p. Today’s devotional was 1 Timothy 5:23 to 1 Timothy 6:21 , Jeremiah 3-4 , Psalm 120 . Paul touches on the impermanence of material possessions, and talks about them distracting people from their faith. Jeremiah on the other had talks about the faithlessness of Israel and God’s mercy and forgiveness.
p. Paul’s letter to Timothy talks about the rewards of the spirit and contrasts them with the rewards of wealth and the world. Paul states: “A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God.”[1] He then goes on to state that “Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.”[2] It’s a hard thing to think about considering the messages sent forth by modern society, the images of wealth and materialism that are ever-present. It reminds me a lot about the financial management commercial where a WASPy guy mentions he has a great family, nice house, good car, country club membership… how does he do it? “I’m in debt up to my eyeballs!”
p. Jeremiah compares God’s love for his children with the bonds between a husband and wife. In the same way that a husband and wife agree to love each other in good times and bad, God is bound to love us no matter how we turn from his love and disobey his commands. It seems a particularly strong message in a day when 1/4 of marriages are expected to end in divorce, and a great cynicism surrounds everything. In the absence of confidence in the endurance of marriage, what contemporary examples of this kind of lasting unconditional bond do we have?
p. “If you want to come back, O Israel, you must really come back to me. You must get rid of your stinking sin paraphernalia and not wander away from me anymore. 2 Then you can say words like, ‘As God lives . . . ‘ and have them mean something true and just and right. And the godless nations will get caught up in the blessing and find something in Israel to write home about.”[3] seems to speak as much to today’s nation as it did the ancient Israelis. For a nation that claims to embrace Christian compassion to simultaneously wage violent war seems to be a grave contradiction and step over into self-righteousness.
fn1. 1 Timothy 6:6
fn2. 1 Timothy 6:10
fn3. Jeremiah 3:1-2
Daily Devotional – 11/4
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p. Today’s devotional was 1 Timothy 5:23 to 1 Timothy 6:21 , Jeremiah 3-4 , Psalm 120 . Paul touches on the impermanence of material possessions, and talks about them distracting people from their faith. Jeremiah on the other had talks about the faithlessness of Israel and God’s mercy and forgiveness.
p. Paul’s letter to Timothy talks about the rewards of the spirit and contrasts them with the rewards of wealth and the world. Paul states: “A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God.”[1] He then goes on to state that “Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.”[2] It’s a hard thing to think about considering the messages sent forth by modern society, the images of wealth and materialism that are ever-present. It reminds me a lot about the financial management commercial where a WASPy guy mentions he has a great family, nice house, good car, country club membership… how does he do it? “I’m in debt up to my eyeballs!”
p. Jeremiah compares God’s love for his children with the bonds between a husband and wife. In the same way that a husband and wife agree to love each other in good times and bad, God is bound to love us no matter how we turn from his love and disobey his commands. It seems a particularly strong message in a day when 1/4 of marriages are expected to end in divorce, and a great cynicism surrounds everything. In the absence of confidence in the endurance of marriage, what contemporary examples of this kind of lasting unconditional bond do we have?
p. “If you want to come back, O Israel, you must really come back to me. You must get rid of your stinking sin paraphernalia and not wander away from me anymore. 2 Then you can say words like, ‘As God lives . . . ‘ and have them mean something true and just and right. And the godless nations will get caught up in the blessing and find something in Israel to write home about.”[3] seems to speak as much to today’s nation as it did the ancient Israelis. For a nation that claims to embrace Christian compassion to simultaneously wage violent war seems to be a grave contradiction and step over into self-righteousness.
fn1. 1 Timothy 6:6
fn2. 1 Timothy 6:10
fn3. Jeremiah 3:1-2