Reading More...Intentionally

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

2022 was going to be the year I really paid attention to the books I read; make notes, keep a notebook of reviews, and have witty and profound comments to make about them from time to time on the blog.

I did good in January, lol.  Read, noted and reviewed in a notebook 4 books.  Then I kinda got behind.  I made notes on two more books...undated in my journal...and certainly not in order.   The rest of the books I read (and I don't even know for sure how many) didn't make it into the journal.  It wasn't handy at the opportune moment and I just didn't keep up.

I read some profound books...and some books that were grinds to finish.  One book I read through, then turned right around and read it again, it was That Good (Stephen Roach's Naming the Animals, if you're curious).  At least one had me confused as to what really happened.  One blew me away with the world building and the creativity (Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline.  Yeah, I'm a little late to the party on that one...)

See, I used to be the girl that read All The Time.  Who finished the Reading textbook before Christmas (actually, probably before Halloween...) every year.  Who got into trouble for reading when there was Work To Be Done.  Who did the summer reading challenge at the local library in the first two weeks.  There were no AR points to be had when I was a kid, but I would have torn that up.  

I LOVED reading.

I still love reading...but I struggle with getting time to do it.  Hasn't stopped me from accumulating books, though.  I just have to be more...intentional...about actually reading them.

The notebook is a good idea, and I may go back and write up the rest of the books I read last year...that I can remember, anyway.

This year I decided to take pictures of books as I finish them.  At least that way I will have a visual record, if nothing else.

And maybe next January I can make witty and profound comments about the books I will read in the next twelve months...

What have you been reading?

Friday Faithfuls Two - 2 Thessalonians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The holidays have come and gone like a snowstorm in the South...which also happened the day after Christmas (a whole half inch, lol)...and now it's time to get back into the little 'let's skim a book a week and see what verse/ passage Holy Spirit will highlight'.  We are in the T books of the New Testament and this week we have 2 Thessalonians.

Paul had mentioned the return of Jesus in his first letter to the Thessalonians (the last post, two weeks ago), and he returns to that topic in this letter.  I kinda suspect that Paul had had news of these folks, which prompted the second letter, and there may have been a mention of their interest in this topic, because he writes, 'Concerning  the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him...' in 2:1.  This leads to a discussion of what will precede this event, namely, the revealing of 'the lawless one' (2:3), who will deceive 'those who are perishing' (2:10a).

This brings me to the verse that jumped out at me this week; maybe it's because I've been in conversations lately discussing our human tendency to be dishonest with ourselves, which is where all true deception starts.

They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. -- 2 Thess. 2: 10b- 12

They refused to love the truth. That's where it ALL starts.  All the deception, all the pain, all the rebellion, all the ...sin.  It STARTS with a refusal to love the truth.

What is the Truth, Eve?  God loves you and wants to fellowship with you and gave you ONE THING to do in order to obey him.  The Deception...God is holding out on me and I need to make up my own mind. 

What is the Truth, Cain?  You know what God expects from you, why not simply do what he asks?  You know...the right thing?  The Deception...I should be able to show God my love and worship how I think fit, if he doesn't accept it, that's his problem and I shouldn't have to change.  If I remove the one he prefers to me, then he will have to accept me, right?

What is the Truth, Pharoah? The God of the Israelites has decreed that they should go into the desert and worship him.  The Deception...The God of the Israelites is nothing in Egypt; I am not under his authority.  I am the ruler here.

What is the Truth, Achan?  God said all the plunder from this battle was his.  The Deception...I don't have to give him everything, I can slip some of this wealth into my pocket.  No one need ever know.

What is the Truth, Uzziah?  Burning incense in the Holy Place is the task of the Priests, who are anointed and set apart to do that.  The Deception...I am king, I am above the Law, I should be able to show God my love and worship as I see fit.  I am as worthy as you priests.

What is the Truth, Sadducees and Pharisees of the 1st Century?  The Messiah has come from God and is standing before you now, doing signs and wonders and teaching everyone to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength...and to love others (even Samaritans!) as they love themselves.  The Deception ...This can't be the Messiah...he doesn't fit our expectations.  And he's going to upset the status quo and we'll lose the limited autonomy that we have, as well as our positions of honor and privilege.  He is a threat we must eliminate.

Do you see?  Truth is clearly before all these folks, yet they chose to believe something else.  And that sets up the pattern for rebellion and destruction.

Some will argue that it's God's fault...that he sends the delusion so they believe the lie.  But that's not strictly correct.  They CHOSE first...to reject the truth.  The delusion is part of the consequences of that choice.  They choose a lie...so God gives them what they chose.

Anyone in honest pursuit of THE truth will find it.  Anyone seeking to define THEIR truth...rejecting THE truth...is headed for destruction.

And that's the truth.

