January 25th, 2009 Bible Blog

Today's Reading:

Psalms 119:105-176
1 Corinthians 5

My Response:

Okay, I love the very first verse of our reading and I have to start here:

Psalms 119:105
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.

God's written Word should be a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. We need to be in the Word of God each and everyday, committing it to our hearts and minds, so that we can act in God will. The path is the direction and leading of God, and I know that in His Word we all can find focus and direction for our lives. I always imagine this Scipture as when I am out camping and the sky grows dark. Sometimes you feel like taking a walk and just soaking in the silence of the deep darkness. As you do this you walk down paths sometimes turning off your flashlight to see how far you can go in the darkness. Inevitably, so long as there is no bright moon out, you lose your way and walk off course. This is how the world walks their lives out, but see we have the ability to turn this bright light right back on and get back on the correct path. God has given us the ability to control that flashlight, all it takes is for us to get into our Word and focus our thoughts and energy back on God.

Psalms 119:165
165 Great peace have they who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.

This spoke to me because I think that many people have a hatred or a great disdain for God's Law. Here the Psalmist is saying that those who love the Law of God find peace and nothing can make them stumble. I must admit that I have not "loved" God's Law and I need to focus more closely on this kind of attitude. Lord forgive me for not loving Your righteous Law.

In our NT reading today we see the church responsibility towards brothers and sisters in Christ that are acting in immoral ways. We are to cast them out of the chruch for two reasons:

1. We cannot allow the body of Christ to become polluted and such that the world has a thwarted view on what and who we are.
2. We are to cast them out not out of judgement but out of the hope that turning them back over to the world will open their eyes. This again is not be be out of judgement on a brother/sisters sin but out of grief as if we had lost someone due to death. In fact the word grief that Paul uses in this portion of the reading:

1 Corinthians 5:2
2And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?

Is actually the Greek word of penthein which is translated as mourning the dead. This is how we are to look upon sin in the church, not with contempt, but rather utter sorrow. So many times we just want to look down on our brothers/sisters in Christ rather than truly mourn where they have ended up. It should be our hope that releasing them back to the world, which in Paul's times was associated with Satan, will steer our brother/sister back to Christ and God. There should never be any other motive.

This to me is scary because there are so many times that I probably should have been thrown out of the church. I never want to be in a place where I need to be removed from God's body of believers. Talk about a lonely and sad place to be.

My Prayer:

Lord please forgive me of my sins and release me of my past. Lord I know that I have let You down many times and I am not worthy of Your love and care. God thank You for not expelling me from Your body for my unrighteousness. Help me to remember that I am repsonsible not only to You, my wife, my children and family, but also to the body of believers. God fill me with Your presence and use me for the glory of Your Kingdom.

I worship and adore You Lord and I lay my life down at Your feet.