~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Isaiah 43:14-45:10 ~ Ephesians 3:1-21
Psalm 68:1-18 ~ Proverbs 24:1-2
Old Testament - Allright, Isaiah's word's in chapter 44 verses 18 & 19 today are classic Old Testament very direct words! Great stuff: "Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think. The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, "Why, it's just a block of wood! I burned half of it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat. How can the rest of it be a god? Should I bow down to worship a chunk of wood?" I wonder about us in our lives today - do we create idols of our own today? Maybe our idols are not made out of chunks of wood. But do we create idols perhaps out of other people? Do we create idols out of our material goods? Do we create idols out of our careers? Do we create idols out of how we spend our time? Are you bowing down and worshiping any "chunks of wood" in your life today? Will you throw that worthless idol out of your mind and into the fire?!
Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in Isaiah titled "Dead Idols or the Living God" is at this link and "The Knowledge of the Lord" is at this link.
New Testament - Wow, Paul's opening verse 1 in chapter 3 of Ephesians today reminded me that Paul literally wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus while he was in prison in Rome! "I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus because of my preaching to you Gentiles." I think if we keep this fact in mind, Paul's words in this letter become all that more poignant and powerful. Could you ever imagine yourself being a prisoner of Jesus because of your preaching the Word to others? I think this is something we should really consider. Would you go to jail for Jesus? Why or why not? If you would go to jail for Jesus, then I challenge you to consider ways in your life that God may be asking to you indeed be like Paul "in chains for the Gospel" - even if you won't "literally" be going to jail any time soon. (I pray not!) Maybe those chains are that you don't spend as much time doing something that is counter-productive to the Gospel. Like watching TV, for example. In fact, (tangent alert...) I'm not sure if everyone caught this news story last week, but people in the U.S. now have more TV's in their homes on average than people in their homes! The TV's outnumber us! This is scary to consider. There are now 2.73 TV sets in the typical U.S. home and 2.55 people. I am not kidding... check out the news story at this link. This story also says the average person watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of TV per day... which I honestly cannot believe, but it says they did research on all of this... This is one of my soapboxes I get on a couple of times each year - please, please, don't watch TV. I mean, yes, I realize this is a bold statement to make in our world where TV's outnumber people in our homes. But I mean it. Don't watch it. I have not watched network TV (or certainly cable for that matter) since 1998 - other than seeing it in very brief passing at a friend's house or at a restaurant / airport / etc. - you can't avoid TV's these days! There were 5 years (1998 to 2003) where I didn't have a TV in my home at all. A few years ago I got a TV and DVD / VCR for some movies, but I question that decision. I literally never watch even DVD's these days. And you know what's amazing, once you unplug from the TV and cable world you truly do not miss it! And you're not being fed all the garbage it preaches and sells to you. I'm even clueless on the movies out in the theaters these days. Maybe this seems like extremist religious kookiness to some... :) But I think if you met me in person you'd think I'm pretty normal. I just have no clue about American Idol or reality TV shows or the crazy sad stuff I hear that is on cable these days. I'm clueless about it! And it's an amazing blessing. I apologize for going off on this huge tangent here about TV. But if anyone reading this blog posting literally watches 4+ hours of TV a day, I beg you to at least cut that in half! (though 0.0 hours of TV a day would be my long term prescription for anyone reading this...) I don't know. As I type this all I am thinking that maybe I really am bizarre. The interesting thing to share with you here is that I got rid of having a TV in my place in 1998 - 2 years before I became a Christian in 2000! So it wasn't really even a religious decision at the time. It was the realization that I probably was watching 2 to 4 hours of TV before 1998 and I was rotting my brain with the ads and sexuality and violence on TV and I was literally wasting my life away. So, I guess I'll get off my soapbox here... :) And I'll say that if you think not watching TV at all would be like being in jail, well, then I'd say that's good! So back to my question above - would you go to jail for Jesus? Would you turn off the TV for Jesus? For good?
I hope you don't mind me sharing these creative images above about this TV rant... :) Feel free to let me know in the Comments below if I'm off my rocker on this one! Maybe this is just my little issue that I should keep to myself... I think that news article last week sent me over the edge... :)
Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in Ephesians titled "Paul's Imprisonment, his Prayers, and his Praise" is at this link.
