Weekend Reading

“The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered…”
(Genesis 39:2)

Thoughts… Proverbs 3:33-35 says, “The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. The wise inherit honor, but fools he holds up to shame.”

That promise of blessing is confirmed throughout the Bible in the lives of the godly. It is particularly exemplified throughout Genesis—the Lord was with “so and so” and he prospered him. This is just the way God works!

God is looking for those whose hearts are fully devoted to him—totally committed, faithfully obedient and loyal—so that he might show himself strong on their behalf (II Chronicles 16:9).

Joseph was just such a fully devoted man, and his life a paragon of the prospering presence of God. Read more of his story from Genesis 39:

“The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph … But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” (Genesis 39:2-5, 20-23)

Throughout Joesph’s ordeal in Egypt, he continually kept the glory of God in view. When incessantly tempted to sin sexually (who could blamed him for giving in, given the circumstances?), he refused, not wanting to sin against God. When approached by his fellow prisoners about their dreams, he acknowledged the ability to interpret dreams was from God, not from him. When presented with the opportunity to get out of jail if he could interpret the dream, rather than taking personal credit for dream interpretation in order to impress Pharaoh, he deflected the glory back to God. No wonder God did so much to bless and prosper Joseph.

So what are the take-aways from Joseph’s experience that we should expect for our lives today:

One, as Joseph stayed loyal to God, and as God showed himself strong on Joseph’s behalf, others noticed—Potiphar, the prison warden, the prisoners, Pharaoh. What a witness to a watching world the blessings of God in our lives should be!

Two, God was blessing Joseph even in the midst of dire and disheartening circumstances. Blessings are not to be equated with perfect circumstances; sometimes the blessings arise out of those imperfect circumstances. Perhaps that is where the greatest witness for God can be lived out.

Three, the greatest blessing is a life that reflects the glory of God—circumstances notwithstanding.

Prayer… God, how I praise you for your wisdom and your perfect ways. Even in our failure, our trying circumstances, and our pain, you are at work. You never cease to bring about your plan for our good and your greater glory. All things do work together for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purposes. Father, I want to tap into the blessings and the favor that I read about in the lives of these Old Testament characters. I am not too excited about the trials, but even when they come, I know you will be in them. Lord, I am excited about the glory that will reflect well on your name as my life is Divinely prospered. I desire that the blessings you bestow upon me will be obvious to everyone that they are from you, so that you will receive the praise, and not me. Lord, I want to be like Joseph in that I am always living with you in mind, refusing temptation, giving credit to you, and living for your greater glory. Father, enable me today to live that way for you. Before my family, my fellow believers, and before my community, prosper me in a way that reflects well on you!

One More Thing… “A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling ‘darkness’ on the wall of his cell…” —C.S. Lewis

Weekend Reading

Abimelech answered Isaac, “We saw clearly that the
Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to
be a sworn agreement between us…’”
(Genesis 26:28)

Thoughts: There are no weekend readings scheduled in our New Testament plan in order to give you a chance to make up any readings or journaling you may have missed during the week. You are also encouraged to read three chapters in Psalms and two chapters in Proverbs over the weekend. This will allow you to go through these two books during the year along with the New Testament.

If you are reading through the One Year Bible, you will read through the Old Testament as well. In today’s reading, you came across the account of God’s blessings upon Isaac. One of the interesting interchanges in this story is the conversation that took place between King Abilelech and Isaac regarding Isaac’s success.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone like the one captured in the verse above? Shouldn’t the people of God be attractive to non-believers because of the Lord’s blessings on their lives? Shouldn’t the benefits of walking with God be visible, at least to some extent, causing those who observe us to also admire us?

Of course, not all of God’s blessings are visible, external, and in particular, financial, but we should expect that some blessings will be. For Isaac, God had blessed him with herds and servants to the point that the leaders of the community in which he lived took notice.

