January 11, 2008 Reading Schedule

Read Genesis 27-28 and Mathew 8:18-34

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'll be mercifully brief today....I think.

Matthew 18:19-22 I used to think this exchange was kind of cruel on Jesus' part. In fact, before I was a believer, I read it and thought, "How culd this guy be so heartless to tell this guy not to even go to his dad's funeral?" Well, the passage has since been explained to me, which I'll let PD handle if anyone wants to hear it, cuz he'll do it better. Bottom line is: the cost of following Christ is high. It requires us to die to ourselves, set aside our feelings, yes, even our attachments, for the One who is to be most important in our lives. It's hard sometimes....I have struggled terribly with letting go of material wants, habbits, and most of all, people, to be obedient. Jesus HAS to be the most important thing in our lives. We're to love Him more than our spouses, our kids (ouch!), our families, our friends. If someone is dead, nothing more can be done for them. Harsh, but reality. As PD wrote several days down, he is at his aunt's funeral not for his aunt, but for his family, because his aunt doesn't need anything anymore. Sure, there is a time to mourn (see Ecclesiastes and the Byrds) but no one's looking down, or up, as the case may be, going, "Wow, isn't that sweet; they threw such a nice funeral for me." Or in my case, "Great! They included karaoke, the Gospel, and a salad bar!" We need to leave the dead things of our life behind, and follow Christ, not looking back.

Matthew 18:28 I believe in another gospel, it's one guy instead of 2, who was healed....right? I believe this is one of those "contradictions" unbelievers like to talk about. The question again: Does it affect my salvation if Jesus healed one guy or two in this particular incident? No. What kills me about the whole event, is whether it was one guy or two, the town kicked Jesus out instead of being grateful that he healed this guy(s)! Why? Oh, their pigs were more important....that was their livelihood. The almighty dollar is more important than a couple of people. Easy to point fingers,Chris, but what if you were out of a job and 2 people were healed? Would my focus be on rejoicing or lamenting the loss of my job? To be honest, I don't like the answer....I need to be more others-centered. God will ensure my survival, and imgine what He would have done for those pig herders if they'd repented and turned to Him! Their loss would have been replaced by unimaginable gain! Oh, they missed out. I don't want to miss out. May I always be focused on giving God the glory, no matter what the circumstances. OUCH....conviction!!!!

Genesis 27:4 A certain lady who will remain nameless, but her initials are LM and you *might* know her....makes an awesome venison, oh, chili, stew, just about anything. I get why Isaac was all about the meal!

V 10 Rebecca was kind of deceptive here, which kind of disappoints me as I expect her to be perfect though I am not. I may not like her methods, but the bottom line is Jesus's lineage is through Jacob, not Esau...and His plan is perfect, no matter how it comes about.

V 27-Smell is one of our strongest senses and is very much associated with memories. When Isaac says his son's clothing smells of the fields, I can almost imagine what he meant....aside from the probable body odor....there is nothing like the smell of the good earth, the fresh air, the outdoors, as I recently got to experience in Virginia during late fall.... can I get an amen?

28:11 When I was a kid, I thought Jacob used the rock as a pillow. Incidentally, remember the Bible I mentioned during the Adam and Eve blogs??? I found the exact Bible at a thrift store for a dollar! I'm so excited! Renee and I are reading through it as we read through here. She did ask me why Jesus was blonde and looked like a surfer and all I could come up with was, "Honey, it was the 70's."

Oh, that thing about being brief? Well, I lied. Sorry. :-)

Happy weekend, everyone!

January 11, 2008 at 6:01 PM

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