August 10th One Year Bible Readings

Ezra 10:1-44 ~ 1 Corinthians 6:1-20 ~ Psalm 31:9-18 ~ Proverbs 21:3
~ Click here to read today's Scripture on BibleGateway.com ~ // Mobile Site Link
~ Listen to today's Scripture on OneYearAudioBible.org or DailyAudioBible.com (podcast) ~

Old Testament - We have some powerful readings in Ezra chapter 10 today, as we read about people publicly confessing their sin!  An image is below for verses 10 through 12 - "Then Ezra the priest stood and said to them: "You have sinned, for you have married pagan women. Now we are even more deeply under condemnation than we were before. Confess your sin to the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do what he demands. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from these pagan women." Then the whole assembly raised their voices and answered, "Yes, you are right; we must do as you say!"

New Testament - Today in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 we will read: "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside their body, but you who sins sexually sins against your own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." These are powerful verses. And verses that seem to fly in the face of much of what we are sold in today's culture. Reflect on these verses. Do you believe that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Do you believe that you are not your own? Do you realize that you were bought at a price by Jesus on the cross? If you see sexual immorality heading your way, do you flee from it? Will you flee from it? What are the consequences if you do not flee from sexual immorality? Do you believe that sexual immorality is a sin you commit against your very own body? (self-abuse, if you will – though, I strongly believe others around you suffer from this sin against your own body as well. Nobody sins in a vacuum. It affects everyone we interact with. It affects everyone in our community. Think that sin is a selfish act?) Do you realize that when you sin sexually, you are sinning against a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells? Will you flee from sexual immorality? Please - literally - flee from it.

Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in First Corinthians titled "Courting Sin" is at this link and "The Relationship between Spirituality and Sexual Morality" is at this link.

Psalms - Have you ever felt like Psalm 31 verse 10.... "I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Misery has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within."  Do you believe that God can rescue you from this?  Will you pray to God to save you from this?  A good book related to this Psalm is C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed.  Has anyone read this?  It is a very short book.  But, wow, it is a powerful short book!  It is a memoir C.S. Lewis wrote after the death of his wife and it is so incredibly thoughtful and moving as C.S. Lewis works through his grief and his questions for and about God.  This verse kind of reminds me of this book.... though not really...  it seems like C.S. Lewis didn't quite get as down as the level of this verse.  Anyhow - great book I think for any Christian who has lost a loved one.  Let me know reviews in the Comments section below if you've read A Grief Observed, or know others who have?  Has it been consoling for you during a time of loss? Also, more recently, Barb Roberts' new book Helping Those Who Hurt: A Handbook for Caring and Crisis I know has been very beneficial to my wife and several others who are in a counseling or Stephen's Ministry role.

    

Proverbs - Proverbs 21 verse 3 is powerful today - "The LORD is more pleased when we do what is just and right than when we give him sacrifices."  Have you ever had a stage in your life where you got this Proverb backwards?  Have you ever been so focused on "giving sacrifices" to God that you forgot to simply do what is just and right?  This reminds me of the Pharisees in Jesus' day.  They were focused on their religious duties - on giving proper sacrifices to God on the proper days and times.  But in the meantime they forgot to simply do what was just and right to those around them.  And Jesus called them out on it.  And if we're not careful, Jesus can call us out on it too.  Which is good.  A rebuke can be good to bring us back into a loving relationship with God and other people.  Today in your life, are you more focused on simply doing what is just and right before God and people, or are you perhaps more focused these days on "giving sacrifices" to God?  Which do you think is more pleasing to God?  Perhaps this painting of "The Good Samaritan" by the English Victorian painter George Frederic Watts from the year 1852 is helpful for us to reflect upon, along with this Proverb:

YouTube: Today's Proverb and the great painting above reminded me of Casting Crowns song "If We are the Body."  Here's a live version of this powerful song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYbGMQ5Y3Uo

Are you part of the Body? Click here to join God's Body!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on three verses of Scripture today: "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins people commit are outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 TNIV

Prayer Point: Pray that you flee from sexual immorality. Pray that you will run to Jesus in prayer if/when sexual temptation comes your way. Pray that you will not sin against your own body, a temple of the Holy Spirit (if you are in a saving relationship with Jesus). Pray that you will honor God with your body. Pray that you will never ever look at pornography under any circumstances.

