January 25, 2008

Read Exodus 12-13 and Matthew 16

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I once read that if you do something for 21 days in a row, it becomes a habit, an automatic if you will. I tried it with making my bed, and it worked, til I stopped for 21 days. But it's sticking with the Bible reading and blogging.

This was an exciting passage in Exodus today; we see the founding of some Jewish traditions such as their calendar and the Passover. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure we're doing a seder (sp?) meal this year in Venice with a real live Messianic rabbi, so if anyone is interested in attending, it can be arranged, just lmk.

How very sad that it had to come down to something so drastic as the death of all the firstborn. Alas, sometimes God has to break us to show He is sovereign. There is someone I know right now who is heading in that direction; (Not anyone here) please pray for them, because when/if the Lord finally loses patience, it's going to be very sad, but just. Pray for me and for each other that we would never come to that point. I wonder how many Egyptians went with the Hebrews when they went. I like to think I would have.

Exodus 13:21 John Courson wrote a neat devotional called "A Pillar By Day." I read it every night when I'm brushing my teeth. It's all out of the Penteteuch and shows just how Christ is all over the OT, like with the example of the passover lamb. I noticed how God commanded that none of its bones were to be broken; the parallels are fascinating.

Matthew 16:8-10 Ha! Busted! What was I saying yesterday???

16:15 PD recently spoke on this verse. (See? I'm paying attention even when I'm coloring). It's a great way to open doors with people to talk about the Lord, and I've been using it....and getting mostly disappointing results. Ever see that thing they do on TV where they go around and ask random people on the street the most basic questions and only a few even have any idea, say, who Grover Cleveland was, or what the words to our National Anthem are? Well, it's been the same with Jesus, although the ramifications of not knowing Him are far graver than not being able to yerdle "The Star-Spangled Banner." Who is Jesus? A good man, a prophet, a cartoon flying superhero-style on an air freshener with the words "Jesus Saves" on it. I get pat answers: "He's my savior", flip answers: "He's my homeboy" but I can't say that one person yet that I've spoken to Not anyone I know from church) has seemed to have a knowledge of Who He is. So, instead of developing a superiority complex, as I have been prone to do, we get to tell them, even with words if necessary.

v 18-19 What an amazing blessing for Peter. He was so flawed; we all know he gets chicken for awhile later. We do too sometimes, but Jesus still loves us, even when we break His heart.

V 25 This verse, besides being the inspiration for a tobymac song, has home with me a lot lately. I have gotten to a point in my life where it seems I'm "getting" more; more education, more earning potential, more opportunity, more stuff, but it means very little to me; I know I have nothing without Him. There is a literal detachment going on; things that were once so important to me no longer are. I was talking to a friend last night and told them, "I cannot imagine one thing, short of my kids, that I would even hesitate to give up for Jesus." And even them, I gladly surrender them to Him, though it would break my heart to lose them. They're only on loan to me; they're His anyway. There came a time in my life that I lost that which was most dear to my heart at the time, something I clutched onto with everything in me, something I was sure I could not live without, a heart wrenching pain that I thought would never end, and I can scarcely believe I'm saying this now, but losing it was a blessing because it brought me closer to Christ. And once you've given up or lost something you thought you never could, everything else is easier. It brings you to a place where you think, "Well, if I could go through that and live to tell about it....God, take whatever you want out of my life; it could never be that bad."Unless, as I said, it was my kids, but even then, I would know that one day I would come out of it; the sun would shine again because it did with this....whoa, that's pretty deep.

V 28 I'm interested in having this verse explained to me. Are we having another answer session in February? :-)

Love & Blessings,
Chris <><

January 25, 2008 at 5:44 PM

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