Luke 3-4

From John the Baptist to Jesus Christ, these chapters talk about who John the Baptist was in relation to Jesus. I found it interesting that John was so strong in his language and how direct he was with people that questioned him. Being the son of a priest, I'm sure some people thought he was crazy. But others may have seen him as similar to a yogi.

Some of what John preaches you hear about later in Acts as some of the most common things the community of the early church does. Giving to those that have need... I guess that's what true repentance is about. In the face of God's grace, especially the sacrifice of Jesus, the only proper response is repentance and that means you truly understand that nothing you have is truly yours. And because you understand that, you can give it away. Kinda like what Randy Alcorn is talking about in the Treasure Principle... Jesus' parable about selling everything to buy that field. We need to sell everything because we're going to get something far more valuable.

It's interesting to see the people in Jesus' family tree... lots of people that were "adopted" sons of Israel. Many of them plenty messed up in some of the wrongs they've committed. I guess it doesn't really matter what background you have, God's still able to use you even if you don't realize it or don't think you're capable.

I found it funny that Jesus rebukes demons and evil spirits when they reveal who he is. I don't know why he did that.

2 Samuel 1-4

In the aftermath of Saul's death... we see that more strife and conflict is the result. However, blood is met with more blood. David realizes that an eye-for-an-eye is not what God truly wants and repents of it even though it may seem like justice in our eyes.

I think that we should be like David, even though we do wrong when we think it's right, to see it and repent.

Mark 11-12

Sometimes in our worry, crisis, or whatnot we forget God in the midst of it. We surrender to worry and panic or some other selfish inward-looking view.

In the passages that I read today, it seems in every instance, Jesus faces people with one thing and one thing only... the truth! Sometimes we forget the power of prayer (as with Jesus and fig tree)... we forget it's our sin that he bore and how we sometimes revel in our rebellion. We fail to recognize what we need to give to God. He asks for a lot, but it's not like he gives little in return. Though sometimes it certainly seems that way, it doesn't seem like the wealthy at the temple, "We give so much!" But are we truly like the widow who God knew was giving her all? Truly relying on God for all things, even essential 'daily bread'?

I think that's pretty frightening how much God asks when he says, "to love him with all your heart." Emphasis on ALL. That's the hard part... it's definitely hard to do that. Forgiving people for their wrongs against you. Striving to truly be patient and kind even when sometimes people can't seem to muster that themselves. I guess that's what "long-suffering" is about...

Hardened hearts and Passover

Exodus 9-12

These chapters talk of Moses going to Pharaoh to speak for God. It's interesting to read that Moses always speaks saying, "The LORD says." I think maybe after that many encounters with God himself, you become more humble and fearful. But also you can more easily recognize God's sovereignty of all things. Moses and Aaron were simply obeying and wanted everyone to know that it was truly God's power.

I found it interesting that Pharaoh asks for blessing before he sends the Israelites away. Almost a sort of recognition that even the mightiest of leaders in civilization still answer to God, whether they'd like to or not. So in todays' world, with corrupt government and corporate leaders a dime-a-dozen, this seems like a reckoning. They "hardened" their hearts to the truth of their greed whether it was for money or power...

I had a seder meal with the Passantes the Saturday before Easter... it was nice to see Christ in so many aspects of the tradition. Even in the passage, it talks of how people become one with the nation of Israel before they can partake. It's interest to see how many ways the promise of God passes through Christ.

He died

My reading was in Samuel today... on Good Friday, I read that he died. Samuel. A great prophet in times of kings and wars... a single sentence.

How insignificant it seemed... jarring almost. Especially on a day that is so focused on the death of our savior... And if you think about it, how absolutely positively silly it is to follow a savior that died?? Hung on a cross, mocked, beaten, humiliated, and more for merely being who he was. And yet, without his sacrifice we are nothing.

It's contradiction and injustice made real. Probably more real than most people can handle... I still can't wrap my head around it sometimes. Why did God bother to do that? And how can people feel so self-entitled to think that we deserve better when we are so injust? It would be justice if we were all burned away, but he didn't do that. He broke the cycle... broke our chains to hatred upon hatred, evil upon evil, wrong upon wrong... by loving more than we can take sometimes.