Comments from You:  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

[Ramona]

Ezra 10:1-44

I have a question. If the people had not seen an weeping Ezra throw himself down on the ground in front of the Temple, would they have ever confessed their sin? Very rarely will we confess our sins on our own. Either the effects of what we have done which makes us ashamed or someone we admire confronts us or someone who loves us dearly takes courage and risks the relationship by telling us the truth about ourselves.

I’m assuming, perhaps wrongly, that the review of each person’s circumstance and family situation took about three months because the leadership wanted to see if those who intermarried had been converted by their wives or were their wives converted to worship the God of Israel. My assumption stems from the knowledge that several prominent Jewish men, David specifically, had a non-Jew in their lineage. Ruth, who is honored by and in the Old Testament book of the same name, was the great-grandmother of David was a Moabite by birth. However, I belive the day she told her mother-in-law, Naomi, these words,
"Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people, and your God will become my God. (Rth 1:16 NET.)

Ruth no longer was a Moabite by belief, but a Jew.
I Corinthians 6:1-20
Flee from “sexual sin.” Why don’t we? I think we confuse this command to flee with what James wrote (4:7) telling us to resist, but we have it wrong. The “fleeing” is not from the devil nor is lust a product of the devil, the lust belongs to us. James says to submit to God, resist the devil and he (the devil) will flee, not our lusts. I like how the 18th verse of I Corinthians 6:18 reads:
Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. (1Co 6:18 AMP).

While we stand around in the bar, at the party, in the club trying to “resist” our lusts when we should be fleeing, we succumb to the passions that are hidden deep within us that is why we find it difficult to stop having sex, viewing pornography, etc. While we stand around “resisting” the images, the assault on our mind is being fed.

From James:
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. (Jam 1:13-15 NET.)

It also may be helpful and give greater understanding when we know that the word translated “sexual sin” in the NLT, and fornication in KJ, in the 18th verse is Greek root where we get, pornography. But there is more the words also means idolatry. Sexual sin and/or fornication is the physical representation or act of a spiritual violation, idolatry.
G4202 (Stong’s Number)
πορνεία
porneia
por-ni'-ah
From G4203; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively idolatry: - fornication.

Psalm 31:9-18

Many are they that rise up against me …but my trusting is in God. O, if I could walk that walk daily, hourly, minute by minute, second by second. If I put away my fears and turned not to the left or right but truly relied on God and His Word, I would be invincible.

Proverbs 21:3

The LORD is more pleased when we do what is just and right than when we give him sacrifices.

Reading Mike’s comments I am struck by the backwardness of us folk. We would rather give the sacrifice then stop the sinning because we love the sin. It is just that easy and uncomplicated. What we hate is the consequences of the sin, which is why we offer up sacrifices. But we offer them up not because we are truly sorry, godly sorrow, but because we are trying to appease God so that He will get rid of the consequences.

A sacrifice is something we do when we have not obeyed. Our sin is an out and out act of rebellion against God. I am about to make a statement that may get “parents” angry with me, but I’m a parent too so I am indicting myself because I have said this to my children,

“I’m sacrificing so that you can have a better life,”

or some such variation on the theme. If we are sacrificing so that our progeny can go to a better school, have nice things and the list goes on, then we are calling our children a product of our sin, yikes. Moses implemented sacrifices and offerings. For many of us, myself included, our children are products of illicit sexual activities; however, they should no be saddled with the guilt of our disobedience and manipulated to behave a certain way because we have to go “sacrifice,” they did not ask to be born.

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[Janet]

I don't like that they were commanded to divorce the pagan women and send them away along with their children. How were they supposed to survive? It wasn't their fault. I could accept and make sense of this commandment if the Jewish men had to at least make provisions for them, kind of like the legal child support laws we have today. IDK, maybe they did and if so, why wasn't it recorded in this book?

After all, God reassured Hagar that He would take care of her and Ishmael after they were sent away and even give them many descendants. It just seems so harsh to treat other human beings like this, without taking any responsibility for their care.

Sin is doubly ugly, when the consequences of someone else's sin falls on the innocent. This kind of stuff in the Bible makes it extra difficult if I am trying to witness to a non-Christian.