Reading from Monday, November 22

Reading for November 22
Ezekiel 44:1-45:12
This reading outlines what the priests of the New Temple are to do and not do. The way this is written is a throwback to the old books of Law in the Old Testament, the only difference being that these rules only apply to these new priests. One of the more interesting rules is this one:

²⁸ “‘I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession.

This sounds like suicide - no house? No food? But God goes on to explain that they are to receive the best of the fruits of Israel and the grain offerings. Essentially they are surviving on the donations of the people in exchange for serving God and relying fully on him. My pastor lives this way and it is wholly inspirational. With two kids no less. 

1 Peter 1:1-12
Justifying faith.

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Yes. I agree. But I would like to break down an overused bit of Christianese in this reading: "Salvation of your souls". What does that mean? Well salvation means "saving from something" and the soul is something that I believe can be described in this quote from CS Lewis

You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.

So it's our selves that are being saved from something. The key question is, then, from what are we being saved? Death? That's the Sunday school answer. But it's true in a couple of ways. In the Biblical sense of how Adam and Eve experienced "death" - not actually dying right away but being apart from the full and eternal grace of God. But my belief is that we're also saved from the clammy hand of death. We will apparently and hopefully experience an afterlife of great joy and peace.

That's what salvation of your souls means. To me anyway...

Psalm 119:17-32
²⁰ My soul is consumed with longing
   for your laws at all times.
²⁴ Your statutes are my delight;
   they are my counselors.

If only I could have that kind of zeal for God's laws.

Proverbs 28:8-10
 ⁸ Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor
   amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.
 ⁹ If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction,
   even their prayers are detestable.
 ¹⁰ Whoever leads the upright along an evil path
   will fall into their own trap,
   but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.

That's four posts tonight. I'm satisfied with that.