It makes things like Saul's injust pursuit of David seem like a minor thing. We burn forests, slaughter children, poison rivers and wells, "honor" kill, beat and torture... people have dignity? What kind of creature with dignity does that? People say society has advanced... how? We've just gotten better at finding new ways of perpetrating injustice. Sure, we can be proud of what little we've done, but you have to be pretty full of yourself to think we can stop it all. The world's as broken as Jesus was on that cross. I'm glad that he rose again, if he didn't there's no hope in this world for something better. It would be like trying to use a Band-Aid on a lethal gunshot wound.

Isaiah 40-44

An immensely long passage... filled with prophecy and the first part is about Jesus and John the Baptist. However, what got me what that nearly all of the passages talk about the immensity (is that even a word??) of God.

So often we "put God in a box" but He is way more powerful, more grace, more glory, and more worthy than anything we can possibility imagine. It's kinda like trying to wrap your head around some basic quantum mechanics principles. And He's the one that put the those rules in there...

It really shows how small we really are and how awesome God is to save us.

Many times you question God about your situation... but to be honest, sometimes I think that it might be like Job questioning God. It's pretty darn stupid... who would know better than God what's right for you? Definitely a lot of times we are just flat out blind and deaf to what God asks us.

Pastor Peter emphasized one point in his sermon on Sunday. We need to come humble and grateful for that fact of the "design of grace" that we're saved and we can break the cycle. And even if we fail, God is there to pick you up.

Genesis 28-31

So this section of Genesis is the story of Jacob as he leaves his home and finally returns home.

Most of Genesis and the stories of the patriarchs reads like a soap opera with jealousy, machinations, and lots of people doing wrong to themselves and each other. I find it interesting that what we would call massive character flaws... even downright pettiness, these are the people God chose to be His people.

Isn't that messed up? Well, then again... if they're that messed up and God blessed them, definitely blessing us and staying with us shouldn't be out of the question. That's kinda comforting in a strange way, no matter how crappy and horrendous things are, God still finds a way to bring us back to him.

Still pretty stressed lately but you know reading about the messed up problems of other people sometimes makes you feel better.

Isaiah 34-39

Reading prophecy is always a bit rough... I have trouble understanding it usually and it takes quite a bit of pondering for me to see some glimpses into what God is conveying. The first chapters of prophecy here seem as if they're about the future for sure. Some of it hinting at Jesus and God's final triumph as well as notes about Israel's future in the coming passages. I guess to some degree even those that received the word of God have trouble understanding it.

Hezekiah's final statements at the end of this definitely lead me to believe the same was true about him. As smart and as knowledge as you think you might be, you might not understand what God is telling you completely. He read that at least he will have peace in the time of his reign, and that's a kinda selfish or self-centered interpretation of the words of Isaiah. To him, those words brought him some measure of relief, but maybe some anxiety as well knowing that his children and the children of his generation would have to suffer. I wonder, will the legacy of this generation of believers be the same? Everyday, more and more Christians are dying because of their faith in Christ. Moreso than any time in history. "Lord how long?" Some days it feels like the world is against you and even though you know that even Jesus himself said we would not be free of that, sometimes you wish you didn't have to go through it.

It seemed like Hezekiah knew that too. He knew it was not just for God's glory but his own benefit that he was afflicted and suffered near death. It probably drew him closer to reliance on God personally and also made him see more on a personal level how much praise God deserved for his grace. You know I really don't like having to go through that either but sometimes God knows it's the only way. And it's very hard to admit to yourself sometimes that you need to rely on him.

Judges 7-11

Judges is pretty nasty stuff... the story of Gideon certainly sounds like a good story though it makes you see that in the background, Gideon was still truly thinking with God's mindset. Caring for his people and trying to be God's justice as well as a good servant in making sure God's glory was shown. It sounds almost as if he was in direct conversation with God, therefore he really knew what God wanted.

But I found it strange that in the end, he made almost an idol for the Israelites to worship... "and it became a snare." That sounds like when he stopped listening to what God said, things went downhill even though he meant well by rejecting the people's call for him to be king.

The story of Abimelech seems strange as it follows the story of a villan who lusted for power was "wicked" toward his own family. It tells of God bringing down someone. That story was just one of straight wrong.

Gilead's story just sounds tragic... I wonder, it seems his folly seemed a personal one as well as the prior two.

Lately, I've been struggling with lots of stress at work especially. Seeing three examples of leaders who ended up screwing up something even though they brought the people together... maybe God is saying don't screw up and lose focus on him? I'm sure these guys were under some serious stress... I'm glad that God redeemed us we don't have to struggle with these things as the Israelites did.

