Tag Archives: Religion

Daily Bible Study

November 5, 2021 Bible Study — Seek The Bread Of Heaven, Not That Of Earth

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 6-7.

Yet again I noticed something I have never heard anyone comment on.  In this account of the feeding of the five thousand, Andrew presents the boy with five loaves and two fish in response to Jesus asking where they could buy food to feed the crowd.  So, the context suggests that this boy had those five loaves and two fish there in order to sell them to someone in the crowd.  I have no thoughts at this time on what meaning there is to that.  I was just struck by the fact that I had never noticed it before and that I have never heard, or read, anyone comment upon it.

Interestingly, some of those who were fed followed Jesus across the lake and demanded a sign of Him in order to believe in Him.  They asked Him to do something comparable to Moses giving their ancestors manna.  This suggests that while the crowd acknowledged that Jesus provided them with bread, they did not see it as miraculous that He did so.  Again, I am not sure what meaning there is to that. It is just something I noticed.  However, that exchange does contain something of import, something which should influence our understanding of Jesus’ teachings about asking God for what we want.  Jesus tells the crowd, and us, not to work for food which spoils, but instead to work for the food of eternal life.  We should not work for material pleasures, instead we should work for that which has eternal value.  We should not ask God for things which will satisfy our earthly wants, but for things which will give us eternal pleasure.  We should ask God to give us opportunities to introduce others to Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 4, 2021 Bible Study — Talk To Those Whom Society Says We Should Not

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 4-5.

We can learn a lot of lessons from John’s account of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well.  First, we should notice that the woman was “the sort” of woman to whom someone who wanted to have a good reputations should not be seen talking.  Jesus didn’t care, and no one dare question Him on it.  Not only did Jesus speak with a woman of questionable reputation, they had a discussion about fairly complex theology.  More interesting to me is the fact that the people of the town came to hear what Jesus had to say because the woman told them that they should.  In fact, not only did they come to listen to Jesus because of her account of her conversation with Him, but many of them believed in Him from her testimony.  Let’s unpack this a little bit.  This woman came to get water in the middle of the day so as to avoid the town gossips, who got their water first thing in the morning along with everyone else.  Jesus had to know she was an outcast coming to get water at around noon. And she knew that He knew that.  Yet, He talked to her anyway. Jesus willingness to take her seriously on religious issues allowed Him to reach not just her, but her neighbors as well.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 3, 2021 Bible Study — The Message Is Important, Not The Messenger

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 1-3.

I always have trouble writing my blog on this passage because there is so much here.  John manages to convey a lot of thoughts with few words in today’s passage.  I am going to start by commenting on John the Baptist’s self identification.  He denied being the Messiah, or Elijah, or “the Prophet”.  The only title he would claim for himself was “the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.'”   I think that John was doing this in the spirit of the teaching when Jesus told His disciples to call no one “Father”.  John was making clear that he was not better than others and that he was not an intermediary between them and God.  John was trying to tell them that it was the message which was important, not the messenger.  When I started this I intended to write on more than this, but I want to emphasize that point.  All too many have made the mistake which John the Baptist was avoiding: they thought that they, the messenger, were important.  John the Baptist was not important, his message was.  Billy Graham was not important, his message was.  There are preachers today, just as in the past, who have forgotten this.  They think that they are important, and as a result their message does not get through.  When preaching the Gospel, it is the message which is important, not the messenger.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 2, 2021 Bible Study — Jesus Physically Rose From The Dead

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 23-24.

I do not have a theme which ties my thoughts together today.  I will just comment on the things which struck me as I read.  The first thing that struck me is that one of the criminals on a cross next to Jesus may have been the only person who truly and fully believed in Him before He rose from the dead.  There, with both of them dying on the cross, he asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom.  No one else at that point thought Jesus would have a kingdom, not even His disciples.

The next thing that always strikes me when I read this passage is what the “men” who met the women at the tomb said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen.”  That is such a profound and joyful statement.  We will not find Jesus if we seek Him among the dead.  Which ties right into the last thing that I would like to write about today, something which we often gloss over.  When Jesus appeared to the group of disciples, the first thing He did was show them His hands and feet and tell them to touch Him, to know that He was physically present.  Then to prove He was not a zombie, He asked them for some food, received some boiled fish, and ate it.  I know all too many people who claim to believe Jesus, who do not believe that He genuinely rose from the dead.  Luke wanted to make sure that everyone knew two things: Jesus’ rising from the dead was not a made up story, and it was not a mass hallucination.  The first he addressed by pointing out that, from the beginning, the disciples story was that women were the first to know He had risen.  If this was a made up story, they would have reserved that honor for the men among the disciples.  The second is addressed by the fact that Jesus actually ate some food.  They gave Him some boiled fish, which was observably no longer there after He ate it.  So, the disciples did not make up the story about Jesus rising from the dead, because if they had made up the story, they would have given themselves the place of honor of being the first to know He had risen.  And they did not hallucinate His appearance among them, because He ate a piece of fish, which was actually gone once He had eaten it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 1, 2021 Bible Study — Ask That God’s Will Be Done, Not Our Will

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 21-22.

