April 11th One Year Bible Readings

Joshua 3:1-4:24:16 ~ Luke 14:7-35 ~ Psalm 80:1-19 ~ Proverbs 12:27-28
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Old Testament - Today is a major day in our readings as the Israelites cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land!  The significance of the events in today's readings cannot be overstated.  The Israelites 40 years in the Wilderness are over.  God's Promise made to Abraham is being fulfilled!

I am intrigued by verse 5 in Joshua chapter 3 today as the Israelites are about to cross the Jordan - "Then Joshua told the people, "Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you.""  I'm wondering what the Israelites did to purify themselves?  Some sort of ritual purification I'd guess - likely similar to the purification before meeting God at Mount Sinai, which included washing all their garments as well as themselves.  I also wonder what we do in our lives today to purify ourselves?  The first thought comes to mind that we are of course purified today completely by the blood of Christ.  But, then, I also know that once we have made the decision to follow Christ we will still sin on occasion.  And then, is purification needed?  Not from a salvation standpoint - but from simply having a pure heart before God?  I'm thinking that our purification today is confessing directly to God our sins and repenting.  And I think through this process God's grace arrives in a nanosecond and purifies us.  I think we're purified by God's grace today.  But, I think in part we need to recognize our own need for purification and confess to God our shortcomings and repent.  Let me know what you think on this in the Comments below if you'd like.  Again, I'm not looking at this from a salvation / justification perspective - more of the sanctification perspective.  I like the thought of purification - of being pure before God.  I pray for this for each of us.  No dark corners.  No secrets.  Just a pure heart before our heavenly Father.

A watercolor painting is below for verses 16 & 17 - "Then all the people crossed over near the city of Jericho. Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the LORD's covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by them. They waited there until everyone had crossed the Jordan on dry ground."

Bible.org's commentary on Joshua's readings today titled "Crossing the Jordan" is at this link.

New Testament - Wow.  Jesus' teachings in Luke chapter 14 verses 12 through 14 are so powerful - ""When you put on a luncheon or a dinner," he said, "don't invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will repay you by inviting you back. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the godly, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.""  How often do we do something for others - in hopes of getting something back in return?  Maybe it's simply praise?  Or maybe it's indeed an invite to something else in the future?  Kind of the whole idea of "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine."  Jesus tells us there is another way - care for others that cannot repay you.  Because God will repay you.  And who would you rather receive repayment from for your good deeds - humans or God?  Do you think that caring for the poor is giving to God?  Will you give to God?

Today in Luke chapter 14 verse 27 we read – "And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."  I don’t know about you, but I’m not so good at carrying “crosses.” I’m not so good at taking on perceived burdens. I’m not so good at suffering at all. I like to get my way. I often feel entitled to get a lot of good stuff in my life. . . And yet. . . Jesus says if I am to be his disciple I must carry my cross. And I must follow him. I think sometimes in our culture we want to keep up with our neighbors – be hip; be cool; be relevant; know the latest styles; wear the latest fashions; and this list can go on. Jesus tells us to carry our cross. And truly, this is the eternally hippest / coolest / most relevant decision any one of us can make – to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Nothing else matters.

Bible.org's commentary on Luke chapter 14's readings today titled "Table Talks" is at this link and commentary on today's readings titled "How to Hate your Wife" is at this link.

Psalms - Psalm 80 verse 19 today is powerful - "Turn us again to yourself, O LORD God Almighty. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved." I like that opening - "turn us again to you God."  I don't believe that God turns himself away from us - but that we do indeed turn ourselves away from God.  And like the Psalmist, maybe sometimes we literally need to pray that God will turn us back toward him.   I kind of come up with the imagery of us maybe sometimes being like pouty kids with our arms folded and our backs toward God - and God is looking at us lovingly - all we simply need to do is turn our face toward God and his grace will heal that pout and whatever is troubling us immediately...   If you need to, will you turn yourself again toward God? 

Proverbs - Today in Proverbs chapter 12 verse 28 we read - "In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality." What is the way of righteousness? How does one find the way of righteousness? How does one share with others the way of righteousness? Do you believe there is immortality along the way of righteousness?

