Readings for 23,24 May & comments
The Bible readings for Wednesday 23 & Thursday 24 May are -- Lev 1:1-3:17; Ps 24:1-10; Pro 6:1-3; Mk 1:1-20.
posted by Ps John @ 10:41 PM
3 Comments
ashbaps
a blog for Ashfield Baptist Church
Wednesday, May 23, 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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3 Comments:
We've now finished Exodus and have started on Leviticus. (At last, says Lisa, who couldn't wait to get into Leviticus!) And we've also finished Matthew and are starting on Mark.
What a difference between the opening readings from Leviticus and Mark. In Leviticus we see the detailed and complicated (and gory) instructions relating to sacrifices for atonement. In Mark's Gospel, John and Jesus come preaching simple(?)repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
For an OT person, David's insight in Ps 25:3-5 NRSV is breathtaking. "Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts... They will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of their salvation."
One thing I noticed was that the offering had to be unblemished, or one of the best that they had to offer. It would have been easy to think that it's only going to get ripped apart and burnt, surely it doesn't matter.
It made me think that we need to give God our best all the time too, regardless of what we think will happen with that gift. After all, a gift is given away and you no longer have control of it. Why should you have a say in it's use? I know we want to, and we want to feel our gift isn't given in vain, but the story from Leviticus illustrates what an act of faith such giving is. Still, if you can't trust God with your gift, who can you trust?
What an incredibly complex system of sacrifices and offerings we see in these opening chapters of Leviticus. And so much blood and gore! I wonder whether the people did all this because it was God's Law and they feared the consequences of not obeying. Or did they delight in these opportunities to offer thanks and worship to God and to be cleansed of their sin and guilt? God wanted the latter of course.
The writer of Psalm 24 understood this so well. "Who can stand before the Lord?" he asks. Then he answers his own question in an unexpected and amazing way. "The one who has clean hands and a pure heart." External washing is not enough. Ritual washing is not enough. Cleansing of the heart is needed. Cleansing to the very centre of our being. Without a pure heart, communion with the Divine is blocked. Because God looks on the heart.
And so it was that in the fullness of time, Jesus came preaching that people must repent and believe (Mk 1:15).
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