Wendesday, March 3

OK, so I didn't work out this morning. It's gonna be hard to get to it tomorrow too, because it's already 12:00 and I just started ye olde bloge poste. We'll see.

I did have a really good day otherwise though. I had lunch with my small group buddy, Alex. And then this evening, my friend Bueno came to visit and we played a little video game action. Alright - Bible time. I'm already yawning.

Reading for March 3

Leviticus 27:14-Numbers 1:54NO WAY! I've already finished another book! So far the hardest book to get through, emotionally. Leviticus challenged a lot of my perceptions about God, even more so than Exodus in some places. But I need to save that talk for the book summary. Let's see what tonight's reading is about.

Wow. Here is the first passage on tithing, and there is no question about how much you should give:

 ³⁰ “One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy. ³¹ If you want to buy back the Lord’s tenth of the grain or fruit, you must pay its value, plus 20 percent. ³² Count off every tenth animal from your herds and flocks and set them apart for the Lord as holy. ³³ You may not pick and choose between good and bad animals, and you may not substitute one for another.

It doesn't say that you should give 10%, rather it already belongs to God. I have always believed that giving money to God wasn't meant to benefit God, or even the church, though those are happy side effects. The purpose of giving 10% of your income is to benefit you personally. I know it sounds counter-intuitive to say that you are benefiting by losing money, but its true. True fulfillment comes with fewer possessions and less money. That's what I believe, anyway.

Now believing and doing are two different things however. Giving my money away has always been a challenge for me. I'm not sure why - maybe because I was an only child and I had it pretty easy. Anyway, I know that it would be much better for me to give $60 to church than the spend $60 on a new video game, but I make the wrong choice over and over again. Boo.

Well, that does it for Leviticus - let's see what Numbers is all about.

OK - my impression of Numbers was that it was just a book of lists of names and lineages. While there was some of that in this first chapter, I'm seeing the context of it. God asks Moses and Aaron to essentially take census of everyone they have been traveling with; looking specifically for men over the age of 20 who could fight in combat. Obviously there is a war coming.

This is also crazy. The number of people that had been following Moses around the desert was 603,550. And that's JUST men over 20 who are combat-ready. I always imagined a group of MAYBE 100 - 200 people following Moses around. But 603,000?! That is ridiculous! How did he even talk with them. Nuts!

Mark 11:1-26
Oh, wow. I didn't know this:

 ¹⁵ When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, ¹⁶ and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace.^[c]17 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

I always knew the story of Jesus flipping out in the marketplace and flipping tables over, but I always thought it was because people were just selling stuff in the temple. Now I see that he freaks because people are selling animals for sacrifices. He is literally turning the tables on the old way of doing things. This sort of reminds me of the Catholics selling indulgences back in the day. I imagine that Jesus would have the same reaction to that if he were present on earth at that time. Anyway, very cool scene here. 
 
Psalm 46:1-11
 ⁸ Come, see the glorious works of the Lord:
      See how he brings destruction upon the world.
 ⁹ He causes wars to end throughout the earth.
      He breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
      he burns the shields with fire.

The end of verse 8 and the beginning of verse 9 seem to be contradictory statements. Why would God bring destruction on the world, but also put an end to wars? And why had the 'war' in Iraq lasted almost 9 years? When is he gonna end that one?

Proverbs 10:23
 ²³ Doing wrong is fun for a fool,
      but living wisely brings pleasure to the sensible.


Alright, early to bed, hopefully to rise to wake up rested, worked out and wise.

Love eachother.