verses 9-13 Matthew's House
Matthew who was once a tax-collector, explains his own first meeting of Jesus. Jesus called him while he was in the act of collecting taxes! Matthew's house becomes a hang-out spot for Jesus and his friends, many of who were social outcasts. Lets make our homes like Matthew's house: a place for the people of God to bring God's love and healing to the people that society has thrown out.
verses 18-26 Two Chosen
God likes the number 12 for some reason and often when you read something in scripture that has the number 12 in it, the people the number is describing are chosen.* In this passage, a man is asking Jesus to come heal his 12 year old daughter** at the same time that a woman sneaks up to touch Jesus' clothing and is instantly healed of her 12 year long hemorrhage. Jesus heals both the females and the numerology here is powerful when one thinks of the culture of that day. To a Jew, blood meant uncleanliness and unpreparedness for worship and this woman had been bleeding for 12 years! To not be able to go to worship services or even go near people for fear of making them unclean for the service as well and then to be healed by Jesus and deemed chosen is quite remarkable. Also going near death was uncleanliness to a Jew. Jesus let a bleeding woman touch him and healed her and went and touched a dead girl and healed her. God was making a statement here! Jesus is Lord and able to heal everything unclean about us. Also the fact that both were women emphasizes the fact that we are chosen not on the bases of our sex, race, or position in life.
verses 35-38
"When he (Jesus) looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. 'What a huge harvest!' he said to his disciples. 'How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!" Immediately after this he chose 12 of his followers to be these much-needed workers (10:1-4)
* cr 2 Kings (story of Elisha), Matthew 10:1-4,
** cr other gospel accounts of her age, since Matthew doesn't mention that she is 12
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Matthew 8:5-17
Matthew Chapter 8
verses 5-13
Wow. This is a story about a Roman captain, aka not a Jew! He was worried for his servant (I wonder if its the word doulos in Greek that actually means slave, I should check) who was deathly ill. He seems like a caring man to care about a mere employee. How many of my bosses have cared that much for me? None that I can think of. The crazy part is in verse 8 when he reveals his understanding of Christ's authority. As a Roman captain, he understood that Christ had an army of spiritual forces working for Him and knew that Christ could delegate his tasks at whim! Even Jesus was taken aback that a NON-JEW had this kind of faith! In verses 10-12 Jesus forecasts that many non-Jews from everywhere would someday believe while many people who grew up in the faith would not. Crazy cause its true. . . I mean, I'm not a Jew. Most of my believing friends aren't Jews. Some are but most are not. Jesus hit the nail on the head once again.
verse 13-17 Jesus healed many sick and inwardly tormented. Back in verse 1, the leper said, "If you want to heal me you can," and Jesus said, "I want to," and healed him. Oh that we would talk to God with this kind of belief!
verses 5-13
Wow. This is a story about a Roman captain, aka not a Jew! He was worried for his servant (I wonder if its the word doulos in Greek that actually means slave, I should check) who was deathly ill. He seems like a caring man to care about a mere employee. How many of my bosses have cared that much for me? None that I can think of. The crazy part is in verse 8 when he reveals his understanding of Christ's authority. As a Roman captain, he understood that Christ had an army of spiritual forces working for Him and knew that Christ could delegate his tasks at whim! Even Jesus was taken aback that a NON-JEW had this kind of faith! In verses 10-12 Jesus forecasts that many non-Jews from everywhere would someday believe while many people who grew up in the faith would not. Crazy cause its true. . . I mean, I'm not a Jew. Most of my believing friends aren't Jews. Some are but most are not. Jesus hit the nail on the head once again.
verse 13-17 Jesus healed many sick and inwardly tormented. Back in verse 1, the leper said, "If you want to heal me you can," and Jesus said, "I want to," and healed him. Oh that we would talk to God with this kind of belief!
We know many who are sick or inwardly tormented. For example, in this culture there are many kids who have been abandoned by one or more of their parents and abused by parents and step-parents. They are also abused by others around them once their parents have abandoned them and failed to protect them. They see their parents go through 3-5 marriages and are given inconsistency as the only consistency in their lives. And we still have the nerve to wonder why as adults, these children end up in mental institutions or prison, never free from their inner torment. Let us ask God that he would touch them and they would be healed.
Matthew 5-7 Sermon on the Mountain
Matthew Chapter 5 -- Beginning of the Sermon on the Mount
verses 1-2 The committed kept climbing with him and were able to hear his most famous sermon. It is interesting that those who were in it for the long hike got to hear his most delicious tid-bits of wisdom. It is similar in our own lives. When the walk gets the hardest is when we get to learn the most wisdom from His word.
verses 11-12* "count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens-- give a cheer, even!-- for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble." These sentences especially hit home for me. It seems whenever I am attacked for sharing the truth even in the kindest manner, I get a pit in my stomach and want to leave the fight. I need to remember that God cheers when we are picked on for sharing the truth.
* cr Matthew 10:28, 32-33
verses 21-22 "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill." These principles are eye-opening for me, a person who grew up in a home where people carelessly threw words at each other as well as fists. I can't treat people the way that I was brought up. Only God can change me to overcome this. This is a very important principle I am learning early in my marriage.
verses 27-28 "You know the next commandment pretty well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices-- they also corrupt." Now girls, I know we think the verses about lust don't apply to us, but I also know that deep down you know that's bullsh**. It applies to us too, otherwise Jesus wouldn't have said it. We have to be careful to guard our marriages because they will be attacked. Men downtown will make passes at us (not speaking from personal experience or anything, nudge-nudge-wink-wink;) and we have to stop it before it starts. One of my favorite times as a married lady downtown was when a man said to me in a come hither voice, "Hello! What's your name Miss?" and I shut him down with the most awesome one-liner, "My name is Mrs." Old boyfriends will contact us via spacebook or what have you and we have to think about how edifying it really would be to keep contact with some of them-- or even look at their profiles ;) Now my husband just happens to be really good friends with some of my exes -- that's the beauty of the body of Christ-- but some of them are honestly not the kind of guy's who would be looking only for friendship.
