Daily Reading Passages
Click below for access to the passages. Biblegateway.com is an excellent site with many versions of the Bible. The link below opens in NIV. Youversion.com is a new site that allows you to annotate your own Bible, make notes, and comments once you create an account. That link opens in the TNIV version. Other versions are available at both sites.
Coaching Comments
The Old Testament reading is Deuteronomy 2:1 - 3:29. In these two chapters we hear Moses relate all the encounters they had as they wandered the desert, until the present moment when they were camped at the Jordan. Following this, he will remind the people of all the things God has asked them to do. This sounds like a lit of review to us, and it is since we've only just read all this stuff. But these people have experienced all this over the course of forty years, and many of them are too young to remember what actually happened. So this was a vital teaching moment, reforming the culture of Israel before they began the campaign to take the promised land.
Today's New Testament reading, Luke 6:12-38, starts with Jesus calling the twelve disciples. Actually, all the people who followed Jesus are referred to as disciples, but these twelve were set aside for a particular mission, and for Jesus' special mentoring. He designated them as "apostles." What's the difference? The word "disciple" means student. It's one who follows the discipline of his teacher. The word "apostle" is a transliteration of a Greek word which means "one who is sent," essentially, an ambassador. Note how Jesus spent the whole night praying before making this important decision.
Following this, we see Luke's telling of the "Sermon on the Mount." It's much more concise than the version we're familiar with in Matthew. We see the familiar beatitudes, but added to them we see a sections of "woes." These are essentially anti-beatitudes for for those people who want to get their reward now.
That leads into a whole section that deepens and expands the idea of loving your enemies. From Jesus' words it is clear that this isn't an abstract kind of love. This is the kind of love that motivates doing good to those people (even lending them money without expecting to be repaid!) In doing this we live out the love and grace of our Father in heaven. We do it not because it gets us anything, or because of how it will impact those people, but simply because God has been merciful to us.
The 67th Psalm is the Psalms reading for today. (Psalms 67:1-7) It's a short psalm of thanks and worship, asking God for His blessing.
Proverbs 11:27 is the Proverb reading today. Seek good things, seek God's path and you will find it. Seek evil things, and evil will come to you as a result.
2007 Cohort Comments
Comments (6)
Jacqui Wheelhouse said
at 10:07 am on Mar 24, 2009
The verses in Luke really touched my heart today. I had a conversation last night with my husband and it was a difficult one for me. One of letting go, one of surrender to what is, one of forgiveness and one of love. I knew in the moment that God was filling me with His love. It didn't come from me...it came through me.
If nothing else, I do believe that 'how' we live our life is so much more than what we 'think' we need to be. None of that matters when it comes down to the end of the journey. It's the way we loved and served and forgave and lived. I used to live so much of my faith in my head. Thinking about scripture and how things were supposed to be, but the rubber meets the road when we are 'being' Jesus one to another. And that simply means, being love. Being the things that my flesh wants to run from sometimes. The painful, hard stuff that requires letting go of 'my way' and the things I want. Not easy stuff and every time the situation arises, I get to choose if I will press into Jesus' side and rest in the Truth that He has promised my heart. That He will never leave me or forsake me and He will love me regardless of my brokenness and failures. Though my heart breaks and the tears fall, He is right there holding me fast and telling me that all of this counts for something greater in the end. That it won't be for nothing, the trials and struggles we face. They are building in us His love and character and that is something eternal and something that I can praise Him for. I know that my redeemer lives and I am thankful that I am hidden in Him. Thankful that He has forgiven me, when I didn't deserve it. How could I ever expect that kind of love and not pass it on? Who am I to judge anothers heart when my own heart is dirty. Thank you Lord for you unfailing love and grace. I am humbled today by your endless mercy for us that is new every morning. You are an amazing and wonderful Father.
