Comments on June 12th One Year Bible ReadingsTypePad2018-06-12T02:21:59ZOne Year Biblehttps://www.oneyearbibleblog.com/tag:typepad.com,2003:https://www.oneyearbibleblog.com/2018/06/june-12th-one-year-bible-readings/comments/atom.xml/Ramona commented on 'June 12th One Year Bible Readings'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341c5ebf53ef022ad37849e1200d2018-06-12T02:23:11Z2018-06-12T02:23:11ZRamonaI Kings 9-10:29 Reading and visualizing the opulence of Solomon’s palace and the wealth he held in gold can make...<p>I Kings 9-10:29<br />
Reading and visualizing the opulence of Solomon’s palace and the wealth he held in gold can make one forget that although he wrote the majority of Proverbs, Solomon also wrote Ecclesiastes 5:10</p>
<p>10 Whoever loves money never has money enough;<br />
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.<br />
This too is meaningless.</p>
<p>And</p>
<p>Proverbs 16<br />
16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!</p>
<p>Although all that came to visit Solomon, including the Queen of Sheba, understood that it was God’s blessing upon Solomon that gave him the Wisdom from God, which allowed him to get wealth, in spite of the warning given to Israel’s future kings (Deut.14-20), wealth and fame does not by itself mean that one is blessed by God.</p>
<p>Acts 8:14-40</p>
<p>This statement spoken by Peter to the former Sorcerer, Simon, intrigues me because I have understood for several years that the majority of people in the world do not know what a gift is. A gift by its very nature is supposed to be freely given that means no strings attached. Because we don’t know what a gift really is we work hard at trying to earn it, or like Simon the Sorcerer, we try to buy it. We may not use currency to try to gain the gift but we may try to use “works-in-kind” as a means to pay.</p>
<p>A so-called gift giver may be giving a false gift as a way to manipulate or control someone’s behavior or a bribe disguised as a gift. If we have been given so called gifts to manipulate our behavior we may reject a gift if we don’t like the conditions. Either way our image of what a gift really is flawed. Thus when God’s offer of salvation is handed to us we don’t know how to receive. Many reject salvation because they don’t feel they have enough in their personal arsenal of “works” to pay for the gift or think they are unworthy.</p>
<p>This misunderstanding about how we see gifts came to me in two parts. A beautiful women, a nun, handed me something wrapped in tissue paper and said she needed to explain something to me. She asked me, “Do you know the difference between a gift and a present?” A started to fumble for some response that seemed somewhat intelligent then I realized this could be a life changing experience so I said, “No.” She then proceeded to explain to me that a gift was something the giver dearly valued. It was something they really wanted to keep for themselves but because they valued the relationship more than the item or thing, they were willing to give up the gift. A present was something you bought in a store or made just to give away. What she handed me was a cross, made by a Navaho Indian, that had a heart in the center. That heart, she said, was the heart of Christ. That Indian had given this pendent to her and she now giving it to me.</p>
<p>Isn’t that what God did for us? He gave his sinless valuable Son, Jesus, to us, to be a substitute offering and payment for our sins.</p>
<p>The second part of my revelation about gifts came to me when someone told me I didn’t know how to receive a gift. Upon asking them what they meant they explained that receiving a gift did not mean that I was obligated to them. I could either take the gift or reject it; I could use the gift once taken or I could let it gather dust in a corner somewhere, everything was on me. Once the gift they offered left their hands it no longer belonged to them and they would never ask me how I used it, but they would be willing to hear from me what I did with it. That was a true gift giver.</p>
<p>The Ethiopian Eunuch was a recipient of The Gift. As he searched for understanding, God sent Philip, the Evangelist, who left a thriving ministry to hand off a gift that had been given to him. I don’t think this Ethiopian official was a stranger to the text he was reading, I believe he was looking for understanding of the scripture before him. After all as a Jewish convert, he was commanded to study, but so often the case we study but do not understand.</p>
<p>God felt the life of this man was so important that he removed a minister from his large congregation to give him what he, the Eunuch, had been searching for, TRUTH! And please note that Philip do not go back to his congregation in Samaria, God sent him to a new place, Caesarea. God loves us so much that he will disrupt the course of someone’s life to minister to us.</p>
<p>God is not like this Proverb<br />
25 14 A person who doesn't give a promised gift is like clouds and wind that don't bring rain</p>
<p>A promised gift can be something you were told you were getting but didn’t get, or it could be something you received and was told it was a gift but you found out it was a bribe or extortion.<br />
Psalm 130:1-8</p>
<p>Is this not a Psalm for those battling depression or is this not a Psalm.</p>
<p>1 From the depths of despair, O LORD,<br />
I call for your help.</p>
<p>God is just so awesome, isn’t He? No matter what pit we find ourselves in God cares and He hears. It may seem like he has abandoned us but as the sixth verse implies, like the sentry, or watchman, wait for the coming of the dawn, so we who are caught up in the pits of life long for the dawning of God. Moreover, remember the darkest part of the twenty-four hour cycle is right before the Son comes up.</p>
<p>Proverbs 17:2-3</p>
<p>I’ve heard someone say that we are not paid by how much work we do we are paid based on our value. If we seek for and acquire wisdom, a commodity that is definitely lacking in today’s societies, that wisdom will elevate us in whatever situation we find ourselves.</p>
<p>Grace and peace,<br />
Ramona</p>