verses 31-32
Divorce is wrong people! Stop telling yourselves its for the best and your kids want you to be happy! Its selfish and it hurts your kids! Sure, if there was cheating or actual physical harm brought into the relationship that is one thing, but most of the time these days people are just following whims and not working on their marriages. If you think your selfish whim is really for the best, you are lying to yourself and you are seriously messing up life for your kids who are in the center of it. The statistics don't lie. Children of divorce are more likely to end up in mental institutions than children of parents who have died! How is it that you think your happiness is more important than taking care of your kids? I beg you to get your act together and start making the right choices. Not only does it break the promises you made on your wedding day, but little hearts are at stake as well. I do not mean to sound mean, I've just seen too many children put through unnecessary heartbreak.
verses 38-47 "Turn the other cheek. . . love your enemies. . . when someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer. . ." Really? What about that women's self-defense class I took? I think in this case, Jesus is talking about insulting attacks, not necessarily physical attacks. If you have to defend your life, by all means do it. Especially if you have a family at home who needs you. Jesus didn't. At the same time, I am ridiculed and singled out for my faith and moral beliefs. I need to be loving to the people who treat me this way.
Matthew Chapter 6
verses 19-34* "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or-- worse!-- stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. . . You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both. These are memory verses for me. As a kid who grew up in a financially scary situation it is tempting to worry about money. He always seems to bring these verses back at just the right time!
*cr Ezekiel 7:19-27
Matthew Chapter 7
vs 1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-- unless, of course, you want the same treatment. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your won face is distorted with contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."
Weird. He did it again. I read this directly after nit-picking my husband for his tiny mess-ups, when I actually don't have the guts to try it myself without messing it up. His failures are nothing compared to the fact that I won't even try enough to get a chance to fail. Argh.
vs 13* "the way to life-- to God!-- is vigorous and requires total attention"
*cr Revelation 3:16
vs 15 "be careful of false teachers" We've even managed to get some of these teaching small groups at our churches. Yikes!
verses 1-2 The committed kept climbing with him and were able to hear his most famous sermon. It is interesting that those who were in it for the long hike got to hear his most delicious tid-bits of wisdom. It is similar in our own lives. When the walk gets the hardest is when we get to learn the most wisdom from His word.
verses 11-12* "count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens-- give a cheer, even!-- for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble." These sentences especially hit home for me. It seems whenever I am attacked for sharing the truth even in the kindest manner, I get a pit in my stomach and want to leave the fight. I need to remember that God cheers when we are picked on for sharing the truth.
* cr Matthew 10:28, 32-33
verses 21-22 "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill." These principles are eye-opening for me, a person who grew up in a home where people carelessly threw words at each other as well as fists. I can't treat people the way that I was brought up. Only God can change me to overcome this. This is a very important principle I am learning early in my marriage.
verses 27-28 "You know the next commandment pretty well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices-- they also corrupt." Now girls, I know we think the verses about lust don't apply to us, but I also know that deep down you know that's bullsh**. It applies to us too, otherwise Jesus wouldn't have said it. We have to be careful to guard our marriages because they will be attacked. Men downtown will make passes at us (not speaking from personal experience or anything, nudge-nudge-wink-wink;) and we have to stop it before it starts. One of my favorite times as a married lady downtown was when a man said to me in a come hither voice, "Hello! What's your name Miss?" and I shut him down with the most awesome one-liner, "My name is Mrs." Old boyfriends will contact us via spacebook or what have you and we have to think about how edifying it really would be to keep contact with some of them-- or even look at their profiles ;) Now my husband just happens to be really good friends with some of my exes -- that's the beauty of the body of Christ-- but some of them are honestly not the kind of guy's who would be looking only for friendship.
verses 31-32
Divorce is wrong people! Stop telling yourselves its for the best and your kids want you to be happy! Its selfish and it hurts your kids! Sure, if there was cheating or actual physical harm brought into the relationship that is one thing, but most of the time these days people are just following whims and not working on their marriages. If you think your selfish whim is really for the best, you are lying to yourself and you are seriously messing up life for your kids who are in the center of it. The statistics don't lie. Children of divorce are more likely to end up in mental institutions than children of parents who have died! How is it that you think your happiness is more important than taking care of your kids? I beg you to get your act together and start making the right choices. Not only does it break the promises you made on your wedding day, but little hearts are at stake as well. I do not mean to sound mean, I've just seen too many children put through unnecessary heartbreak.
verses 38-47 "Turn the other cheek. . . love your enemies. . . when someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer. . ." Really? What about that women's self-defense class I took? I think in this case, Jesus is talking about insulting attacks, not necessarily physical attacks. If you have to defend your life, by all means do it. Especially if you have a family at home who needs you. Jesus didn't. At the same time, I am ridiculed and singled out for my faith and moral beliefs. I need to be loving to the people who treat me this way.
Matthew Chapter 6
verses 19-34* "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or-- worse!-- stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. . . You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both. These are memory verses for me. As a kid who grew up in a financially scary situation it is tempting to worry about money. He always seems to bring these verses back at just the right time!
*cr Ezekiel 7:19-27
Matthew Chapter 7
vs 1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-- unless, of course, you want the same treatment. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your won face is distorted with contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."
