For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    What people truly desire above all else is to be loved unconditionally. Therefore it is better to be poor than to lie, to claim that we love someone when we do not.

    God will test our thoughts and examine our hearts. If we allow Him, He will cleanse them and mold them so that we will do what is right. If we truly desire to do what is right then the first step is to be determined not to sin in what we say. If we gain control over our tongue, the rest of our actions will follow.
    I strive very hard to keep my political views from entering into this blog because I believe that Christians are called to leave politics to God. When I read the psalmist’s statement that following God’s commands kept him from following cruel and evil people, I thought about how so many of those involved in politics are following cruel and evil people. Rather than following such people, let us put our feet upon God’s path and not waver from following Him.

    I am struggling with what to write about this passage. Not because I am having trouble understanding the message, but because it speaks to my thoughts on some of the issues we are facing in our society today. The first point Paul makes is that when we accepted God’s grace through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we were freed from obligation to the letter of the law. We are now able to do what is right according to the spirit of the law without worrying about whether what we are doing meets the technical details of the law.
    Paul points out that sin uses the law to get us to sin more. I believe that part of what Paul is talking about is our human tendency to do things like say, “Well, it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” That is, when we read the law, we look for loopholes which allow us to violate it’s purpose without technically breaking it. When the law says, “You shall not steal,” we say, “Well, it’s not really stealing. He dropped that $20 bill and was never going to know where to come back and get it.” We can do this all we want, but we know its not right, and now we have been freed from the letter of the law so that we can follow the spirit of the law.

    When Solomon completed the Temple, he summoned all of the leaders of Israel to Jerusalem to worship God and celebrate the establishment of the Temple. This is how a nation achieves unity, when all of the leaders unite to worship God. I am not in favor of religion in politics. For that matter, I believe that Christians should stay out of politics. However, I also believe that the answer to the problems in this country (and every other country in the world) is for the people of this nation to gather together as one to worship God. I don’t think that will ever happen, but I do believe that if those of us who do believe would gather together to pray for our neighbors we could transform this nation and the world.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Parents discipline your children. Otherwise you risk them facing an early death as a result of foolish behavior. If that happens, you will be responsible.
    Sooner or later, a person who does not control their temper will have to face the consequences of allowing their anger to control their actions. As long as someone bails them out, they will continue to repeat the same mistake.

    I hope this psalm strikes home with my readers. It tells us what sort of characteristics we need to have if we want to enter into God’s presence, and I pray that you want to enter into God’s presence. Here is the list (although the psalm is pretty clear):

• Lead a blameless life
• Do what is right
• Sincerely speak the truth
• Refuse to gossip
• Refuse to harm their neighbors (and remember who Jesus says is our neighbor)
• Refuse to speak evil of their friends (I suspect that Jesus would tell us something similar about who are friends are)
• Despise flagrant sinners
• Honor those who fear the Lord
• Keep their promises, even when it hurts
• Lend money to the poor without interest
• Cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent>/li>

That is quite a list. I am not sure I can claim to successfully meet all of those, but I am seeking to do so. I wish for the Holy Spirit to transform me into someone who lives up to that standard (and it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that I would be able to do so).

    Most people would not be willing to die for someone else, although a few would be willing to die for a good person, or someone they loved (husband, wife, parent, child, sibling). Jesus, however, died for us when we were sinners, enemies of God. Jesus did this in order to demonstrate that the enmity between God and us was on our side, not God’s. God was willing to pay any price to restore a relationship with us. As a result of Adam’s sin, sin was given entry into our lives and ruled over us. Through Christ, God demonstrated that He was willing to break sin’s power over us and bring us back into friendship with Him. Sin, which entered the world through Adam, brought death into the world. God’s grace, which was brought into the world through Jesus, replaces that death with life for those who are willing to believe.

    In his advice to his son Solomon, King David told Solomon something all of us need to remember. If we seek God, we will find Him. This is true of each and every person, no matter where on earth they live, who their parents are, or what they have been taught about God. If they truly seek God, they will find Him. God will direct them. He will send people, events, and things into their lives which will show them the way to Him. However, David accompanies this with a warning. If we reject the guidance which God gives us, if we learn something about God and then reject that knowledge, if we forsake what God has taught us, God will in turn reject us.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    It is a good thing to sleep well and to get enough sleep. However, those who take their “relaxation” to the point of being lazy do not have enough to eat.

    The psalmist calls out to God for rescue. He expresses his frustration and desperation at the fact that his troubles have gone on longer than he thinks he can bear, but then he realizes that he can still bear the struggles. He realizes that God will rescue him. The psalmist’s trust in God is restored and he praises God for rescuing him, even though he is still in the midst of his troubles. Let us remember to do likewise, even in the middle of our struggles let us praise God for rescuing us. He has already set in motion the actions which will bring us to safety.

    Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation, so Paul uses him as an example of salvation through faith. God counted Abraham as righteous because of his faith. It was through Abraham that the people of Israel first received the command to be circumcised. Yet Abraham was already counted as righteous because of his faith before he was circumcised. Circumcision was something which Abraham did as a result of his faith, not as a path to righteousness. In the same way, it is because of our faith that God will count us as righteous. That faith, and the righteousness which God gives us because of it, results in us doing the will of God. We do not do the will of God in order to be righteous, we do the will of God in response to God making us righteous.

    The passage continues to describe how the various Temple duties were divided up among the various groups of priests and Levites. It emphasizes that David assigned to duties in a way that eliminated favoritism being shown. There are two elements to how he did this. First, the assignments were made in front of a large number of witnesses. Second, he used a method of random selection to choose which group was assigned which task. This is an important model for us to keep in mind when doling out prestigious tasks to various people.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    My parents did not gift me with wealth or property, but God gave me a wonderful wife. I would rather that than the other way around (wealth and property from my parents and a quarrelsome wife from God).

    It may appear to us that the godly are disappearing from the earth, but God has seen the violence done to the helpless. He has heard the groans of the poor. God will protect the oppressed, even when the wicked strut about as if no one can touch them.

    Today Paul applies the point he made in yesterday’s passage about Jews to everyone. Everyone has sinned. Everyone has failed to live up to God’s standard of righteousness. Our sins are such that not one of us can be made right with God on the basis of the good we have done. I have no basis for saying that someone else is a greater sinner than I am. As far as God is concerned there is not a finger’s worth of difference between us when it comes to sin. We are not going to get to heaven on the basis of what we have done.
    We can only be made right with God by believing that Jesus sacrificed His life to redeem us. There is no act we can perform to make ourselves right with God. God declared us righteous in the basis of Jesus’ death. I have no claim to being better than another because it is only the act of God which allows me to be made right with God, an act which is on offer for all who will accept it. Paul finishes today’s passage with an important point. Just because we cannot gain righteousness by following God’s commands does not mean that we ignore those commands. Rather, the faith which brings us righteousness gives us the power to uphold those laws as God intended.

    Despite being told that he would not be the one to build the Temple, David began stockpiling supplies for the project. He even set people to quarrying stone. Then, recognizing that one of the primary jobs of the Levites (transporting the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, and the associated supploes) would no longer be necessary once the Temple was built, David assigned them tasks relating to maintaining the Temple.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    As one acquires wisdom one develops patience. The reason this happens is that over time you begin to realize that being inpatient does not make you happier, and rarely gets you what you want any faster. Being willing to forgive and overlook when another does one wrong indicates that one is honorable. Those that let offense pass them by are those who should truly be honored.

    Each time I read this psalm it seems more appropriate to the times than the last. The wicked are lying in wait in order to ambush the righteous. They are striving, with great success, to destroy the foundations of law and order, but I will not flee from them because I trust in the Lord. Despite the best efforts of the wicked, God still rules over the earth. He will bring justice to this earth once more. As long as God reigns (and that is forever), the foundations of law and order will not be truly destroyed. You may run in fear, but I will stand my ground because God is by my side.

    Paul tells us that we only gain credit for following God’s commands if we follow all of them. Paul uses the example of circumcision here, he refers to being a Jew outwardly. He tells us that such things in and of themselves are not enough. It is not enough to have the outward appearance of righteousness. Bill Cosby is an example of what Paul is talking about here (although an incomplete example).
    Bill Cosby did many good things. He held himself up as an example. He condemned other black celebrities for encouraging young black men to behave in ways which made matters worse in the black community. When “The Cosby Show” was on the air, enrollment by blacks in colleges rose by a remarkable amount as young blacks sought to follow Bill Cosby’s example, at least the one he showed to the public. But all of the good which Bill Cosby did has come to naught because he failed to be completely righteous. I do not know to what extent the accusations against Bill Cosby are true (although it certainly looks bad at the moment), but, at the very least, he failed to remain faithful to his wife.
    My point here is not to condemn Bill Cosby. My point is that for all of the outward appearance of good he projected, his inward failings led to his downfall. The same is true of us. We cannot gain anything by the outward appearance of righteousness if we are unrighteous and sinful on the inside. Being born and raised by good, hardworking Christian parents does not make us righteous. Going to, and being active in Church does not make us righteous. It is more important that we be righteous inwardly than outwardly. We need to seek praise from God for our behavior, not from our fellow man.

    In this passage it tells us that David sinned by causing a census to be taken of all of Israel. As a result a plague broke out in the land. I do not see a clear statement in his passage as to what David’s sin was. Perhaps his sin was taking the census in order to know how many military men he could call to war. Perhaps his sin was that he did not collect half shekel of silver from each man who was counted as God had commanded Moses. Nevertheless, we are told that David had sinned by doing so.