a blog for Ashfield Baptist Church
The Bible readings for Thursday 20 and Friday 21 September are -- Joshua 4:1-6:27; Ps 49:10-15; Pro 11:24-26; Lk 13:22-14:6.
Labels: death, giving, happiness/joy, money
posted by Ps John @ 1:17 AM
1 Comments
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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1 Comments:
Ps 49 is a wisdom Psalm full of wise words about wealth and life and death. I particularly like verse 11 in today's passage. The wealthy might have large estates which they have named after themselves. But in the end, the grave is their home, just as it is for the poor. Both end up with the same amount of real eatate - their grave. A rather bleak analysis! The psalmist could perhaps be accused of nihilism. But note verse 15 - "But God will redeem mu life from the power of Sheol, for He will take me."
The Proverbs reading also deals with our attitude to wealth. It encourages generosity, saying that one "gives freely, yet gains more" and that "a generous person will be enriched". Increased material blessings don't necessarily flow back to the generous person (though they may, and we've all heard testimonies along those lines), but there are other, even more important blessings that will.
Selwyn Hughes, commenting on 11:24, says - "What all the passages in Proverbs which talk about generosity are really teaching us is that selfishness short-circuits human happiness and that the route to joy is liberality - liberality with our talents, our treasure, and out time."
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