Category: Daily Bible Reading Blog

A blog following the daily readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.

Deuteronomy 11:1-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            God has boundaries.  That is, he does not just flit about doing whatever seems alright for the moment because he is firmly secure in who he is and what exactly he wants.  God is not okay with his creatures, us, having no boundaries.  Since we are people created in his image, we are to reflect him in all things, including having the established boundary of taking charge of our own spiritual lives and obeying him in all things.
 
            God has opened the way of redemption to his people, first in the incredible event of the exodus from Egypt, then in the culmination of our freedom through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, God expects us to live into this opportunity without acting like all our problems are his fault.  Just because God stands up to people and does not cave into their demands and their whining does not make him mean or unjust – it simply means he doesn’t need people to give him props.  God is secure enough to not be dependent on humans.
 
            God is quite clear on what he wants, and where the boundary lines fall:  “You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.”  There is no fudge factor to that statement, scratching our heads wondering what we ought to be doing.  If we will obey God, we will experience life as it ought to be lived – free from all the machinations of sinful brokenness and insecurity, yet, securely confined within godly boundaries.  God can tell his people to be strong and take the land because he has made it possible for them to do so.  He has acted in history, and expects us to respond in obedience to the boundary lines he has established that will allow us to flourish and grow as people in a new land.
            Great God Almighty, I choose today to obey you in all things out of the grace given to me because of Jesus Christ.  I want to please you in all I say and do, so that you will be seen as the glorious and exalted king of the universe.  Help me to live up to my standing in Christ in the power of the Spirit as I step into your world with the keys of the kingdom.  Amen.

1 John 3:10-16

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            What’s love got to do with it?  apparently, everything.  The Apostle John makes it clear that love is the distinguishing characteristic of the Christian life.  We only fool ourselves if we say we are lovers of humanity, yet we harbor hate in our hearts.  We deceive ourselves if we claim to be loving persons, yet commit mental murder.  If we either cannot or will not control our tongues through killing another through gossip, slander, backbiting, name-calling, and complaints, then the Apostle John would say that we are evil, period.  There is no fudge factor with John when it comes to love and hate.  Either we are righteous because we love, or we are unrighteous because we hate.
 
            Love is not jealous or unkind.  Love emulates the Lord Jesus by laying down selfishness and hate and taking up the mantle of righteousness through justice and peace.  Saying one thing and living another way is unrighteous.  When words and actions work together, both expressing love, then we are walking in the way of Jesus.  The Old Testament character Cain is Exhibit A of a person who hated his brother.  He was from the evil one because he murdered Abel.  Conversely, Jesus is the consummate example of engaging in a self-sacrificial act in order to love.
 
            Until we come to the realization that our tongues have the power of life and death, we will never learn what true righteousness is and can be.  But when we begin using our tongues as instruments of righteousness, then our actions will follow.  Perhaps the best place to begin is through prayer.  Praying for the welfare and best interests of those we dislike will set us on the road to becoming the Good Samaritan who actively helps instead of passing by on the other side.
            Loving God, I praise you for your Son who demonstrated genuine love.  Help me not to be like Cain who murdered his brother and hated him, but to be like Jesus so that all my words and actions reflect your righteousness – even toward those who do not like me.  Amen.

Daniel 9:1-19

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Daniel was one of the godliest persons in the whole of Scripture.  It was not so much because he was wise and insightful, savvy and ingenious.  He was certainly those things.  But what made Daniel godly was his tremendous sensitivity to sin.  It drove him to prayer.  It led him to fast.  It caused him to cry out to God with a great penitential confession.  Now, mind you, Daniel did not have all this concern because of his own personal failings; he was not the one running from God.  Yet, he identified so closely with his fellow Jews that he was totally distraught over their disloyalty to God’s covenant stipulations.  In other words, Israel simply did not care to obey God and they were not concerned to offer any kind of prayer of confession.  Daniel did for them what they either would not or could not do for themselves.
 
            The Lord Jesus told his disciples what truly characterizes a person of righteousness.  He said that God’s stamp of approval rests upon those who mourn (Matthew 5:4).  Genuinely godly people react emotionally over sin – not only theirs, but the sins of others.  Dwelling in the light of God’s presence will always cause us to discern the blackness of sin in all its foul depravity.  To not grieve over sin and disobedience is to not know God.
 
            Every human being is rushing toward eternity, and will be judged according to God’s gracious revealing of himself and his ways for humanity.  The person who grasps this reality cannot help but grieve over sin.  He mourns over the sins and the callous disregard of God in his nation.  He mourns over the greed, the hate, the cynicism, and the base lack of integrity around him.  Indeed, such a person mourns that there are so few mourners.
            Merciful God, I confess to you the sins of your people – their inattention to the things that are most important to you.  I grieve over the state of so many that do not know your grace and goodness.  I am ashamed before you that so few are sensitive to sin, even in your church.  To you, Lord God, belongs mercy and forgiveness.  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive.  To you do I plead on behalf of the sins of many so that your grace will become operative through Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Isaiah 26:1-15

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Today demonstrates and illustrates why I often make a big deal about following a more liturgical way of life through observing the Church Calendar or Christian Year.  How we live our lives through the time we have been given is not a neutral thing; it matters to God.  In my typical procrastinating manner, I just finished writing checks to the U.S. Treasury and the State of Wisconsin on this secular anti-holiday we have dubbed “Tax Day.”
 
            The Old Testament lectionary reading for today reminds me who is in charge, who I can really trust, and who is my true source of peace.  “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.  Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”  Keeping secular time usually stresses me out.  But remembering God by journeying with the life and work of Jesus through the Christian Year does not apply pressure to me; it unburdens me by re-orienting my sense of time, commitment, and responsibility back to where it ought to be: in Christ.
 
            I may not be rich.  Uncle Sam might squeeze more out of me than I like.  But I believe I am wealthy in a right, good, and important way.  I’ve been ordained to know and experience peace solely because of God’s love in Christ.  Tonight my head will rest with peace on my pillow, not because of a full bank account, but because I am united with Jesus in his death and resurrection.
            God of peace, you make level the path of your righteous people.  No matter what the circumstances might be, manifest your presence in me to such a degree that I will walk with Jesus with freedom and enjoyment through the enablement of your Spirit.  Amen.