January 29th, 2009 Bible Blog

Today's Reading:

Psalms 132-135
1 Corinthians 8

My Response:

Unity, it is a blessed thing that even the OT Psalmists understood. Mankind was not meant to be alone, that is why I talk so much about community in our College Age group. We were meant to have close communion with other believers and friends. We need people to be there and support us and that is why Psalms 133 is so great:

Psalms 133
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron's beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

God bestows his blessing in unity and friendship. In truly loving, devoted, and unified relationships it is quite apparent that God has designed them. Usually the people in this sort of a relationship are grounded and concrete because they know that they are not walking alone. We all need to seek these kinds of relationships. I know that I have found that in my friendship with Chris. I know that there is nothing that I might go through that he will not walk with me on. I am blessed by that.

Our NT reading may be hard for us to understand as we live in a world that accepts pretty much any kind of food as okay to eat. There are even televisions shows that capture people eating some of the weirdest things I have ever seen. We clearly don't believe any longer that there is clean/unclean foods, but in this time frame that Paul is writing it was an issue. Most all of the foods that were in the meat markets were foods that had been sacrificed to false gods. There were some Christians that knew since they were sacrificed to false gods and therefore it would harm nothing. Sacrificing something to a false god meant that it was sacrificed to nothing. However there was a group of Christians whose flesh struggled with this idea. Paul reminds those again that are more advanced in their faith to not be prideful of their knowledge as this is not the knowledge God shows but rather the knowledge of men.

We see something though in this reading that really strikes accord with us even today:

1 Corinthians 8:9,13
9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
...
13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

We have brothers/sisters in Christ that suffer with all kinds of things. For some it is over eating and gluttony, for others it is overdrinking and alcohol. If we as brothers/sisters in Christ, through the way we live, encourage those whose flesh is struggles in that area then we need to stop that behavior. It is our responsibility to assist them in their battle against their flesh and if we drink in front of our recovering alcoholic friend they just may revert back to their old ways. We are there to support each other, and inhibit their growth in Christ.

My Prayer:

Lord please forgive me of my sins and release me of my past. Lord help me to defeat the enemy in my life and glorify You in all that I do. Lord I want to be close to You, I want to feel Your breath, I want to hear Your voice and feel Your touch. Lord use me for the glory of Your Kingdom.

I praise, worship, and adore You Lord. Thank You that Gabe is feeling better today, praise be to Your name for healing him so quickly. I pray that You would protect the rest of my family from whatever Gabe came down with. Please bless our sleep tonight Lord.