Yet even those blessings that are internal and spiritual in nature should also have some observable outward manifestations in our lives. The joy, peace and favor of the Lord ought to translate onto our countenance and into our voices and out through our actions. The knowledge of eternal life ought to give us such a security and confidence that others become aware of “sometime they can’t quite put their finger on” about us, and that ought to cause them to want to know more.

Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). Jesus wants that for you—a blessed life, life to the full. For sure, first and foremost, that means spiritually. But that fullness ought to impact you in every other area as well: emotionally, physically, relationally, and financially.

It is that kind of blessed and blessable life that is perhaps the most compelling Christian witness of all.

My prayer for you and me is that we may become “Kingdom magnets” because of the abundance of God’s continual blessings upon our lives!

Prayer… Father, as Jabez prayed in II Chronicles 4:10, so I pray, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” God, you granted his request, so now I ask that you would grant mine, too.

One More Thing… “If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.” —Saint Augustine

Read Psalm 1

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been
doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
(Genesis 2:2)

Thoughts… On the seventh day, God rested—so shall we.

You will notice on the Bible reading plan that there are no scheduled readings for Saturday and Sunday. So each weekend I would encourage you to take advantage of these two days to try a few things:

• Catch up on your reading and journaling if you have gotten behind.
• Go back and read some previous posts from 2007—a couple of them are pretty good.
• Review your own journaling over the past few days, and prayerfully consider how you are doing with practically applying God’s Word to your life.
• Use these two days to read through the Psalms and Proverbs. If you will read three chapters from the Psalms and two from Proverbs on the weekends—slowly savoring the meat of God’s Word—you will read these two wonderful books of wisdom through in 2008 along with the New Testament.
• And don’t forget to share with someone something that has blessed you in your reading this past week.

For now, enjoy Psalm 1—I’ll see you on Monday!

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Prayer… Father, give me an insatiable desire for your Word. May it become the delight of all delights in my life. Make me like the man of Psalm 1—consumed with a passion for your Word.

One More Thing… “The Bible is meant to be bread for our daily use, not just cake for special occasions.”

Read Philemon 1:1-25

“I appeal to you, Philemon, to show kindness to my child,
Onesimus…He is no longer your slave, he is your brother.”
(Philemon 1:10,16)

Thoughts… The Apostle Paul wrote this short little letter while under arrest in Rome. Rather than being one of his typical doctrinal treatises, this one is personal. letter. It is to a friend from the city of Colosse, written about the same time Paul wrote a profound doctrinal epistle to the church in that city, the book of Colossians.

Paul’s friend is Philemon, who hosted the church in his home, along with his wife Apphia and their son, Archippus. The letter concerns Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, who apparently stole from his master, which we learn about in verse 18—and then fled to Rome, hoping to blend in with the hundreds of thousands of people who lived there.

But, we see in verse 15, that in the providence of God, Onesimus, the slave of Philemon, met Paul, the slave of Christ, who introduced him to the real Master, Jesus. And this one-time slave became a brother-in-Christ—a spiritual brother to Paul, and as Paul points out in verse 16, a “dear brother” to the man who is rightfully his master.

Now that Onesimus has made things right with God, Paul, as we see in verse 12, is sending him back to Colosse, along with this letter, to make things right with Philemon.

Which brings up an application here that, though not the point of this letter, is very important: We cannot earn salvation, but sometimes the authenticity of our salvation experience requires us to make restitution to those we’ve offended—sometimes! Sometimes that’s not possible—but when it is, God requires us to do our best to make the things right that we’ve done wrong.

That’s why Paul is sending this new convert, Onesimus, back to his master, Philemon.

That’s a spiritual principle that too often gets ignored in this age of “easy believism” and “cheap grace.” But those who treat their Christian faith that way are sadly mistaken!

Paul isn’t letting Onesimus off the hook at Philemon’s expense. There is a price to be paid…and someone’s got to pay it. Legally, Onesimus should pay. Paul hopes Philemon will pay it—not that he has to legally, but spiritually he should. But if he won’t, Paul is willing to make restitution happen at his own expense (verse 18).

So what Paul is asking Philemon to do is huge!

