Category: Year B

Psalm 115

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            We don’t talk too much about idolatry or idol worship anymore, even in the church.  After all, nobody in Western society really bows down to human-made little idols like in other cultures and prays to inanimate objects.  Or do we?  Most Westerners think that money talks; that sports rules; and, that others should bow to American ways.  We even have places of worship for our idols on Wall Street, the local mall, and the stadium.
 
            I’m not down on shopping, making money, watching the next NBA playoff game, or American democracy.  It’s just that we are fooling ourselves if we think that idolatry speech is not relevant to us.  We replace the worship of God and Christ’s Church with all kinds of things.  Our hearts do not always love God with all our mind and strength.  Like the pagans of old, we are just as prone to trust in products of our own construction in order to get our sense of security and fulfillment.
 
            The simple spiritual practice of giving glory to God for every good thing in our lives can help inoculate us from the propensity to trust in our own ingenuity and production.  In short, we need God – all the time.  Whatever practices we can put in place to remind us of that truth will bring the kind of blessing that we often search for in other gods.  Starting the day with inhaling the words “more of you” and exhaling with the words “less of me” gives God his due place in our lives and puts us on a trajectory of giving God glory throughout the day.
            Great God Almighty, I will bless your name today and every day.  Wean me away from the idols of my heart so that I will learn to trust you more and more in daily life.  To the glory of Jesus I pray.  Amen.

Acts 1:1-11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Today is the recognition and celebration of the Ascension of our Lord.  Each year the Church Calendar marks the fortieth day after Easter when Jesus ascended to heaven in full view of the disciples’ wide eyes.  Unlike Christmas and Easter, the Ascension is quite often overlooked by the church.  Yet, it has profound theological significance and is a redemptive event as much as any in the life of Christ.
 
            The Ascension of our Lord means that Jesus is indeed King over all creation, exalted above the earth and its inhabitants.  Since Jesus is ascended, glorified, and exalted, Christians have the confident hope that he will return and that they will experience bodily resurrection along with him.  During the interim, our Lord is busy interceding for us at the right hand of the Father, attentive to our prayers and our earthly situation.  We are neither alone, nor without help.
 
            Christ’s Ascension also means that Pentecost is right around the corner, when the power of our risen Lord will come upon every believer for service and living the Christian life.    The appropriate response to this special day is to rejoice and to submit; we can celebrate the reality that King Jesus is Lord of all, and we can humbly give our hearts to Christ’s gracious and benevolent rule in our lives.  So, we continue to pray that God’s kingdom will come and his will be done here and now because Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven.
            King Jesus, I recognize and celebrate your powerful and merciful rule over your creation.  Help me to so know your gracious leadership that in everything I say and do Jesus is exalted and glorified.  Thank you for this great grace to me in making it possible to participate with you in your kingdom.  Amen.

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.