Candi said
at 1:24 pm on Mar 24, 2009
Jacqui, I just want to tell you that you are doing an awesome job! I know there is a lot of pain right now and still more to come. But, watching you surrender your heart and the situation to God again and again will be very powerful for your children and everyone else who is a big part of your life. You are a mighty, powerful, faithful, beautiful woman of God!!!
Rich Rawlins said
at 2:23 pm on Mar 24, 2009
Today's NT passage bugged me a little... OK, a lot. I fit all the woes and none of the blessings. Not sure what to think about that. Verses 27 trough 36 bothered me as well, as I don't operate this way in the natural, although I think I try. I'm also am beginning to question the whole patriotic thing. Doesn't it seem like we should follow these statements of Christ corporately on a global scale as well as personally? I mean love your enemies seems pretty strait forward. Killing and eradicating them doesn't seem like all that much of a good fit.
Hey Candi, are you still going to drop me a note about your experiences?
...rich
Nate Burton said
at 6:05 pm on Mar 25, 2009
Jacqui, you are living out a real and amazing example of Jesus' teaching. Loving someone though they are causing you great pain is nothing short of a miraculous outflowing of God's love through you. Be encouraged Jacqui, God really is with you and working through you in an amazing way. You may never know the extent to which your faith and steadfastness affects those around you in this lifetime, but it will definitely be worth it in countless ways. We love you and hold you in our prayers.
Rich, I have to say I am a little puzzled and in agreement with your thoughts about how these blessings and woes apply. I mean, I am rich and well fed by most anyone's standards. I also like to laugh. Huh....
Your thought about loving your enemies leads me into another question that came to mind, and links to a thread that we had back on the 15th. I totally get Jesus teaching on loving your enemies and I've seen how this works in practice. I love the principal and I believe it is the right thing to do. That said, and I don't mean to harp on this but, why is this teaching of Jesus in such contrast to or at least missing from the laws of the Old Testament? Why did God not apply this to Israel? As far as I can tell, the closest things in the law to loving your enemies is to not do wrong to your neighbor. God actually commanded the Israelites to obliterate entire nations, men, women, children. I can't imagine that. I don't get why this just came out of the blue so to speak.
Marc Schelske said
at 9:33 am on Mar 27, 2009
Hey Nate, Rich - Check out Leviticus 19:18. Jesus is not creating something new. He is bringing back into focus the core principles of God's heart from the beginning of time.
As for how to justify the killing of other countries... This is really the same conversation Rich and I have been having for weeks. The first answer is that it's difficult and painful and nearly impossible to get our heads around. It just doesn't make sense given our view of individual responsibility and personal righteousness. So, you're right to struggle with it -- and know that many great and devout people before you have struggled with it.
The second answer is more nuanced. It doesn't completely solve the problem, but it's critical in understanding the text. First, we have to wrap our minds around the idea of corporate personality. Tribes and nations in the OT weren't really considered to be made up of individual people, like we think of today. The individual people were one and the same as their tribe or nation. The tribe of Judah, for instance, kept that name not just to honor their great-great-great... grand-dad, but because they considered themselves to be an extension of him. They bore his destiny, his blessings and his curses. So, in that sense judgment was often meted out to entire families or tribes, not just to individuals (see the story of Achan in Joshua 7 for a clear example of this.) ...
Marc Schelske said
at 9:33 am on Mar 27, 2009
(continued...)
The second part of the understanding is getting our heads around the idea that God is within his moral rights, and his good character, to dispense justice as He sees fit. In the ancient OT He was using the tool of Israel to dispense judgment. The judgment wasn't necessarily against individuals like we want it to be; it was against nations and tribes (see above.) And it's really no different than the judgment that will come at the end of the age, where those who have chosen to be their own god will be given the space to live that out with its own natural consequences. There are a lot of people who are going to fall under that judgment as well.
Now, this doesn't wipe the slate clean. For many of us - given our cultural perspectives - much of the OT is really hard to swallow. That's OK. It's not meant to be warm and fuzzy. But it is something good for us to wrestle with as we try to understand what life God is calling us to in the culture and time that we live.
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