Psalms - I always like the idea and reminder to sing to God! Do you sing to God at places other than church? Maybe in your car? Maybe at home with the headphones on? Do you "sing" to God with the way you live your life? Here's verse 4 in Psalm 68 today which I love - "Sing praises to God and to his name! Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds. His name is the LORD-- rejoice in his presence!" How do you sing your praises to the Lord each day? Is it done as passionately as this fella below? :)
Proverbs - Proverbs 24 verses 1 & 2 today are powerful - "Don't envy evil people; don't desire their company. For they spend their days plotting violence, and their words are always stirring up trouble." Have you ever found yourself desiring the company of evil people? Have you ever found yourself envying them? The bottom line to both of these things are these three words: waste of time. Really. Spending your time with people who do evil - those whose words stir up trouble - is simply a waste of your time. Envying evil people? Waste of your time as well. Don't waste your time! Our life is short and precious. Spend your time loving and serving God and other people. I have to share with you here that being careful who you spend your time with can be very challenging in some ways. Obviously I think all of us can see the wisdom of staying away from people who are truly evil. But what about people who are somewhere in between being holy and being evil - which, oh, includes all of us... :) There are obviously people who are in different phases of life, or on different points on a spectrum between good and evil if you will. And this gets tough to know if you're "compromising" too much by spending time with folks who perhaps don't care about God at all, don't care about the poor at all, and don't really care about much of anything besides themselves - but yet they are not "evil" people per se. I will confess that I do purposely avoid spending time with people who I spent A LOT of time with in my past. This was my past where I drank too much. Stayed out way too late. Didn't care about God. Didn't care about the poor. Only cared about myself. And you know what, praise God that I was saved from that lifestyle by Jesus - and through a godly friend who still would spend some time with me back then and eventually brought me to the point where I could give my life over to the Lord. So, I guess what I'm saying is this - we do need to spend time investing in others who don't know the Lord. That is not a waste of time. But, it gets tricky to realize when we are "going back to our old ways / old self" and when we're really loving people where they are at. I don't have this fully figured out right now, as you may guess by this long post... :) But I'm cognizant of it. Every hour I spend sitting on a bar stool or going to a game or (your time waster goes here) with my old friends is an hour I am not spending studying for this ministry or serving the poor or just spending time with God. Our hours each and every day are so very precious... I do pray for wisdom and discernment in this area! How are you spending your time these days? Wisely? Please don't waste your very precious time that God has given you this side of heaven...
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
Mike, I don’t think TV is all bad just as I don’t think computers are all bad or books are all bad. People can become addicted to any of these or to other activities and let them become the primary focus of their lives. Addiction is bad because it upsets the balance of things. I think that God expects each of us to have a balanced life, to keep in tune to what is going on in our world, our state, our community, our family, our church and our friends and He expects us to spread the Word where the opportunity avails itself. God also wants us to derive joy from this life. Addictions are escaping mechanisms that let us hide from reality instead of facing it with God’s love and strength. We can become addicted to anything.
Our faith can also become an addiction if we let it become isolated to the point where we spend all of our time in personal worship instead of sharing the love and Word of God with others. We can’t allow ourselves to part of the world and worldly ways but neither can be withdraw completely from the world. If we withdraw from the world then there is no way to share God with others. Christians sometimes have a tendency to only socialize with other Christians and completely avoid those that we consider unsaved. I believe that as Christians we should wear our Christianity where others can see it – we need to have a bounce in our step, have a sparkle in our eyes, wear a smile on our face, have the glow from the love of God radiating from our inner core – so that when we do mingle among the unsaved they can see the difference in us and want the peace and joy that Christ provides to His children. Being pious and lecturing the unsaved or hiding from them never brought anyone to Christ because it is a negative approach that puts others down. Being happy in the Lord draws people to Christ just as the laughter of strangers naturally makes us smile even though we don’t know what they are laughing about.
