January 4 – Read Something Every Day

        Deuteronomy 17:18, 19 - " When [the king] takes his throne, he is to write for himself, on a scroll, a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. The copy is to be with the king, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere Yahweh his God, and to carefully follow all the words of this law and these decrees....."

        The above verses were written for future kings of Israel, and during the time when Moses was still the leader of the nation.  It was a command so that the future king would not get arrogant, think himself more highly than his people, and thus pervert justice in the kingdom. We Christians can certainly take heed from these words. A daily dose of God's word, with a willing heart to submit to God's will for the day, will teach us to follow God's ways and to love Him.

        I realize that sometimes one does not feel like reading every day, or that time restraints may prevent us from taking time in God's word, especially time to really meditate on the words and pray about them. One thing I try to do in the midst of these constraints, is to at least read a Psalm every day. One should definitely read and meditate upon texts from the New Testament, as that contains a fuller revealing of God and his ways. As has been stated by someone, "the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed".

        There are 150 psalms in the English Bible (a couple are actually combined in the Hebrew texts). There are an average of 30 days in each month, the number of which divides evenly into 150. Therefore, no matter what day of the month it is, I know which Psalm to read. If it is March 23, I know to easily turn to Psalm 23, Psalm 53, 83, 113, or 143. If it is January 31, I know that I can read some of Psalm 119, which has 176 verses, and which is also 80 times larger than Psalm 117. Proverbs can also fit into this pattern, since it has 31 chapters. Certainly Matthew, Luke, John, and Acts fit into this pattern also, as these NT books are divided into slightly less than 30 chapters.

        So forgive yourself for those days that you miss reading God's word. Then dive back in the next day, and let God speak to you from his word.

August 30 – To Tithe or not to tithe

       Malachi 3:8-10 - “ 'Will a man rob God? Yet you do rob me. But you ask “How do we rob you?” In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the Almighty Eternal One, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven, and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room for it.' ”

        This is not an argument on the larger philosophy of tithing, whether or not it is still a requirement under the new covenant that Jesus initiated. Despite the rebuke in the verses above, there is a promise from God that remains. When we give money and resources to his established work (wherever that may be in his kingdom, and whatever that may look like), he promises to bless us tremendously. He only asks, as the New Testament woven theme goes, that we give willingly and generously (2 Corinthians 8:1-15).

        I was raised in a middle-class family, who lived for many years in an early 20^th century house, with a coal furnace. When I was in high school, I worked at the local Dairy Queen for a few summers. I was a new Christian, and I had read and understood the concept of tithing. So I made a promise to God. Even though I was only making $3 per hour at the time, I told God that I would give him $10 from every paycheck, which sometimes was well over 10% of what I made. For a teen, that might be a big deal; but I sacrificed anyway.

        As the years went by, I continued to be faithful in giving tithes and offerings (above 10%) to God's kingdom work, and still do so to this day. I can say that I have been blessed financially, in order to be a further blessing to someone else, not to increase my treasure on this earth for extravagant, luxurious living.

        This promise from God is one in which God states “to test him”. In other scriptures, we are expressly told to not test God. This exception must then be special. So why not “taste and see” that God is good, and start testing his heart to bless you, when you start blessing others and giving to his kingdom work.