Day 335 Bible Reading

1 John 3: 6 and 9 (ESV)

“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”

“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

What struck me about these two lines from 1 John 3 is the word “abide”. From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “abide” has these meanings:

As an Intransitive verb (no direct object needed

 -      to remain stable or fixed in a state

 -   to continue in a place - SOJOURN

Using these definitions, the lines would read “No one who [is fixed] on God can keep on sinning” and “For God’s seed is [stable] in a believer, and they cannot keep on sinning because they have been born of God.”

I like the idea that as a believer “God’s seed” is stable and fixed on me, so even when I sin or dwell in darkness, God will help me to come to the light. But as a believer, I have to do my part and be “fixed” on God by reading his words and the Bible, by meditating and praying to him, and keeping him always at the forefront of my mind in all my decisions. The seed of God is within me to help me, but like any plant that seed needs to be watered to grow and thrive.

Tentative ending for my next novel

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Day 334 Bible Reading

1 John 1: 5-6

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

1 John 2: 9-11

“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

These two passages from 1 John 1 and 2 caught my eye today. “God is light” and with him, we live in the light. Living in the “light” means for me that I do not get caught up in the “dark” emotions and thoughts of depression, envy, anger, paranoia, etc. But sometimes I do walk in darkness, and I feel that it cannot be helped because this is life and “stuff” happens.

But then I feel the whisper of the Holy Spirit in my ear saying “Look up, there is a light to guide your way. Jesus is there to light your way out of the darkness.” The blinders are then dropped from my eyes, and the dark tunnel that I dove into head first doesn’t seem so dark. I slowly climb my way out of the darkness, I see solutions I wouldn’t have seen in the darkness, a different way of looking at things, and gratitude appears like steps that I can climb out of the darkness and into the light. Having faith is like having an emergency light that you can turn on to find your way out of the darkness, if you remember that you have that light. And even if you forget, Holy Spirit is always there to remind you, that Jesus Christ is the light you need to find your way out of the darkness. 

 Day 333 Bible Reading

Psalm 135: 15-18 (ESV)

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.”

I love this passage from Psalm 135 as it gives us such a poetic description of money, which was silver and gold at the time this Psalm was written. We sometime worship money as idols, and treat them like they are like people, but they aren’t. But what is very interesting is how the Psalmist says that those who make “money” and those who trust in “money” become like them. So nations and people cannot speak, do not see, do not hear, nor are they alive. Does this sound like people and nations you know? I know when I’ve become obsessed with money, I did so the exclusion of all else. I thought I was living, but I think deep down inside I knew I was literally dead. Money never made me happy for long, and I found that out the hard way. I have only found lasting happiness in my faith and Jesus Christ.

 Day 332 Bible Reading

Proverbs 29: 1-9

"He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

He who loves wisdom makes his father glad but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts[a] tears it down.

A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

An evil man is ensnared in his transgression, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.

A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet."

For me The Proverbs have always been interesting. They seem to be rules for how to be happy in the world, how to live a "Godly" life. Do this and this happens, do the wrong thing and this happens. 

For me, the value of Proverbs is that I often see myself as the person doing the things you're not supposed to be doing. And I'm like, duh, if I had just remembered the proverbs telling me not to the wrong thing, then X would not have happened. And yes, I often do the good things that Proverbs tell you to do but I don't remember them as well as I bad things I've done. I am thinking when I do one of the good things that Proverbs tell you what do, I need to write it down so I remember them. And when I feel I'm always doing bad things, I can look back on my notes and remember that most of the time I do the right things, and it's only once in awhile I do wrong things.