Category: Daily Bible Reading Blog

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

Hebrews 4

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            “I’ll rest when I die” was a phrase one of my congregants used whenever he was encouraged to stop moving for a while and rest.  He is now gone, having died at a relatively young age.  It is common in American culture to define rest as an almost optional act.  Indeed, we do not look on it as an act at all.  Many people feel guilt when they sit still, living with the belief that if they are not constantly busy and doing something that they are lazy.
 
            The kind of rest that the author of Hebrews was talking about was not just a future time of finally sitting in some kind of celestial recliner after a life of constant work.  “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.  Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”  It is not just contemporary people who have a problem with Sabbath; the ancient Jews did not always practice it with strict observance.
 
            I think we need to ask ourselves why we have this tendency to interpret “rest” as only occurring after a lot of hard work has happened.  If Sabbath rest has relevance to us now, perhaps our cultural model of work>rest is really to be reversed as rest>work.  God created humans on the sixth day.  God rested on the seventh day.  So did Adam and Eve.  That means the first people rested before they even had a chance to begin working the garden that God created.
 
            Maybe instead of inventing new ways to overfill our schedules and erase any margin from our day to day existence, we ought to create ways of ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives.  It just could be that our society’s epidemic of obesity, disease, and disorders come more from our inability to rest than anything else.  God does not only call us to an active Christian life; he calls us to rest, as well.
            God of Sabbath, just as you rested on the seventh day, help me to alter my life in such a way as to engraft new avenues of rest into my busy schedule.  In doing so, may I connect with you more deeply and find greater health and fulfillment in myself and my relationships.  To the glory of Jesus Christ I pray.  Amen.

Psalm 107:1-16

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The psalmist calls upon others to give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.  He furthermore exhorts those who have been redeemed to say so, to declare God’s praises for delivering them from trouble.  Whatever the circumstances and however difficult the experiences may have been, the believer is not to remain in silence but is to publicly thank the LORD.
 
            Speaking our spiritual stories to others is important both for those who share them, and for those who listen so that the community of the redeemed will be strengthened in their faith and emboldened to also share.  Far too many Christians are reticent to talk about what God has done or is doing in their lives.  Shame or embarrassment or a host of other reasons might prevent us from being vulnerable enough to let others in on God’s work within.  But the psalmist does not let us off the hook, even if we feel we are not articulate or are too afraid to speak.
 
            We all likely have had the privilege of hearing another person share his/her heart and experience of hardship and God’s deliverance.  It was uplifting, encouraging, and helpful.  Let’s not keep our stories to ourselves.  Stories are meant to be told, not hidden.  Bringing to light our faith journeys is healing for all, as well as declaring that Jesus is the light of the world.
            Great God of deliverance, I praise you that I have a story to tell of your grace and faithfulness.  Help me to tell of your mercy in my life so that the name of Jesus will be exalted, and that your people might be built up in the faith.  Amen.

John 3:1-13

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            “You must be born again.”  In the evangelical world this phrase is arguably the most famous and used statement in the whole of Holy Scripture.  Unfortunately, it is often reduced to a cliché, an almost formula-like approach to the Christian life.  Simply ask Jesus into your heart and you can be born again, that is, go to heaven.  The problem, however, lies in the fact that this is not really what Jesus said in John 3.  
             Jesus ministered in a religious world that needed deep transformation because it had become, uh-hem, reduced to formulas and clichés.  When Jesus stated that people need to be born again, he meant that there is a need for new life – not behavior modification, not re-arranging some things on the calendar, and not some more focused goals.  No, people need new life.  They need it so bad that it is like being born again.
             Just as a baby cannot create herself, make herself grow in the womb, and give birth to herself, so no one can experience total life change, being born again, on their own ingenuity, power, or ability.  We ought never to expect anything less than complete life transformation that comes through a total spiritual awakening, like being born again.  
             If that sounds downright radical, well, it is.  It is meant to be.  Jesus’ words to Nicodemus were so revolutionary to him that he had a hard time swallowing it.  But Jesus never dumbed-down spiritual truth in order to make it more palatable or understandable; he insisted on life change, and he taught it and lived it through preaching the kingdom of God and healing all kinds of people. 
             Only God can do such a work of bringing new life.  We are completely dependent upon the Spirit to birth us into a new reality through the person and work of Jesus.  We are also totally reliant upon the Spirit to use us as spiritual mid-wives, helping to birth new spiritual babies into God’s world.
             Saving God, you sent your Son, the Lord Jesus, to this world in order to give it new life.  Save me, O God, from myself and give me the change I need.  Help me to share this message of transformation with others who need to be born again, as well.  Amen.

Genesis 9:8-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

            The older I get the less I remember.  I often tell the older members of my church when they have a “senior moment” that they have a lot more to remember from a lifetime of experiences and memories than everyone else does.  I am in the position now of having to remember so much that if I do not write it down it likely will not happen.  I am sure that on some level you can relate because we all have the common human experience of being forgetful.

             We do not think of God having a problem with remembering.  But even he put reminders in front of himself in order to remember.  The story of Noah is familiar enough to most people so that we remember it.  The world was evil.  God decided to destroy the creatures of the earth because all were so sinful.  He sent a flood, but spared Noah and his family.  Afterwards, God made a covenant between himself and all the earth:  he would never again send a calamitous flood.  Here is what God said about that covenant:  “I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.”
             Maybe memory and remembering has less to do with actual forgetfulness and more with priority, commitment, and keeping something continually in front of us.  God did not set a rainbow in the sky because he believed he might have a senior moment someday; he put a sign in the sky because having symbols that point to things are important, even for God.  We put pictures of our kids on our desks not because we will forget what they look like, but to keep them in front of us throughout the day because we love them.  We keep tokens from travels or vacations in prominent places at home not because we will ever forget the experience, but because something significant happened or was decided in that time that was important to us.
             The things and the symbols we place all around us have significance.  God wants us to remember him, his Word, his saving actions, and, most of all, his Son which is why we have tangible symbols of bread and cup in order to remember the redemptive events of Jesus.  Christ is to be continually in front of us, our priority and our love as we live from day to day.
             Gracious God, you have made covenants with your people in order to remember them and be committed to them.  I desire to remember you in everything I do and say, especially the Lord Jesus who loved me and gave himself for me so that my priorities will be straight and your mercy will be shown.  Amen.