Weird. He did it again. I read this directly after nit-picking my husband for his tiny mess-ups, when I actually don't have the guts to try it myself without messing it up. His failures are nothing compared to the fact that I won't even try enough to get a chance to fail. Argh.
vs 13* "the way to life-- to God!-- is vigorous and requires total attention"
*cr Revelation 3:16
vs 15 "be careful of false teachers" We've even managed to get some of these teaching small groups at our churches. Yikes!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Matthew Chapter 3-4
Matthew Chapter 3:13-4:11-- Baptism of Jesus
I see that the baptism of Jesus is followed immediately by his temptation in the desert by satan. Isn't it interesting that his first recorded temptation is right after he made a public profession of faith? Is it anything like your own life? Did anything difficult ever happen to tempt you right after you had set in your heart to follow after God?
Matthew 3:16* "The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit--it looked like a dove-- descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: 'This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life." Not only does God feel this way for Jesus, but you also are His adopted child who He loves in this way and has chosen for great service, if you have made a decision like this to follow after God whole-heartedly.
*I like to memorize the 3:16s cause the references are easy to remember since we've all had John 3:16 drilled into our heads since we first set foot in a church
Matthew 3:16* "The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit--it looked like a dove-- descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: 'This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life." Not only does God feel this way for Jesus, but you also are His adopted child who He loves in this way and has chosen for great service, if you have made a decision like this to follow after God whole-heartedly.
*I like to memorize the 3:16s cause the references are easy to remember since we've all had John 3:16 drilled into our heads since we first set foot in a church
Monday, August 18, 2008
Matthew Chapter 1: 12-16
The genealogy picks up again after the Babylonian exile has ended.
Jeconiah and Shealtiel -- I don't find anything on them except what is written in Matthew and a few genealogies listed in Ezra. Let me know if I've overlooked something!
Zerubbabel-- He became the governor and helped rebuild the temple after the exile had ended. A pretty awesome guy, you can read a lot about the powerful stuff he did in Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai.
Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan and Jacob don't have much written about them other than this genealogy. I wonder perhaps because they are in a part of history that is so recent that the folks reading it wouldn't find it noteworthy to read about? Sure makes me curious. If you see anything I may have overlooked, I welcome supplemental reading.
Last but not least, we come to Joseph. This is the guy that married Mary even though she was pregnant and he knew that the kid wasn't his. This says a lot about the kind of guy Joseph was. He was the step-dad to Jesus! I find it interesting that God chose Jesus to experience life on earth as an adopted step-kid. Says a lot about how he sees us as his adopted kids. Pretty cool.
verse 17
What is the deal with the math here? 14 generations + 14 generations + 14 generations? I get that there are 14 generations from Abraham to David. I even get that there were 14 generations from Jeconiah to Jesus. But how does Matthew count that there were 14 generations from David until the Babylonian exile?! Please explain this to me if you can! As I stated earlier, according to 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings, this genealogy skips some folks. So why only counting 14? Is it a figure of speech that meant something to the Jews of the day? I welcome answers!
Matthew Chapter 1: 6-11
verses 6-11
Solomon-- God chose Solomon to reign as king after David his father (1 Kings 1:38-40). One of the best things that Solomon ever did was to pray for wisdom (1 Kings 3). Throughout his reign, Solomon was known for this wisdom and was able to show amazing discernment in all matters of his leadership. Solomon's greatest downfall would have to be. . . WOMEN! He took countless foreign wives and they turned his heart to their foreign gods. "Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places (1 Kings 3:2-4)." Nevertheless, under Solomon's rule, the land prospered due to the great intelligence that the Lord blessed him with. "Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy (1 Kings 4:19-21)." Solomon wrote the proverbial book of love known to us as the Song of Solomon and widely quoted at wedding ceremonies. Funny isn't it that for all his wisdom, Solomon was completely stupid about love? The man that wrote the most romantic love song, had countless wives and cheated on God with their foreign gods!
Rehoboam-- The most memorable thing about Rehoboam is that he rejected the counsel of the seasoned cabinet members his father had trusted for years and went with the advice of his young, inexperience friends when it came to an important decision concerning his rule. This turned out to be a very poor choice (1 Kings 12).
Abijah-- He readily admitted that his dad had been a wimp and announced to his enemies that under his rule, Judah would stick with the true God. Abijah's kingdom flourished and he had a very strong rule (2 Chronicles 13).
Asa-- This man was a good king, willing to even stand up to his own mother in order to adhere to righteousness (1 Kings 15:11-13).
Jehoshaphat-- Like his father Asa, Jehoshaphat was a God-fearing king during his reign over Judah. However, he made an alliance with the king of Israel, who was not a God-fearing king. This proved to be very unwize choice.
Joram (also short for Jehoram)-- This time in history gets a little confusing, because for a while, the kings of Judah and Israel have the same name Joram (or Jehoram). This Joram, the son of Jeshoshaphat was considered a bad king in God's perspective. He continued marrying into the family of the king of Israel thus forming alliances with God's enemies (2 Kings 8). Not only did he brazenly lead Jerusalem into sin by following after other gods, he even killed all of his own brothers and many priests (2 Chronicles 21)! As punishment, God inflicted Joram with a disease that made him poop his pants for two years before he finally died writhing in pain and humiliatingly incontinent. No one honored him like they normally honored kings at their death. The whole country was glad to be rid of him.
Uzziah (also commonly known as Ahaziah)-- This is also part of the confusing piece of history because there are a couple of Joram's mentioned who both had sons named Ahaziah (or Uzziah). In fact, I run into both of these names other places as well. They must have been extremely common names back then. He was completely evil and a mama's boy. His mother Athaliah encouraged him in his evil and was only so happy to take over when he died only a year into his rule (2 Chronicles 22).
It is also confusing, because the genealogy skips over a bunch of guys that weren't that memorable (very typical in any telling of a jewish family tree) and then there is another Uzziah! Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign (2 Chronicles 26:3) and his mother's name was Jecoliah. This kings fame spread all the way to Egypt because he was such a strong leader. He fortified the city and nicely outfitted the army. "But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction (2 Chronicles 26:16)." This guy actually entered the temple to burn incense which was forbidden unless you were a consecrated priest! He took upon himself that honor! When the priests told him that he was doing wrong he became angry even though the law that God gave them stated clearly that only priests were to have that kind of duty! "When he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead. . .and King Uzzaih was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And his Jotham his son was over the king's household (2 Chronicles 26:19-21)."
