Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
So, yeah, been a bit out of pocket this week...
Caught a class reunion amongst the travels, too, so it had a purpose. Worked the actual job from home today to try and not be so far behind next week; laundry tomorrow and then another full calendar. Hopefully things will settle down a bit around the middle of October... will likely be another two weeks before I can jump into John for the Friday Faithfuls.
Life is definitely not boring...
Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Y'know, I really should have named this series somthing different...to allow for those weeks where I'm, um, a little late posting the selection.
This was Women's Conference weekend...so, yeah, there was stuff going on. So I'm pretending Sunday is Friday and trying to forget I have to go to work tomorrow morning, lol.
But, the weekly assingment is to skim through one book and take a look a the verse that catches my eye, for whatever reason.
I really thought I was going to use a verse from very early in the book, but as I skimmed through there was another one that was a little more insistent...
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " -- Lk 16:31
This, of course, is the last bit of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus...the 'he' and 'him' in this verse being Abraham and The Rich Man, as related by Jesus.
What hit me was...wow, this has a serious double meaning. The immediate application that it would be useless to send Lazarus to warn the Rich Man's brothers of their fate if they don't repent...but also a rather pointed foreshadowing of the fact that Jesus was soon to rise from the dead, and there would still be folks who didn't believe.
...even if someone rises from the dead.
Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Mark is the most condensed of the Gospels; generally considered to be the first one written down, it may be that the urgency of the task kept his manuscript shorter. Or maybe Mark just had a get-down-to-basics approach.
But in cruising through, the verse that struck me was Jesus answering a question during his teaching at the Temple during Passion Week. 'What is the most important of the commandments?'
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "Is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'" - Mark 12:29 -30.
This is a quote of Deuteronomy 6:4, known as the 'Shema' and is basically the Hebrew statement of faith.
And, I might add, it is, along with what Jesus goes on to describe as the second greatest commandment, to love each other, the framework up on which all the other commandments and statutes of God are built.
Jesus said that the one who loves him is the one who follows his commandments.
It is entirely unique; no other religion in the world hinges on love. It is a Judeo-Christian distinctive. He loves us and fulfilled the law on our behalf...for us. We love him because he first loved us, and because we love him, we do what he instructed.
Right? Right?
Oh, but those commandments are outdated...it's old fashioned...it's exclusive and bigoted...it doesn't mean what it says it means...God wants me to be happy, right?
Um.
Let's just start with the first one. Love God. First, foremost, before anything else. Love God. Jesus said it was the most important thing to do if we want to live a life of following God.
Love HIM. Live for HIS smile.
If that's truly the number one priority...most of the other stuff will fall into place. Or fall right away.
