Sunday, July 14, 2013

The Bible Challenge: Day 195

The scriptures read are Proverbs 1-3, Psalm 10 and Galatians 6.

Proverbs 1: The intro to a book that alternates between long speeches and collections of aphorisms. They are primarily practical advice on how to live. Wisdom is personified as a lady on a street corner enticing people to take her up on what she has to offer for a change: not mindless pleasure but the pleasure of using your mind.

BTW, love Peterson's rendition of v. 19: "When you grab all you can get, that's what happens: the more you get, the less you are."

Proverbs 2. Make close friends with Lady Wisdom but stay away from the Seductress. (Kinda like The Natural, one woman is good, the other is bad.)

Proverbs 3. Note the creation imagery. Wisdom is the Tree of Life. Wisdom personified helps God in creation. It was such a concept that paved the way for the early Christians to see Jesus as the Wisdom of God and led them to see more than one person in the Godhead.

Notice that after trusting and honoring God, Proverbs goes right to loving your neighbor.

Psalm 10. This is a song about injustice and today especially, singing seems inappropriate. This powerful reading of the the psalm seems appropriate, though. Listen here.

Galatians 6. As usual, Paul wraps up the letter with a lot of ethical advice. Excellent advice. Correct others humbly, knowing you yourself are prone to stumble. Bear one another's burdens, fulling the law of Christ. Remember you reap what you sow. The important thing in any controversy is to focus on the cross of Christ. Nail to it that part of you that cares what the world thinks. Don't get cocky about your contribution but be mindful of God's part in making us new creations.

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