Jotham-- In God's eyes Jotham, the son of Uzziah was a good king following after the example of his father Uzziah minus the pride. His kingdom was strong because he was rooted in a steady and determined life of obedience to God (2 Chronicles 27:1-6).
Ahaz-- How come kids can't be good if their parents are good? Ahaz did not do what was right from God's perspective. He worshipped the homemade Baal gods and even burned his sons alive in the practice of worshipping these gods. This was disgusting to God, therefore God handed him over to the king of Aram who spanked him pretty good. It was quite a slaughter.
To top it off, the Israelites captured 200,000 men, women and children as well as huge cartloads of plunder. God's prophet Oded met the Israelite army and warned, "Stop right where you are and listen! God, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah and used you to punish them; but you took things into your own hands and used your anger, uncalled for and irrational, to turn your brothers and sisters from Judah and Jerusalem into slaves. Don't you see that this is a terrible sin against your God? Careful now; do exactly what I say-- return these captives,every last one of them. If you don't , you'll find out how real anger, God's anger works (2 Chronicles 28:9-11)." Some of their leaders agreed, so the soldiers actually freed the prisoners of war! Appointed men gathered the prisoners and gave them clothing, shoes, food, first aid and transportation for the sick ones and escorted them back and reuniting them with their families! How often do you see that happen in a time of war?
About this time Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help. Assyria came and attacked them even more! To make matters worse, Ahaz ransacked the temple for gifts hoping to appease the king of Assyria but still got not a bit of help. Every time people were against Ahaz, he continued to be against God! He never learned his lesson. He never asked God for help.
Hezekiah-- Ahaz's son turned out to be a good king! Perhaps his mother Abijah had something to do with his upbringing because unlike his father Ahaz, Hezekiah held the high standards of King David. He had the priests clean up the temple that his dad had defiled. When the temple was finally clean again, he threw a party complete with an orchestra and choir of Levites and Priests! Then a month or so later, they planned a grand passover feast! Because of the corruption of past kings, no on living had ever celebrated it properly! They picked a different time than prescribed so that more people would have time to prepare themselves, and God accepted it. When the 7 days of passover celebration had ended, they decided to go on for another 7 days! Some had not prepared for the ceremony adequately and Hezekiah prayed for them, "May God who is all good, pardon and forgive everyone who sincerely desires God, the God of our ancestors. Even-- especially!-- these who do not meet the literal conditions stated for access to the Temple." God heard Hezekiah's prayer and healed the people! After the passover feast, they smashed the penis shaped statues and tore down all the other sex-religion buildings.
The King of Assyria came to attach Judah under Hezekiah's reign. Hezekiah tore out all the running water outside of the city and reinforced the city's walls. He also built up the people's morale, saying, "Be strong! Take courage! Don't be intimidated. . .there are more on our side than on their side. He only has a bunch of mere men; we have our God to help us and fight for us!" The King of Assyria sent messengers to shout up insults at the walls lumping th eGod of Jerusalem in with the handmade gods of other nations. King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, prayed to God about this. God answered by sending an angel to wipe out the Assyrian army. The King returned home disgraced and his own sons killed him when he went to worship in the temple of his idol. So God saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from Assyria and everyone else.
Once Hezekiah became arrogant. This made God angry and affected Judah and Jerusalem. But Hezekiah repented of his arrogance and God withdrew his anger. God continued to bless Hezekiah and his kingdom.
Mannasseh-- This kid became king at 12 and he was evil-- nothing like his dad Hezekiah. He brought back all the bad things his dad had gotten rid of. He built penis statues, followed astrology for advice and even built astrology shrines and statues of sex-gods in the temple of GOD! He did witchcraft, fortune-telling and tried talking with dead people. He burned his sons to death in worship to some god made in shop class. Disgusting.
God sent Assyria after him. They but a hook in Mannaseh's nose as if he were a bull and chained his feet and took him away as a prisoner. Hitting rock bottom, was enough to change Mannaseh's heart. He prayed to God asking for help and was actually sorry for what he had done. He genuinely wanted to change. "As he prayed, God was touched; God listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king. That convinced Mannaseh that God was in control (2 Chronicles 33:13)."
Mannaseh tore down all the nasty things he had built and told the people to once again worship God
Amon-- (2 Chronicles 33:21-23) Like his dad, he was an evil king except he did not repent like his father did. Amon’s servants killed the 24 year old king after only two years of reign. The citizens then killed the assassins and crowned Josiah, Amon’s son as king.
Josiah-- (2 Chronicles 34) This kid was 8 years old when crowned and reigned for 31 years. He was a good king regardless of his youth. He began to follow God at the age of 16. At the age of 20 he began to clean the country of the sex temples and many other idols. When he was 26, he commissioned a much needed renovation of the Temple. During the renovation, the high priest at the time, found a copy of the portion of the old testament written by Moses. This would be Genesis through Deuteronomy! The kings had gone in and out of corruption so many times, that they had actually lost it! The high-priest gave the book to the mayor, who read it to King Josiah. When King Josiah heard the words written in the Bible, he was dismayed because the country of Judah had not been following its directions! He called a gathering of the entire nation and read the entire book aloud to everyone himself! They celebrated the passover for the first time since Samuel was a prophet. After a good life, honoring God, Josiah died in battle.
Jehoiachin-- (2 Chronicles 36) The geneology skips to Josiah’s grandson Johoiachin. He was an evil king and reigned for only 3 months and 10 days!