Worship God:  The Israelites crossing the Jordan River in our readings in Joshua today reminded me of the beautiful song by Vusi Mahlasela called "River Jordan:"

Have you crossed the River Jordan?  Click here for your crossing! 

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture this week: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2 NIV

Love Your Neighbor:  Where Is God Ministries  

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  Based on our Luke 14:27 readings today about carrying our cross, how about you? Are you a disciple of Jesus carrying your cross?  Do you know what your cross is?  Do you want to know?  Are you following Him?  Are you letting worldly and pop-cultural cares fall to wayside of your life as you walk along the true path of following Jesus?  Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

Comments

[Lisa]

Being together! That is what Jesus wants. One as He and The Father are One.
Taking our two teenage sons to carpool this morning, I told them that I had forgotten my Driver's License on Wednesday when I went to pick them up from school. I immediately felt closer to Jesus and to them.
Did I have to tell them that? Well, after Jesus told me to, I did. I think just sharing things and confessing who you really are brings you closer to God and to others. And I believe that somewhere down the line, this simple confession will help me just because I did not keep it to myself.

[Jim]

Do you know what your cross is? Do you want to know?

INMO, instead of the "gifts" classes so popular today (proven to be wholly unreliable not to mention the only identified "gifts" are seemingly the gifts of casserole and back patting - no one is ever told they have prophecy, tongues, healing, etc), churches would be far more relevant is they had cross classes. Alas, the complete and total lack of cross classes (please, someone correct me if they've ever been to a cross class) would suggest that, in fact, no one wants to know (or to really be Christ's disciple). Note, this is not about carrying Christ's cross (to shoulder alone the full wrath of God's anger for our sins) just as being a Christian isn't about finding what's easiest to do - or, in other words, the "color of our parachute" (whether, say, it's to make casseroles or pat backs).

BUT, there is no greater question to be answered after we have accepted Christ - this is the starting point for the natural "what do I do now" question. Adam failed at this and so did not rebuke and teach Eve - thus, primary responsibility for sin entering the world did not fall on her (or Satan's) shoulders, but his! Barna has suggested that what is wrong with our churches is that we consume religion like any other product (we like the music and new friends) while wholly fail to invest ourselves. I have asked over 100 people why they chose the church (#1 answer was the music) they go to and only 2 answered, "because God made it clear that I had a job to do here."

Remember that Jesus’ parting words to the crowd he said this to was to keep their saltiness. Look at verses 34-35: “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.” Let us pray the Holy Spirit may instead help us to make it our life goal to carry our personal cross and follow Jesus. There are four parts of an honest apology: 1) name, 2) magic word (like sorry), 3) what you did wrong, AND 4) what you can do to make it up as well as your plan to stop sinning in the future (or, At-One-Ment). Without change, even a "good" cry is actually bad for us (science shows this). We only generate 1 year of Christian experience 30 times over while we grow older but never up.

[Art]

Amen, Lisa. God lives in relationships and in our openness and honesty (to ourselves, to others and to Him).

One of the things that struck me about today's reading was the metaphorical similarity between Josh 3:3-4 and how Christ leads the way for us:

"...move out from your positions and follow [the ark of the LORD]. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before."

We are called to "move out" from what may be a comfortable 'camp' in this world and trust in where God is leading us. As in that long-ago crossing of a geographic river, Christ reassures us that when we cross the ultimate river (death) - by definition a way we have never been before - and enter the good and bountiful land (heaven) that God has prepared for us (e.g., see John 14:1-4) we can have confidence that He has already crossed ahead of us and knows the way and that it is now, in Christ's redeeming work on the cross, quite safe for those who have faith.

I was also struck by how closely Psalm 80 relates the story that Jesus would be part of many years later (v 8, 14-17):

"You brought a vine out of Egypt... watch over this vine, the root of your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself... Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself."

('Son' and 'Son of Man' are not capitalized in my NIV, but it's not hard to see the significance of the passage if one does that.)

Have a blessed Saturday and Lord's Day, everyone!