There are wonderful things on TV just as there are bad commercials and programming, there are wonderful books just as there are bad books, there are marvelous ways to use computers just as there are evil ways to use them, all of life has its good and its bad. Limiting a source is not the solution but selection is! God has provided us with all these things to be a source of information and entertainment but He expects us to act responsibly.
God Bless!
Pat
Posted by: Pat | September 24, 2006 at 04:25 AM
I don't think you're crazy at all regarding television. I do still have a tv--one in a family of five. Shocking, I know, that we have only one. My poor kids don't have one in their rooms or anything. We tape most of the shows we are are going to watch and fast forward through the commercials if they aren't on PBS. How are people going to make money off my family if we don't watch the commercials? Also, we don't have cable. No MTV, no movie channels, nothing. We don't even rent movies from the video store--we borrow them from the library. I think we could single-handedly cause the economy to stop!
Just thought I'd rant to keep you company! I saw that study, too, and thought it was ridiculous. In my life I have already wasted to much time watching tv and I hope to redeem time instead of throwing it away. That's my goal, anyway.
Posted by: Micah Girl | September 24, 2006 at 04:26 AM
Mike, if not for TV how could I access such great shows like : The Hour of Power, The Coral Ridge Hour and John Hagee Ministries? TV is not all bad! It depends on the peoples choice of programming they watch!
"But I'm cognizant of it. Every hour I spend sitting on a bar stool or going to a game or (your time waster goes here)"
As an avid Sports watcher whats wrong with attending a sporting event occasionaly? Not one thing!
Posted by: Leroy Duke | September 24, 2006 at 04:46 AM
TV must be assessed in the time and culture of a people to discern its effectiveness. Television is a neutral media taking on the character of those who are producing for it; programming it and watching it. Remember the guy who first put the bible on his first printing press and wrote it in a language that the people spoke, Guttenberg, was persecuted for doing that using some of the same reasoning you are. What you have stated about Television was applied to the common (vulgar) people being able to read, and specifically, read the Bible. Why that was the job of the priests--read the bible and then tell the people what the bible said. (Sarcasm)
It sounds like you have taken a personal conviction and discipline and rationalized it to try and make a doctrine. If nothing else is taken from the Old Testament, specifically 1st and 2nd Kings and Chronicles, one should come away with an understanding that moral behavior may be legislated but purpose, the motive of the heart—the motivating factor that determines why we do or do not do something, even worship and religious expressions, cannot. It is the “why” we do that determines what we do—Man looks at the outside, the appearance of things God looks at the heart, the why. I have a television which I barley watch and I don’t have cable because I refuse to pay 40 plus dollars a month for something I hardly watch. The issue is, really knowing yourself, knowing that you cannot hold a revival in a bar when you love wine.
This entire thing or principle falls under Paul’s admonishment in Romans:
One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike [sacred]. Let everyone be fully convinced (satisfied) in his own mind.
(Romans 14:5 AMP)
Grace and peace,
Ramona
Posted by: | September 24, 2006 at 09:19 AM
Isaiah 43:14-45:10
In the midst of our idol worship, it the midst of our idol building, God is telling us, crying out to us,
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. (Isaiah 43:1 KJVR)
IT is like walking into a supermarket with thousands of products claiming to do for us what God has already done. God has no expiration date; but all the others do and you must look closely to either decipher or read the fine print. God is telling us that He has done it all, He has provided, He has protected us, yet we walk down the long aisles, throwing into our basket all our little and BIG idols claiming to do for us what God has already done.
No rock, no crystal, no special prayer, no person, no super saint, nor any government can do for us what God has already done. The only thing keeping us in bondage and out of the liberty that God has already given us, is our confused minds.
Grace and peace,
Ramona
Posted by: Ramona | September 24, 2006 at 09:51 AM
Well I have to confess I don't have a TV either..I guess it all depends on your conviction....watching movies that do nothing at all to enhance me spiritually but feed my fleshy side...guess i'm better without em.I get to read the news online...I guess it's sort of like the alcohol issue.Even Jesus had some during meals...but if you know once you start,you gotta have the whole bottle then the best thing is to avoid it.
God bless you all
Posted by: Anka | September 24, 2006 at 01:26 PM