Each year, I listen to a daily audio Bible podcast—and complete the Bible in one year. This year marks my sixth year through the Bible.
Why don’t I stop?
Every year, I learn new aspects of the Bible because each year, I am in a different place in my life, and the Holy Spirit speaks to me where I am.
The Bible is always fresh! It is always alive!
It is the only book that has a Living Spirit within it.
Each year, when I get to Judges in the Old Testament, I say, “Oh boy!” because I know what is ahead.
Passover begins this evening.
It is one of the most significant Jewish Holidays, commemorating when the angels of God “passed over” the Hebrews as the firstborn children and animals of the Egyptians were killed—all because Pharoah would not set the Hebrews free as God commanded.
With this final plague on Egypt, Pharoah agreed to free the Hebrews so they might begin their journey to the promised land.
God instructed the Jews to commemorate the first Passover, when they had marked their houses with blood, alerting the angels to “pass over” their homes.
Christians draw parallels in their faith,
This week, I was listening to a minister on the radio who noted that in the days after His resurrection, Jesus did not appear to Pilate to tell him that he had been wrong in ordering His crucifixion.
Jesus did not appear to the Jewish leaders and chastise them for not believing and demanding His death.
He did not appear to the Roman soldiers who nailed Him on the cross.
Why?
Today, I was drinking in the beautiful hymns of Psalm Sunday. They are majestic, powerful, and inspirational!
Among my very favorites is All Glory, Laud and Honor. When I close my eyes and listen to the lyrics, I can feel all the emotions I imagine those present at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The hope. The joy. The expectation.
As Christians, we carry the hope, joy, and expectation at our Lord’s second coming. Feel this excitement. Play this song and sing along. It is a wonderful way to enter into the spirit of Holy Week.
What are some of your favorite Holy Week Hymns/ song?
When you think of friendship, what comes to mind? People who affirm you? Those with whom you can share your heart? Someone you could call in the dead of night—and they would be happy to help you?
I think each of those is true. And, such friends are rare.
But, what is even rarer is the friend who sees something even better in you than you see in yourself and wants you to be the best You. They see the person whom you truly are in Christ.
Don’t you find that your “favorite passage of Scripture” changes and is often dependent on what is going on in your life?
I do.
As the foundations of my country are shifting quickly, I find myself more and more comforted by the Scripture passages that affirm the stability of God, the constant presence of God, the Scripture passages that declare that nothing happens without the knowledge and consent of God.
So, in turbulent time, here are a few of the Scripture passages we can turn to:
When I think of the book of Ecclesiastes, I think of the depressing perspective Solomon has on life—that it is fleeting (a mist, a vapor, grass) and that our work and all we do is really in vain because life ends and it is all gone. Depressing.
But tonight, in reading Ecclesiastes 3, I realized that Solomon really does see both a good side and a rather bleak side of life:
There is an ancient story known as “The Stone in the Road.” The story concerns a wealthy man who lived in a castle. He loved the people of his village and worked hard to serve them, planting lovely trees in the village, making picnics for the children, putting up Christmas trees. He wanted their world to be beautiful and pleasant.
But, this wealthy man was concerned because the people of the town did not seem to want to work, Instead, they seemed to envy his wealth.
One day, he placed a large stone in the middle of the road and hid behind a nearby bush to see what would happen.
What is Christian hope?
And, how is it different from secular hope or a wish?
A wish as defined by Merriam Webster is having a desire for something, often something that is unobtainable.
Hope is defined by Merriam Webster as to want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen or be true.
So, it seems, the difference between hoping and wishing in the secular sense is the difference in the degree we think something could happen.
A wish seems unobtainable.
Hope seems more probable—though not guaranteed.
How do they contrast with Christian hope?
