pure heart within us and renew our spirits. Keith Green wrote a great song based on this psalm. I often sing it to myself when I desire to call upon the Holy Spirit to take over my life, something I do not as often as I should.
Paul reminds the Corinthian Church of the importance of following through on projects which we propose and get others enthusiastic about, something I often struggle with. When we suggest to others an idea about how we as a group can serve God, it is important that we do our part (this does not mean that we cannot suggest something to others that we do not feel God calling us to, as long as we make that clear from the start).
This passage is often used by those who preach variations on “Prosperity Gospel”, the idea that doing God’s will is a way to achieve health and wealth. The key to that misreading is the mistaken idea that God’s blessings are primarily material in nature. God’s blessings are only occasionally material in nature. When God gives us great material wealth, it is not a blessing, it is a tool. When God gives us physical well-being it is so that we can use that to carry out His work. God does not give us material wealth and good health in order for us to spend it on ourselves and our pleasures. He gives us those things so that we can use them to serve Him. However, the more we use the resources God gives us to serve Him, the more opportunity He will give us to serve Him. So, let us use the resources God gives us to serve Him in whatever way that we can. What I have is not my own, it is God’s to be used to further His Kingdom.
Having told us not to awaken sexual desire until the time is right (and the person is right), the writer talks about the dangers of playing hard to get. If you play hard-to-get with the person you love, you may find that they believe you and move on. Do not play games when God brings the person meant for you into your life.
The poem suggests that brothers should protect their sisters from predatory men, from men who will attempt to take advantage of them sexually. If their sisters are sexually inexperienced, they should block those who try to take advantage. If their sisters are sexually active, they should strive to block men from taking advantage. I will say that sisters should do the same for their brothers. There are women who are sexually predatory as men. We should strive to encourage those we care for to settle for nothing less than a monogamous, life-long relationship with the person of the opposite sex God intended for them (although we should recognize that God has called some to be celibate their entire life).