Category: Year C

Romans 7:14-25

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “I don’t understand why I act the way I do.  I don’t do what I know is right.  I do the things I hate.”  Paul’s existential angst is a timeless description of our common human condition.  We all can relate to the seeming inability to do what is right in so many situations.  It can really drive us nuts, even to a constant low-level discouragement that underlies almost everything we do.
 
            Paul’s prescription for dealing with this does not rely on law.  That’s right.  Paul understood that putting our willpower and effort into obeying commands gets us nowhere because we will eventually fail.  The law just shows us how bad off we really are in this world.  We are a bundle of contradictions, doing good, then bad, and flip-flopping back and forth with great frustration.
 
            “What a miserable person I am.  Who will rescue me from this body of that is doomed to die?  Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.”  Sheer willpower and obedience will not work because what we really need is a Savior who will deliver us from ourselves.  Grace, then, is the operative power that changes lives, and not law.  Freedom from the tyranny of our misplaced desires comes from Christ’s forgiveness through the cross.  Like a lover enamored with his beloved, our desires become oriented toward Jesus for his indescribable gift to us.  That is the strength of grace.
 

 

            Saving God, I thank you for delivering me from sin, death, and hell through your Son, the Lord Jesus.  May your Holy Spirit apply the work of grace to my life every day so that I can realize practical freedom from all that is damaging and destructive in my soul.  Amen.

Matthew 10:16-25

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves,” said Jesus to his disciples.  Sometimes we completely lose sight that Jesus was a troublemaker and warned us about there being trouble for us in the world.  It’s not that Jesus was intentionally pressing everyone’s buttons; he was just being himself, and that sent a whole lot of people gnashing their teeth at him.  Our Lord Christ got all up into people’s grill and confronted them with the bold assertion that people can only be rightly related to God through himself, on his terms.
 
            Therefore we should expect opposition and trouble.  We ought to expect that we are going to disrupt and upset our families, our co-workers, and those around us.  It’s not that we are intentionally obnoxious; by simply loving Jesus and seeking to follow him we are going to upset people – and that’s okay.  Facing trouble is really not the worst thing to be experienced; to be separated from God is the most terrible thing that could ever happen to us.
 
            It’s okay to rock the boat, shake the tree, upset the fruit basket, stir the pot, and make waves if you are doing it because you are committed to God’s will.  So, count the cost.  Give your life away.  In doing so, you will actually find it.
 

 

            Holy God, you are jealous for your Name to be honored and adored.  My life is yours.  Use it for your glory in this fallen world.  If trouble and persecution occur, I’ll consider it a privilege to suffer for Jesus.  Amen.

Ephesians 5:6-20

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “Act like people with good sense and not like fools.  These are evil times, so make every minute count.  Don’t be stupid.  Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do… let the Spirit fill your life.” (CEV)
 
            If someone walked off the roof of their house we would, at the least, call them stupid, if not completely out of their head.  To think that we could defy gravity and just walk on air is more than ignorance.  And to believe we can live any old way we want and think we can defy God’s Word, Christ’s Way, and the Spirit’s leading with no consequence is plain stupid.
 
            Having some spiritual common sense means reading the Scriptures, looking to God in prayer, and asking for the Spirit’s help and filling.  Find out what God wants you to do.  Actively seek it.  If we don’t, we will end up in trouble, as sure as ignoring gravity.
 
            Every minute we spend in thoughtless routine with no attention paid to what God wants erodes our moral fiber, compromises our integrity, and puts us in a position to ethically fail.  But when we are filled with the Spirit through careful attention to God we submit to one another out of reverence to Christ, and sing without mumbling to each other of God’s inherent goodness.  Would you rather be foolish or wise; morally degenerate or ethically virtuous; vapidly stupid or sensibly smart?  Get in the Word and be filled with the Spirit.
 

 

            Wise God, may your Holy Spirit fill my life in such a way that I live intelligently, ethically, and responsibly.  I turn my back on being as dumb as a cow, and turn to Christ as my model and my Savior.  Amen.

1 John 2:7-11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “If we claim to be in the light and hate someone, we are still in the dark.  But if we love others, we are in the light, and we don’t cause problems for them.  If we hate others, we are living and walking in the dark.” 
 
            Simply based on this Scripture alone, it ought to be abundantly clear that hate really has no place in the Christian’s life.  Hate is never justified for any one person or group of people.  Love, however, is the consummate Christian virtue.  The highest of all truth in Christianity is the grace that is bestowed on us through the love of God.  We, in turn, reflect our Lord’s grace by loving others, no matter their gender, race, creed, or ethnicity.
 
            We all have individuals, maybe even a particular group of persons whom we do not like.  Perhaps we even despise them.  The Apostle John throws the burden of change to fall on those who claim the name of Christ and choose to hate, and not on those for whom we dislike.
 
            So, what will you do today to deal with this Scripture?  Will you begin or continue the difficult process of forgiveness?  How will you come to be ever more characterized by love?  Will you ask God to shine his light on the shadows of your heart?  For those who are in the dark do not see their flaws, but those in the light of the Son see clearly their need for God’s help.
 

 

            Glorious God, you are right and just in all you do.  Let your love shine through me today and every day so that the Name of Jesus is known as gracious and good.  Amen.