After this, the people were taken into the Babylonian exile.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Matthew Chapter 1: 1-6
Where better to begin an interactive Bible commentary than in the beginning of the New Testament? As you might notice, the beginning of Matthew is a list of names in Jesus' family tree. Most people find it very boring the first few thousand times they read it. However, when you start connecting this list to the histories of people in the Old Testament, it really comes alive! So here is a name by name list of the genealogy in Chapter 1 cross referenced with that person's corresponding story in the OT. I'll do the best I can, and if you see anything I don't see, please let me know!
verses 2-6
Abraham-- There is a lot of stuff on Abraham! God promises Abraham that he will have many, many grandkids and great grand kids and so on and so forth and that all the nations will be blessed through Abraham's offspring. We know this to be a prophecy of Jesus who blessed all nations and was one of Abraham's descendants. It was hard for Abraham to believe this promise at first because he was already 99 years old and his wife Sarah was old enough that she had already gone through menopause and they had been unable to have children. But he believed God with some mistakes here and there and God blessed him with a son. You can read more awesome details about this story beginning in Genesis 17
Isaac-- This is the son that God blessed Abraham with! There is a lot to the story of Isaac along with some sad half-sibling rivalry you can read about beginning in Genesis 21. Probably the most prominent story in Isaac's life is the one of Abraham being willing to give Isaac up in obedience to God (Genesis 22). God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham had complete faith in God to provide, knowing that God could even raise Isaac from the dead and so hesitated not in his obedience. Of course, at the last moment, God stepped in and provided another sacrifice, a ram caught in the thicket. This story foreshadows the great act of God sacrificing His son for us. Jesus died so that we don't have to.
Jacob-- In Genesis 24 God gives Isaac a wife, Rebekah and they have Jacob a quiet indoor guy and Esau a wild, hairy hunter guy-- twins. Of course, the parents each played favorites and there was some sad sibling rivalry. The short of it is that God chose Jacob for his service and to be in the lineage of Jesus.
The sibling rivalry at its hottest, Jacob was sent away to the east. He met Rachel (Genesis 29) and instantly fell in love with her. Jacob worked for Rachel's father for 7 years to marry Rachel, but on the wedding night he was given lazy-eyed Leah, Rachel's sister instead. It was dim and sister's can look alike in the dark. She probably didn't say much and he perhaps assumed she was shy it being her wedding night and all. In the morning he realized the trick and was very sad, because he loved Rachel. Well, after the honeymoon week was up with Lazy-eyed Leah, the father-in-law gave him Rachel too in exchange for another 7 years of indentured servitude. Needless to say, in this generation there is some seriously sad sibling rivalry again! This time between sisters. Of course Leah was hurt because she was not loved like Rachel. God saw this and gave Leah children and Rachel was barren. Out of jealousy Leah rubbed it Rachel's face for a long time that she couldn't have children. Finally, God opened Rachel's womb and she had sons. But the next person mentioned in this genealogy, isn't one of Rachel's sons. Its Judah, one of Leah the unloved wife's sons.
Judah-- The most prominent stories about Judah are some of big mistakes. He sold his brother Joseph (Rachel's son) into slavery to the Egyptians (Genesis 37). At least he didn't kill Joseph like most of his brothers wanted, right?
The other big mistake Judah made was withholding blessing from a widow. Throughout the whole Bible God is always saying, "Take care of orphans and widows" and Judah learned the hard way, what happens when God sees you cheat a widow.
It begins with his first son Er (Genesis 38). He took a wife for his son Er and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord put him to death leaving Tamar a widow.
Then Judah gave Tamar to his second son Onan to be his wife. The custom was that Onan was supposed to give Tamar a child in honor of his brother Er and that Tamar's child would receive Er's inheritance. Onan was selfish and therefore didn't want to give Tamar a child who would receive Er's inheritance. However, he still wanted his jollies, so he had his way with Tamar but used the pull-out method. God saw Onan as wicked just like his brother and so put him to death too.
At this, Judah was afraid of Tamar (as if it were her fault his kids were evil) and wouldn't give her his third son to marry. Instead he sent her away as a widow shamefully because everyone knew he still had a third son.
As time went on, and Tamar was still living shamefully as a widow even though Judah's third son was fully grown, Tamar took the situation into her own hands. Judah's wife had died by this time and Tamar knew the kind of character Judah had. Tamar disguised herself as a cult prostitute, covering her face with a veil, and waited on the road where she knew Judah would be. Judah let her hold on to his signet, cord and staff as collateral for her services and had intercourse with her. She got pregnant.
Three months later, Judah found out that his daughter-in-law Tamar was pregnant. In his hypocrisy he was going to have her burned even though he knew he had done the same thing! Tamar was able to produce his cord and staff and signet, proving that Judah was in fact the father. At this Judah repented and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shela." And he never slept with her again. Tamar had twins! Their names were Perez and Zerah.
Perez and Zerah-- When Tamar was in labor with these two (Genesis 38:28-30), one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a red string around his wrist so that she could remember which one was being born first. But the baby pulled his hand back in and his brother came out first! So they named the first baby Perez (rule-breaker) and the baby with the red string was named Zerah.
Hezron (Genesis 46:12), Aram (or Ram) and Amminadab (Ruth 4:19) don't seem to have much recorded about them except listing their names in the family tree. Let me know if I've missed some. Its very Jewish to skip over people's names if they did nothing memorable.
Nahshon-- He was called a prince of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:10)! He was chief over the tribe of Judah (Numbers 2:3) and given the honor of bringing the offerings for Judah (Numbers 7:11-13,17; 10:14)
Salmon-- the thing so memorable about him is that he married Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute who lived in the wall of Jericoh and became an ally of the Israelites, helping them take the city (Joshua 2-6). Its pretty awesome that God chose someone like us, a prostitute to be in the family tree of Jesus. It speaks that He has forgiveness for us in any state.