And what he is asking Onesimus to do is huge as well. The death penalty for runaway slaves was not off the table here. Historically, we know that slaves were often crucified as punishment and as a deterrent to other slaves thinking about their freedom. At the very least, the penalty could be a long imprisonment or perhaps physical punishment. When a runaway slave was caught, sometimes an “F” was branded into his forehead—the Latin, “fugitives”, or fugitive. Onesimus had committed by Roman law a felony and had become a fugitive from justice.

I would suggest that here in Philemon—and this is the main thrust of this letter—that Paul reinterprets the “F” to stand for something else: Rather than “fugitives” it stands for “forgiveness.”

That’s the message of Philemon—forgiveness.

What Paul is saying to Philemon, and to you and me, is that if we want to be truly authentic in our faith, if we want to truly be like Jesus, then we’ll have to readily extend forgiveness to those who’ve offended us. Forgiveness is the first step on the pathway to Christ-likeness.

Of all of the human qualities that make us in any sense like God, none is more divine than forgiveness. Why? Precisely because God is a God of forgiveness. In fact, in Exodus 34:6-7, God identifies himself in that way:

“And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”

Moses says to God, “What’s your name?” And God says, “my name is ‘the God of forgiveness.’ That’s who I am.”

God doesn’t forgive grudgingly—just to make himself appear more divine. It is in his nature to forgive! He looks for opportunities to forgive. Micah 7:18 says, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives transgressions…? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy.”

God is a forgiving God and you are to be forgiving person. That’s basic Christianity. You’re never more Christ-like than when you forgive.

Moreover, forgiveness, really, is an indication and an authentication of your faith. The Puritan preacher Thomas Watson wrote, “We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven. Let us look into our hearts and see if we can forgive others. If we can, we need not doubt that God has forgiven us.”

In Matthew 5:44-45, Jesus said,“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may become the children of your Father in heaven.” (TEV)

That’s how you enter into Christ-likeness: Practice forgiving! I’m never more like God than when I forgive. Why? Because God is never more like God than when he forgives.

Do you really want to be like Christ? Ephesians 4:32 says, “Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.” That means you treat the person who has hurt you just like you hope God will treat you…just as you would want to be treated by those you’ve hurt. Do it quickly, freely, completely!

Forgiveness is an act of sheer obedience. Notice what Paul says at the end of his appeal in verse 21, “Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.”

I’ll be the first to admit, forgiveness is probably the toughest of all Christian virtues. It means letting go of what is rightfully yours—justice! When you forgive, in reality, it’s you—the one who is owed, who pays the price of forgiveness in full.

But isn’t that what God did for us? In Christ, the debt was paid for us. This is what theologians call the doctrine of imputation… “to put it on someone else’s account.” When Jesus died on the cross, my sins were put on his account. He was treated the way I should have been treated.

But even more, not only was he my substitute, his guiltlessness became mine. He took my guilt and exchanged it for his righteousness. He said to the Judge, “He no longer owes the debt—I paid it in full. Receive him as you would receive me. He’s family now!”

That’s what the letter of Philemon is reminding us of, that Christ-likeness requires no less of us than what Jesus has done for us!

Missionary Stan Mooneyham tells of walking along a trail in East Africa when he became aware of a delightful odor that filled the air. He looked up in the trees and around at the bushes trying to find what is was.

His African friends told him to look down at the small blue flower growing along the path. Each time they crushed the tiny blossoms under their feet, its sweet perfume was released into the air.

They said, “We call it the forgiveness flower.”

The forgiveness flower doesn’t wait until we ask forgiveness for crushing it. It doesn’t wait for an apology or restitution; it merely lives up to its name and forgives—freely, fully, richly.

Forgiveness is the fragrance of the flower that’s left on the heel of the shoe that crushed it.

I hope you give off that fragrance today!

Prayer… Dear Father, you have freely, unconditionally and completely forgiven me. Now give me the grace to forgive, just as in Christ, you have forgiven me.

One More Thing… “He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass.” —George Herbert