I thought I should write something about what Jesus said concerning the destruction of the Temple, but I was not able to compose my thoughts.  Then I  thought I should write something about what Jesus said at the Last Supper, but I ran into the same problem.  I also thought I should write about Jesus’ praying on the Mount of Olives.  This time my thoughts came together.  A few days ago I wrote about how the Lord’s Prayer is a template we should use for composing our prayers.  Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives gives us insight into how we should ask God for things.  Jesus asked the Father to take the cup of coming suffering from Him, but also yielded Himself to the Father’s will.  We should ask God for those things we desire, but we should also ask that He give them to us only if it is His will to do so.  In addition to Jesus’ prayer, we also have what He said to His disciples when He found them sleeping, “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”  This offers us insight into one of the aspects of prayer which is often overlooked.  Prayer helps us avoid temptation.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 31, 2021 Bible Study — Do Not Debate Those Who Have No Desire To Understand Your Point Of View

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 19-20.

I want to note that when Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ house, he was not only choosing to go hang out with a sinner, but one who was viewed by most Jews as an oppressor.  Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and not just any tax collector, a chief tax collector.  Tax collectors put in bids about how much tax they would collect, if they one the contract, they paid the money the Romans upfront and then got to keep however much tax they collected.  Typically, they were perceived as collecting more than was due by various deceptive means.  Yet, Jesus saw Zacchaeus as someone whom God loved and by showing that love to Zacchaeus, He transformed him.  Let us seek to do the same to those society tells us we should ostracize.

That ended up being more than I intended.  I really wanted to focus on Jesus’ response when the religious leaders asked Him by what authority He did the things which He did in the Temple.  We should pay attention to that answer when we get into debates with non-Believers.  The religious leaders intended to take whatever answer Jesus gave them and twist it into something they could use against them.  By asking them whether John’s baptism was of man or of Heaven Jesus forced them to reveal what they were doing.  Just as importantly, if they had answered His question, it would have revealed the assumptions they made about the world, which would have given Jesus a starting place to debate them about the merit of His actions.  By answering that they did not know they revealed that they were not interested in debating, merely in obtaining a “gotcha” moment.  We should follow Jesus’ example and refuse to debate those who are merely looking for a “gotcha”.  Do not get into a debate with people who have no interest in understanding your point of view.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 30, 2021 Bible Study — Pray With Persistence

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 17-18.

I know that I need to improve my prayer life: I do not pray as much as I should, nor the way that I should.  Overall, I struggle with prayer.  So, passages such as Jesus’ story about the widow and the unjust judge strike home for me.  In this case, it reminded me of the importance of continuing to pray for the people around us and for God to pour out His Spirit upon this nation and the world.  There are many bad things going on today.  We will not fix them by petitioning the government, political activism, or commercial boycotts.  No, the only way we will bring about change is by praying persistently and serving others as God directs us.  I want to point out that the story of the blind beggar receiving his sight at the end of today’s passage provides an example of persistent prayer. So, let us pray persistently for God to pour out His Spirit upon the people of our land, including ourselves.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 29, 2021 Bible Study — A Feast Of Helping Others

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 14-16.

There is more to the parable of the banquet in this passage than we normally notice.  Jesus tells the story of a man who when he started preparing a feast invited a bunch of people.  They all readily accepted his invitation despite the fact that he was not sure when he would hold the feast.  However, once the feast was ready and he sent out notices to come to the feast, they were all too busy to attend.  We normally interpret the “feast” as being heaven.  While there is nothing wrong with that interpretation, it misses an important part of the message which Jesus preached repeatedly.  By the way, today is the first time I noticed this about this passage.  In this case, the “feast” is to do God’s will (primarily, helping those in need).  Are we too busy to help those in need when the opportunity presents itself to us?  More importantly, do we recognize the opportunity to help those in need as a “feast”, as something not to be missed?  Doing God’s will, helping others, should be something we view as a treat, as a special occasion, like going to a feast/banquet.  Heaven will only be heaven for those who take joy out of serving others.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 28, 2021 Bible Study — Put Your Treasure Where You Want Your Heart To Be

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 12-13.

Today a phrase caught my attention which I do not believe I have ever noticed before, or heard anyone comment on.  At the beginning of chapter 12, Luke tells us that a crowd gathered to hear Jesus, “so that they were trampling one another.”  Jesus then starts His message by telling His disciples to be on guard against hypocrisy.  Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but it appears interesting that Jesus preached on avoiding hypocrisy in front of a crowd which was trampling on others in order to listen to a man who preached about the importance of loving our neighbor.

Jesus segues from warning us about hypocrisy, with the help of one of His audience, into telling us not to worry about the future.  He tells us that we should not worry about our lives or about our bodies, God will care for us.  We should not fear those who can, at most, kill us, because God, who can cast us into hell, cares for us.  If we seek God’s kingdom, He will provide for our needs.  Jesus makes a statement at the end of teaching against worry which we often under emphasize. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  So, if we want to truly be heavenly, we will invest our resources in those things which have value there.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 27, 2021 Bible Study — When We Pray We Should Ask, Seek, and Knock

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 10-11.

We do no spend enough time looking at how the Lord’s Prayer is a model for how we should pray.  I know that I don’t, and I was struck by that insight from an article I read 15-20 years ago.  I want to make it clear that what I am about to write is not original with me, even though I forget the author who wrote that article.

  • First, we honor God and acknowledge our submission to His will (some manuscripts include “May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” after “Hallowed be Your name”, however I think that is implied in “Hallowed be Your name” anyway.)
  • Second, we make our requests.  These requests should be for our basic needs and for the needs of others.
  • Third, we confess our sins and request forgiveness, while acknowledging that we need to forgive others (and asking God to help us do so).
  • Finally, we ask God to help us avoid sinning going forward.

Having given us a template for our prayers, Jesus then reminds us of the importance of frequent and persistent prayer.  It is in this context that Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock.  Those who ask will receive, those who seek will find, and those who knock will be invited in.  That sums up prayer, ask, seek, and knock.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.