Boaz-- Like his father Salmon, Boaz chose to marry a foreign girl. He married Ruth because as a widow, she had the integrity to take care of her elderly mother-in-law Naomi. She could have found a young man to marry and would have had better chances of financial security had she left Naomi but Ruth had the spiritual insight to humble herself and believe in Naomi's God, the God of the Israelites. You can read this romantic story in the book of Ruth. Having Ruth in the family tree of Jesus also speaks volumes of God's love for all people of every race, whether Jew or Gentile.
Obed-- Obed was Ruth's biological son, but out of Ruth's kindness, he was given to her mother-in-law Naomi. The people in town used to call him "Naomi's baby" (Ruth 4:17).
Jesse-- He was the father of 8 sons, the younger of which was David (1 Samuel 17:12).
David-- From a young age, it is clear that God had chosen David to be the king over Israel (1 Samuel 16)! Perhaps all that time alone tending his father Jesse's livestock doubled as time to practice his music, because David was so renowned for his musical skill and talent, that it was his music that earned David his first audience with King Saul! Also a skilled songwriter, many of the Psalms are penned by this very same David. King Saul probably wouldn't have thought that this little shepherd boy playing the harp, would be the one God would choose to take his throne. Saul loved David so much that he remained in the King's service, going back and forth from Saul to his father Jesse to tend his father's sheep and also serve as Saul's armor bearer.
David's military career began with a crazy one-on-one that I would have paid dearly to watch in any mma arena! David, clearly the underdog being only a youth, killed Goliath, the enemies prize fighter and a real giant (1 Samuel 17)! David attributed his bravery in fighting to all the training he got fighting off bears and lions to protect his dad's flock! He was such a kid at the time of this fight, that when the king tried to lend him his armor for the fight, David couldn't wear it for its heaviness! So he won the duel unarmed except for a slingshot and some stones. Talk about some stones! David said to the Philistine before the match, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied (1 Samuel 17:44-46)." I'm starting to see why God liked this kid!
David's character earned him a best friend in the King's son Jonathan. They had the kind of friendship that comes around once or twice in a lifetime. They would have done anything for each other. Jonathan was next in line to the throne after Saul, but even when it was clear to Jonathan that David should be king, there was no rivalry between them!
However, David's bravery and success in battle also earned him the King's jealousy which led to the long drawn out drama that God used to hand the throne over to David. This was a dark time in David's life and you can read more about what was happening in 2 Samuel and more about how he was feeling in the Psalms. Its especially encouraging if you are going through a tough time yourself.
David began to reign when he was thirty and was a very good king. David reigned with justice, equity and kindness and God blessed him in everything that he did. You can read many more riveting tales about the awesome adventures of David all throughout 1 and 2 Samuel. Before I get off the subject of David however, I will share one of his big mistakes. Even a man like David, who loved God so much, still made huge blunders here and there. Lets examine David's struggle with sin and apply some of the principles we find to not only avoid sin in our own life but also accept God's forgiveness for the times when we fail.
The first principle to help us avoid sin that is found in the story of David, is properly coined by a dear friend of mine, Bill Trenckmann, "Idleness leads to Idolatry". You see, "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 11:1-3)." The story begins this way to show us that David was supposed to be out with his troops like the good king that he normally was, but instead he had chosen to stay home and slack off. Too much extra time on our hands, or not filling our time with what we're called to do gives us plenty of time to do other things, including sin. This is exactly what happened to David. He was out for a relaxing evening stroll on the roof of his palace instead of being out of town with his army. Ask yourself: are there areas of your life that show laziness? Do you ignore what you are supposed to do at times? How can this lead to sin in your life?
The second principle I see is that we should have wisdom considering where we let ourselves spend time and ask ourselves if it is truly a good idea. The roof of the palace was of course higher than the surrounding homes because of its sheer grandness. The architecture of the average house back then left an unroofed courtyard in the middle of the house where most people would have their baths. Being walled in except for the roof, it normally gave people plenty of privacy. The palace roof probably would have been the only place in town high enough for any of these courtyards to be in someone's line of vision unless you were in the courtyard yourself. Yet this is exactly where David chose to be. "It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful (2 Samuel 11:1-3)." I liken this to a person who knows they have a problem with lust, spending lots of time in an office alone with a computer that is complete with internet service. It all goes downhill from there. Ask yourself: what are your areas of weakness? What places should you avoid to protect this weak spot?
David sent for the woman whose name was Bathsheba and promptly impregnated her (although I'm sure pregnancy wasn't what he was planning for). Bathsheba's admirable husband Uriah was out to war making it difficult to hide the cheating. In order to cover up his sin, David had Uriah, a good man, murdered in battle. There were major consequences for David's actions, one of which was that Bathsheba's baby died at infancy (talk about stress not being good for pregnancy) and there began to be unrest in David's kingdom. Rivals arose from David's own sons revealing some heart-wrenching family issues.
However, David humbled himself before the Lord and felt great anguish for what he had done, therefore God forgave. He also used David's disaster for good as He does in everything. David married Bathsheba and she gave him another child whose name was Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon.
verses 2-6
Abraham-- There is a lot of stuff on Abraham! God promises Abraham that he will have many, many grandkids and great grand kids and so on and so forth and that all the nations will be blessed through Abraham's offspring. We know this to be a prophecy of Jesus who blessed all nations and was one of Abraham's descendants. It was hard for Abraham to believe this promise at first because he was already 99 years old and his wife Sarah was old enough that she had already gone through menopause and they had been unable to have children. But he believed God with some mistakes here and there and God blessed him with a son. You can read more awesome details about this story beginning in Genesis 17
Isaac-- This is the son that God blessed Abraham with! There is a lot to the story of Isaac along with some sad half-sibling rivalry you can read about beginning in Genesis 21. Probably the most prominent story in Isaac's life is the one of Abraham being willing to give Isaac up in obedience to God (Genesis 22). God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham had complete faith in God to provide, knowing that God could even raise Isaac from the dead and so hesitated not in his obedience. Of course, at the last moment, God stepped in and provided another sacrifice, a ram caught in the thicket. This story foreshadows the great act of God sacrificing His son for us. Jesus died so that we don't have to.
