Devotional Ramblings

Different passages to read today. And none of them really jumped out at me...but each of them made me think just a bit.

First from Exodus 23, we find God telling the people how they are to live. As I read through the list I thought.... God is telling these people what it means to be good. Stand up for what is right; don't be a liar; don't pervert justice; if your neighbour needs help...whether you like him or not, render him aid; don't treat travelers poorly; help the poor; rest your land; remember the Lord your God; and so on and so forth. God tells them the right way to live.

He also promises to help his people. To drive out their enemies, but not so fast that it becomes dangerous for them.

28And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

I have to admit that... I liked that! Made me think of how I have had besetting sins in my life. And when I ask God for help with them (took a while at first), God didn't immediately take it away, but gradually gave me the skills to not fall under them. If he had just taken it away, I wonder what would have come in its' place? I still sin, but through God's help, I have learned that I can do/be different. It's been a more gradual change which makes it a more (for me) lasting change.

I then read from John 2. Jesus was a guest at a wedding. His birth family was there with him. And horrors, they ran out of wine. Not the thing to do. Mary mentions the problem to Jesus who says... what I am to do? I found it interesting that Mary did not respond to this, she merely told the servants to obey him.

The story continues:

6Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. 9When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." 11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

This miracle occurred. It was his first sign. It was a sign that showed his glory. It caused his disciples to believe in him.

But more interesting was this, after Jesus cleared the temple,

18So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?" 19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Do you see it? Here at the beginning of Jesus' ministry he already is telling people that he will be raised up again. His enemies will be thinking that they have destroyed him, but they will be wrong. Jesus will be raised up again. Early in his ministry the disciples are already hearing the hope of the gospel. He is giving them something to remember so they will continue to believe in him when things are hard.

We then come to 2 Corinthians 11. Paul is talking to the Corinthian people, telling them all that he has gone through, and how concerned he is for their continued growth as believers. Near the end of the chapter he says these words

28And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

It made me ask myself, am I concerned for the body of Christ?

D0 I get mad when the body of Christ is hurt? When people are made to fall away from the faith?

When others are feeling weak, does it affect me?

I have to admit, I don't always know what to do so therefore I often don't act. And I just stop. I have to not do that. When the Holy Spirit moves my heart, I need to move my body and brain and ACT! I need to allow my anger to have a purpose, otherwise...what's the point?

Just what is the point if I do nothing?