Tag: Obeying God

Morning Musing: Matthew 5:44

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“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever tried to count all the commands in the Bible? You could probably google it. I’m sure someone has made at least a good faith effort at figuring out the number. I suppose it could also be a bad faith effort as well where a critic is trying to justify their criticism, but you get a count all the same. Why all the commands? I mean, God is God, but why can He just let us figure things out and live our lives on our own? It gets frustrating to run into one of His commands every time we start running down a particular road. Does it really even matter if we try? Let’s take a few minutes this morning to think about it.

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 2:24-26

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“The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’ He said to them, ‘Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry — how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence — which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests — and also gave some to his companions?’”‬ ‭(CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

One of the standard excuses or arguments kids have always made with their parents when trying to either justify something they’ve done or else plead for something they want is this: “But all the other kids are doing it!” The simple logic here is that if everyone else is doing it, then it must not be a bad thing to do. Therefore, they should get to do it as well. What we know as older and wiser parents (right???) is that right and wrong is not set by group consensus, and so what all the other kids are doing is not going to have any bearing on what we do. Why am I thinking about this today? Because it seems like Jesus was using this kind of reasoning here and I’m not sure what to do about it.

Continue reading “Digging in Deeper: Mark 2:24-26” →

Morning Musing: Isaiah 62:1

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“I will not keep silent because of Zion, and I will not keep still because of Jerusalem, until her righteousness shines like a bright light and her salvation, like a flaming torch.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Do you know who the most impatient person in the world is? A four-year-old with something to say. I think we all know that feeling of having a message burning in our chest and needing so badly to get it out that we almost can’t stand it. As frustrating as it can be living with someone like that, we can all admit that it’s a miserable feeling. Do you know who else has that feeling beyond young kids who haven’t learned well how to evaluate the actual importance of what they have to say? God. 

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Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 3:2-5

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“And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel; and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David’s wife. These were born to David in Hebron.”  (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

This is one of those detail notes that is easy to ignore but which appears fairly often in the history books of the Old Testament. It’s a list of names, half of which you can’t pronounce unless you really stop and think carefully through all the letters. Generally speaking, once we’ve gotten past reading Hop on Pop, we don’t like having to sound out unfamiliar words, so we skip them and don’t think about it any further. And while, to be honest, we can do this with many of the genealogy lists we find, this one is worth giving a bit more of our attention. Rest the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 19:5

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“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my reassured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine…”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

One of the things we are called to (and by “we,” I mean “everybody”) over and over again in the Scriptures is obedience.  We live in a day, though, when obedience is not a popular idea.  We want to be free to do as we please.  We want to loosen the restrictions on ourselves so we can pursue our hearts’ desires without any limitations.  Nobody likes the idea of obedience…except for when they do. Read the rest…