Jacob-- In Genesis 24 God gives Isaac a wife, Rebekah and they have Jacob a quiet indoor guy and Esau a wild, hairy hunter guy-- twins. Of course, the parents each played favorites and there was some sad sibling rivalry. The short of it is that God chose Jacob for his service and to be in the lineage of Jesus.
The sibling rivalry at its hottest, Jacob was sent away to the east. He met Rachel (Genesis 29) and instantly fell in love with her. Jacob worked for Rachel's father for 7 years to marry Rachel, but on the wedding night he was given lazy-eyed Leah, Rachel's sister instead. It was dim and sister's can look alike in the dark. She probably didn't say much and he perhaps assumed she was shy it being her wedding night and all. In the morning he realized the trick and was very sad, because he loved Rachel. Well, after the honeymoon week was up with Lazy-eyed Leah, the father-in-law gave him Rachel too in exchange for another 7 years of indentured servitude. Needless to say, in this generation there is some seriously sad sibling rivalry again! This time between sisters. Of course Leah was hurt because she was not loved like Rachel. God saw this and gave Leah children and Rachel was barren. Out of jealousy Leah rubbed it Rachel's face for a long time that she couldn't have children. Finally, God opened Rachel's womb and she had sons. But the next person mentioned in this genealogy, isn't one of Rachel's sons. Its Judah, one of Leah the unloved wife's sons.
Judah-- The most prominent stories about Judah are some of big mistakes. He sold his brother Joseph (Rachel's son) into slavery to the Egyptians (Genesis 37). At least he didn't kill Joseph like most of his brothers wanted, right?
The other big mistake Judah made was withholding blessing from a widow. Throughout the whole Bible God is always saying, "Take care of orphans and widows" and Judah learned the hard way, what happens when God sees you cheat a widow.
It begins with his first son Er (Genesis 38). He took a wife for his son Er and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord put him to death leaving Tamar a widow.
Then Judah gave Tamar to his second son Onan to be his wife. The custom was that Onan was supposed to give Tamar a child in honor of his brother Er and that Tamar's child would receive Er's inheritance. Onan was selfish and therefore didn't want to give Tamar a child who would receive Er's inheritance. However, he still wanted his jollies, so he had his way with Tamar but used the pull-out method. God saw Onan as wicked just like his brother and so put him to death too.
At this, Judah was afraid of Tamar (as if it were her fault his kids were evil) and wouldn't give her his third son to marry. Instead he sent her away as a widow shamefully because everyone knew he still had a third son.
As time went on, and Tamar was still living shamefully as a widow even though Judah's third son was fully grown, Tamar took the situation into her own hands. Judah's wife had died by this time and Tamar knew the kind of character Judah had. Tamar disguised herself as a cult prostitute, covering her face with a veil, and waited on the road where she knew Judah would be. Judah let her hold on to his signet, cord and staff as collateral for her services and had intercourse with her. She got pregnant.
Three months later, Judah found out that his daughter-in-law Tamar was pregnant. In his hypocrisy he was going to have her burned even though he knew he had done the same thing! Tamar was able to produce his cord and staff and signet, proving that Judah was in fact the father. At this Judah repented and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shela." And he never slept with her again. Tamar had twins! Their names were Perez and Zerah.
Perez and Zerah-- When Tamar was in labor with these two (Genesis 38:28-30), one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a red string around his wrist so that she could remember which one was being born first. But the baby pulled his hand back in and his brother came out first! So they named the first baby Perez (rule-breaker) and the baby with the red string was named Zerah.
Hezron (Genesis 46:12), Aram (or Ram) and Amminadab (Ruth 4:19) don't seem to have much recorded about them except listing their names in the family tree. Let me know if I've missed some. Its very Jewish to skip over people's names if they did nothing memorable.
Nahshon-- He was called a prince of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:10)! He was chief over the tribe of Judah (Numbers 2:3) and given the honor of bringing the offerings for Judah (Numbers 7:11-13,17; 10:14)
Salmon-- the thing so memorable about him is that he married Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute who lived in the wall of Jericoh and became an ally of the Israelites, helping them take the city (Joshua 2-6). Its pretty awesome that God chose someone like us, a prostitute to be in the family tree of Jesus. It speaks that He has forgiveness for us in any state.
Boaz-- Like his father Salmon, Boaz chose to marry a foreign girl. He married Ruth because as a widow, she had the integrity to take care of her elderly mother-in-law Naomi. She could have found a young man to marry and would have had better chances of financial security had she left Naomi but Ruth had the spiritual insight to humble herself and believe in Naomi's God, the God of the Israelites. You can read this romantic story in the book of Ruth. Having Ruth in the family tree of Jesus also speaks volumes of God's love for all people of every race, whether Jew or Gentile.
Obed-- Obed was Ruth's biological son, but out of Ruth's kindness, he was given to her mother-in-law Naomi. The people in town used to call him "Naomi's baby" (Ruth 4:17).
Jesse-- He was the father of 8 sons, the younger of which was David (1 Samuel 17:12).
David-- From a young age, it is clear that God had chosen David to be the king over Israel (1 Samuel 16)! Perhaps all that time alone tending his father Jesse's livestock doubled as time to practice his music, because David was so renowned for his musical skill and talent, that it was his music that earned David his first audience with King Saul! Also a skilled songwriter, many of the Psalms are penned by this very same David. King Saul probably wouldn't have thought that this little shepherd boy playing the harp, would be the one God would choose to take his throne. Saul loved David so much that he remained in the King's service, going back and forth from Saul to his father Jesse to tend his father's sheep and also serve as Saul's armor bearer.
