Readings for 13,14 May & comments
The Bible readings for Sunday 13 and Monday 14 May are -- Ex 33:1-34:35; Ps 22:11-15; Pro 5:9-10; Mt 26:52-75.
Labels: excuses
posted by Ps John @ 11:58 AM
5 Comments
ashbaps
a blog for Ashfield Baptist Church
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
About Me
- Name: Ps John
- Location: Ashfield, Sydney, Australia
Hi and welcome. Ashfield Baptist Church is a "caring community church sharing God's love". We are very diverse in our nationalities, backgrounds and ages, but united in our desire to grow spiritually and to reach out and help others. Our vision is "to be a body of Christ-like people living out the great commandment and the great commission in the Holy Spirit's power". This blog is mainly for people connected with Ashfield Baptist Church. It has been set up as an "info & chat space" as we start the "THRU IN 2" challenge. This is our program for reading the Bible right through during 2007 & 2008. Many are using the Every Day With Jesus Bible which also has daily devotions from Selwyn Hughes. As we read through the Bible together over these two years, we can use this blog to share insights, stories, reflections, questions etc. The goal is to grow spiritually together. So leave your comments. Together we can help each other grow. Blessings. Ps John. To leave a comment about the readings for a particular day, or to view the comments of others, just click on "comments" at the bottom of the post.
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5 Comments:
My thoughts on Exodus 33, 34.
"I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." After Israel's disobedience with the golden calf, God says he will give the promised land to their descendants. I think something special is revealed about the nature of God which we often don't appreciate. He repeats it: "You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you."
Surely he's not just saying that he can't stand to be near them and if he did he would lose his temper and destroy them? Is there something more fundamental about the nature of Good that it consumes Evil? God told Moses that noone could see his face and live. We, who don't fully understand how our own body works, nor the laws that govern the universe, presume to think that the God, who created both, is unjust by punishing the wicked as we've just seen in Matthew (separating the sheep from the goats, etc).
We've just been talking about excuses. One of the biggest excuses is that God is either unjust because he doesn't fix all the problems in the world, or because he would send anyone to hell. It's an excuse based on lack of understanding of who God is and what sin is.
do you think that it's in God's very nature to remove or destroy sin - ie he CAN'T be near it? (as he can't not love us. or he can't be unjust etc etc). It's a bit different way of looking at it all.
How did Jesus cope - the nature of his incarnation put him in a sinful world (if not in a sinful body) ...
Interesting - perhaps it says something about the incarnation as well.
How can God love us so much and at the same time hate sin so much?
Maybe he hates sin so much because he loves us so much. To put it a little less crytically, maybe he hates sin so much because he knows the terrible effects it has on us and others.
Now for a brief comment on the reading from Matthew. At the Jewish court, 2 witnesses stated that Jesus had said "I am able to destroy the Temple of God and to build it in three days." (26:61) This was a turning point in Jesus' trial. But Jesus never said that. They were false witnesses. John records what Jesus actually said in John 2:19.
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John adds that Jesus was talking about the temple of his body, which was indeed raised up on the third day.
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