Isaiah 29-33

In our education hour, Pastor Peter and Cedar both talked about how knowing the horrible depth of our sin is one of the biggest components in realizing our need for God. Cedar emphasized that following the legalism of spiritual discipline is also not what God wants.

In these passages of Isaiah, it says
"... but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men."

Obviously this is again God not asking for obedience of rules but of the giving of their hearts. So many people see Christianity or religion as a set of rules to live by... but as one person said in Tim Keller's book, "A Reason For God," the prospect that God truly owes us nothing is even more frightening and humbling than being able to 'work' for your place in heaven.

And truly understanding that and what means is eluded to later in the passages. Spirit poured out from on high... a fertile field? That sounds like the great commission. Harvesting until the church is a "forest." We are called by our hearts to seek peace and in doing so, grow the church.

It also talks about how we will forget our transgressors and those that have wronged us because of what God has done. I think that's pretty interesting. I'd like to see that.

Judges 1-6

All I can say after reading these passages is that being God's people can get pretty nasty!
There's a lot of violence going on... there are hints of mercy for people whether they are Israelite or not as long as they're with God's people.

The way I see it, it's a grim reminder of how bad it is to be an enemy of God. And we all are... even Israel was and that's why God gave them to what they wanted until they cried out. It's not like God doesn't hear us, it's just that we always seem to forget so quickly.

Gideon's constant testing and asking of God seems to follow that same mentality. I was struck and how silly it became. But then again, to be honest, God probably knew that he was just looking for reassurance because Gideon was afraid. He was trying to lean on God's strength and didn't know quite how to do it. Many times, it's hard to question but thankfully God is patient with us and answers our questions.

Romans 9-10

Reading this, the 9th chapter struck me as to what my pastors at GRC have been talking about in their sermon series and partially in education hour... you should always realize that you are a sinner. That only God's immense grace and your hunger for that makes you a Christian. It doesn't make you better at all, if fact, paraphrasing Tim Keller, there are people that aren't Christian that are more "good" than you are.

There shouldn't be a comparison to other people... or even a standard that you set for yourself or a standard set by someone else... there's only one standard, that's God's. And we can never really attain it. So this is the humility that Christ preached. But it also gives us joy and freedom since we can receive that gift of life, and even tell others about it.

It's still hard to really know what that means and how to LIVE it.

Matthew 11-13

The first chapter talked about the revelation of who John the Baptist and also Jesus kind of announcing who he was. I found it interesting that John was so curious as to who Jesus was... I would figure he would realize it after John had baptized him.

Interesting, Jesus talking about unrepentant cities. Comparing the new cities to those in the past that were considered so wicked that God had to destroy them. Mirroring the previous passages in Isaiah.

Then Jesus preaches that God reveals things to children that are hidden from the wise and learned. Similar to his handling of the Pharisees becoming angered as he explained and showed to the Pharisees the truth meaning of the Sabbath and not their twisted legalism.

All these things point me to a reaction that Jesus wants us to see after HIS wisdom. Not always our own. Whether it be collectively or individually, often we miss the point. I'm just hoping that I know when that's happening. But thankfully Jesus is HOPE and has given us as the passage says, a family of believers.

I get the sense that in the parables Jesus was telling that God is telling us to see his word in action and applying in our lives. Like the sower, he tells us of reactions that come after your faced with the gospel. There's a few ways to react but generally there's only one right way and it didn't sound pleasant to not make the right choice.

Feb 2nd - Isaiah 23-28

I started reading this passage and immediately it sounded like New York City dsepite the changes in names and places. Moreso the financial capital of our country. I've felt that this economy is going to get worse and as more and more time passes, it certainly appears to be a very dark time.

The passages talk about how God will tear down walls and fortifications and destroy strongholds. I think I see it applying to our collective reliance as middle class Americans on the banks and 401ks and investments to secure us a better future. All of it now for nothing. And folks in finance continue again and again in their hedonism and the same greedy practices that got us into this mess in the first place.

If God is just, then this is just desserts. But it seems that not everyone in this situation is suffering. Many people responsible are STILL happily being bailed out. In the passage it talks about grace even upon the wicked.

But reading further, it seems the writer is painfully aware that they themselves, like we all, would suffer God's wrath if true justice were served and we must be grateful for the mercy shown us.

So we continue to try to do the right things despite all these crappy things happening around us. Kinda hard to grasp. It's hard to see the point without Jesus setting the context and making it possible for us to believe in "something better." How do we know what to do? God will let us know... hopefully we trust him enough to do it.