David's military career began with a crazy one-on-one that I would have paid dearly to watch in any mma arena! David, clearly the underdog being only a youth, killed Goliath, the enemies prize fighter and a real giant (1 Samuel 17)! David attributed his bravery in fighting to all the training he got fighting off bears and lions to protect his dad's flock! He was such a kid at the time of this fight, that when the king tried to lend him his armor for the fight, David couldn't wear it for its heaviness! So he won the duel unarmed except for a slingshot and some stones. Talk about some stones! David said to the Philistine before the match, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied (1 Samuel 17:44-46)." I'm starting to see why God liked this kid!
David's character earned him a best friend in the King's son Jonathan. They had the kind of friendship that comes around once or twice in a lifetime. They would have done anything for each other. Jonathan was next in line to the throne after Saul, but even when it was clear to Jonathan that David should be king, there was no rivalry between them!
However, David's bravery and success in battle also earned him the King's jealousy which led to the long drawn out drama that God used to hand the throne over to David. This was a dark time in David's life and you can read more about what was happening in 2 Samuel and more about how he was feeling in the Psalms. Its especially encouraging if you are going through a tough time yourself.
David began to reign when he was thirty and was a very good king. David reigned with justice, equity and kindness and God blessed him in everything that he did. You can read many more riveting tales about the awesome adventures of David all throughout 1 and 2 Samuel. Before I get off the subject of David however, I will share one of his big mistakes. Even a man like David, who loved God so much, still made huge blunders here and there. Lets examine David's struggle with sin and apply some of the principles we find to not only avoid sin in our own life but also accept God's forgiveness for the times when we fail.
The first principle to help us avoid sin that is found in the story of David, is properly coined by a dear friend of mine, Bill Trenckmann, "Idleness leads to Idolatry". You see, "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 11:1-3)." The story begins this way to show us that David was supposed to be out with his troops like the good king that he normally was, but instead he had chosen to stay home and slack off. Too much extra time on our hands, or not filling our time with what we're called to do gives us plenty of time to do other things, including sin. This is exactly what happened to David. He was out for a relaxing evening stroll on the roof of his palace instead of being out of town with his army. Ask yourself: are there areas of your life that show laziness? Do you ignore what you are supposed to do at times? How can this lead to sin in your life?
The second principle I see is that we should have wisdom considering where we let ourselves spend time and ask ourselves if it is truly a good idea. The roof of the palace was of course higher than the surrounding homes because of its sheer grandness. The architecture of the average house back then left an unroofed courtyard in the middle of the house where most people would have their baths. Being walled in except for the roof, it normally gave people plenty of privacy. The palace roof probably would have been the only place in town high enough for any of these courtyards to be in someone's line of vision unless you were in the courtyard yourself. Yet this is exactly where David chose to be. "It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful (2 Samuel 11:1-3)." I liken this to a person who knows they have a problem with lust, spending lots of time in an office alone with a computer that is complete with internet service. It all goes downhill from there. Ask yourself: what are your areas of weakness? What places should you avoid to protect this weak spot?
David sent for the woman whose name was Bathsheba and promptly impregnated her (although I'm sure pregnancy wasn't what he was planning for). Bathsheba's admirable husband Uriah was out to war making it difficult to hide the cheating. In order to cover up his sin, David had Uriah, a good man, murdered in battle. There were major consequences for David's actions, one of which was that Bathsheba's baby died at infancy (talk about stress not being good for pregnancy) and there began to be unrest in David's kingdom. Rivals arose from David's own sons revealing some heart-wrenching family issues.
However, David humbled himself before the Lord and felt great anguish for what he had done, therefore God forgave. He also used David's disaster for good as He does in everything. David married Bathsheba and she gave him another child whose name was Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Sacrifice
I was phoned yesterday by a recruiter for a university in China looking for English teachers. One of my most important questions to the rep was, "What's the air quality like in the city where this university is?" Last time I spent a year in China, I spent literally every other week suffering from a respiratory illness because of China's unbelievably, intense pollution. Whenever the doctors examined my throat they exclaimed that I had extremely purple and blue bruises all over and that I should take it easy! I'm a musician and my main instrument is my voice. The year I spent in China damaged my singing voice in ways that I have still not recovered. Its been two years and I'm just barely getting back to singing decently. However, I have still not acquired the fitness level my voice once had. Years and years of practice have gone down the drain. I'm not meaning to boast in anything but Christ, but just to emphasize the sense of loss I felt, this was a voice that once won countless competitions, including several county pageant titles and qualified to compete at Miss Idaho. This was a voice that paid half my way through college. This is not a sacrifice I want to make again.
When the phone call ended, I resumed my normal memory verse review. The next verse that I was reviewing, elementary as it may seem was John 3:16 (the Message), "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." This verse hit me hard and in a new way. I thought, 'If God loves the world so much that he gave up his only son, so that people could have life, why can't I give up something so small as my singing voice so that I can share that life with them?'
Then today, in my normally scheduled Bible reading , I read Malachi 1:14 (the Message), "A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me-- an expensive sacrifice, say-- and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I'm a great king, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I'll not put up with it!"
I am not saying that I will surely go to China to teach again (I have a husband who would have an opinion on the matter so I must confer with him), but I am saying that when you really love someone, you would make sacrifices for them. God really loved us and because of this love he made the biggest sacrifice that a person could give: his Son. If I really love God, I will really love his people. If I really love his people, I would sacrifice one of the things I cherish most, my voice, if that is what God calls me to do. I cannot complain that this is too costly a sacrifice as I would not be able to sing if God didn't give me this talent and a mere singing voice is absolutely nothing, a toilet rag, compared to the beautiful sacrifice God made for us in sending Jesus.
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