Reading from Wednesday, August 4

Hey kids. What's goin on?

Reading for August 4
2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23
Ah, sweet release. The last chapter of 2 Chronicles.

At first it looked like Chronicles would be ending on a good note. Josiah had arranged the Passover to be celebrated with both Judah and Israel, and it says that this was the first time Passover had been celebrated since the time of Samuel. Remember him? The last judge before king Saul? That's like hundreds of years. So through this it seemed like Chronicles would be bookended with a bad king at the front - Saul - and a good king at the end - Josiah. However, there is one more chapter. Three additional kinds rule Judah before the book ends and each was more wicked than the last.

God sent messengers to the people of both nations to try to win them back. He had pity and compassion on them because they had fallen away from God. In reading this, it seems to me that God's tolerance for mankind's wickedness had gotten stronger over time. Anyway, the people rejected these messengers and God finally snapped and gave them over to the king of the Babylonians - who killed everyone ever. Then his army laid waste to the temple of God. How many times has that thing been destroyed and rebuilt at this point? 3 or 4 at least...

But then a prophetic message comes to the king of Persia, and he tasks himself with rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. Strange, but I suppose there is hope in that after all...

1 Corinthians 1:1-17
Yay - new book!

This opens very much the same way that Romans did with greetings and prayers of thanksgiving for the people to whom he is writing. His first topic is one that was also covered in Romans, but is addressed in a slightly different way. The topic is subdivisions of Christianity, and how we should be making efforts not to divide ourselves, but to unite together.

One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."  ¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

I think this can be applied to the modern church, or should I say churches.  There are so many little subdivisions of Christianity - Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Evangelical, Episcopalian, Pentecostal, Non-denominational - and that's just a few off the top of my head. Each of those have their own subdivisions. And the things that split the groups are usually very minor. Granted there are some major differences between the Catholic and Protestant church, but it's the same guy hanging on a cross for the same reason - because we suck. I think that the reasons that divided the denominations are no longer as hot-button as they were when the decision to split was made, but I think as "church" (meaning the overall body of Christ) we need to unite and be strong in one faith. We can each worship in our own way and that is fine, but to condemn each other for doing things a little differently is completely counter productive.

You stupid idiots.



That was a joke.  

Psalm 27:1-6
This is pretty awesome:

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation—
       whom shall I fear?
       The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
       of whom shall I be afraid?
 ² When evil men advance against me
       to devour my flesh, ^[a]
       when my enemies and my foes attack me,
       they will stumble and fall.
 ³ Though an army besiege me,
       my heart will not fear;
       though war break out against me,
       even then will I be confident.

Even when people are trying to eat him, David is confident in the strength of his maker. That is the kind of confidence I want.

Proverbs 20:20-21
 ²⁰ If a man curses his father or mother,
       his lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.
 ²¹ An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning
       will not be blessed at the end.

Alright, yo. Be excellent to each other.