Friday Faithfuls 2 - 1 Thessalonians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

This week's selection is 100% based on the season.  I did not grow up in a liturgical tradition; Advent wasn't on my radar at all.  When I married a Methodist, Advent became part of my vocabulary, but I still thought it was all about preparing for the baby.  It wasn't until I read Madeleine L'Engle's book The Irrational Season that I discovered that Advent is an eschatological season, preparing for the coming of the Messiah...both the first and second comings. 

You will hear people argue that the word 'rapture' doesn't occur anywhere in Scripture, so people who are looking for such a thing are clearly misguided.

But I would say that the word 'Advent' doesn't appear in Scripture, either (at least, it is not listed in my Exhaustive NIV Concordance).  Advent is a word we have used to describe a scriptural concept:  the expectation of and preparation for the coming of Messiah.  Likewise, 'rapture' is a word used to refer to a concept Paul clearly details:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever. -- 1 Thess. 4:16-17, NIV 84

However, I would also point out that the scholars of the day completely missed the first coming of Messiah.  They had studied the scriptures and the prophecies and they really believed they had it figured out;  they knew what was going to happen.  So when it didn't happen the way they expected...they missed it.  I'm not so sure this 'catching up' is a 'missable' event, in that sense, but I do think that we tend to interpret prophecy according to what we know.   Problem is, there is a lot of stuff we don't know that affects that interpretation; things that make sense in hindsight but were totally unexpected at the moment. I believe Paul wrote the truth...we will be all caught up, in some fashion.  But it might be in a way that we don't expect now...that, in hindsight millenia from now, we will see was exactly right.

And...even the unexpectedness of it is repeated in prophecies.  Jesus said it would be unexpected; Paul says it will be unexpected.  We just think we have figured out what the unexpected aspects of it will be.  But...I bet we don't.  Not entirely.  I kinda think the second coming of Messiah will be the same sort of surprise as the first one.  Not exactly what we...expected.

So maybe the theme statement of Advent should be the phrase that was the motto for our children's ministry at church for years:

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.

Friday Faithfuls 2 - Colossians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The weekly skim is becoming well, sorta weekly during the holiday season, lol!  But we have arrived at Colossians today, and the passage that caught me on my read through is probably because of the season we're in...

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers of authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. -- Col. 1: 15-18, NIV 84

Think about his passage when we are singing about the baby in the manger...who has the supremacy in EVERYTHING. It's pretty staggering to think about what he actually did to come and dwell among us.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Philippians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Philippians, y'all.  Paul writing to some of the people he knew well, who had become believers because of his ministry and who had supported him when no one else did.

He loved these folks.

And, because I was specifically reminded of this passage at last night's choir practice, it kind of explains why it seemed highlighted. And the fact that it was the theme passage, repeated almost weekly, of the girls' ministry program I worked in for ten years.  

So... a passage with history, that was highlighted this week.  Yeah.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy --  think about such things. Phil. 4:8, NIV84.

The power of positive thinking, eh?  Paul, writing while imprisoned y'all, writes that folks should think about things that are true, noble, right pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and/or praiseworthy.  That takes some real discipline.

There are times when it's oddly satisfying to wallow in the unfairness, in the victimhood, in the entitlement...kind of like picking at a scab.  It doesn't do any good at all, and can, in fact, make things worse, but there's that weird perverse appetite for such things.

Paul, however, offers an option. An out.  Instead of thinking about all the yuck, think about all the good.  

Picking at a scab keeps it from healing...and can even allow infection to fester.  Focusing on resentment and envy and disappointment and the like can do a similar thing to the spirit.

Actually, the whole book of Philippians talks about keeping a good attitude.  That's just kind of a practical snippet.  It's only 4 chapters...give it a read through whenever you feel like the ol' attitude is beginning to sag.

And think on those things.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Ephesians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our little flying skim through the books of the Bible looking for a verse that particularly resonates each week has brought us to Ephesians.

I may well have studied Ephesians more than any other book, lol.  I teach a class at church on beginning Bible study skills and over the course of that 10 week class we go through Ephesians three times.

So I wondered which verse would stand out to me as I read through it this week, and the one that tripped the wire was this one:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. -- Eph. 1:13, NIV 84.

"You also were included"...that is balm to my soul right now.  Doesn't matter what happens on any earthly situation...I am included.

And so are you.  All it takes is real belief....the kind that gets deep inside and becomes foundational.  The rock upon which the house is built. When that happens, we are sealed in him.  

In.Clu.Ded.

Friday Faithfuls 2 - Galatians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

If anyone ever needed any proof that Paul could get salty...all they need to do is read Galatians.  Arguing against requiring non-Jewish believers to follow the law of Moses, Paul gets quite...emphatic...in his language.

But the verse that caught my attention today was 2:20 (NIV 84) - 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Y'all.  Just take a selah and ponder that verse for a moment or two.

What RIGHTS do I have, as a believer, if I am crucified in Christ?  If Jesus is living through me?  If everything I do originates in faith in him?

Not from a legalistic standpoint...that's the very thing Paul argues against in the entire letter...but from a standpoint of love and gratefulness for what he has done?

How could I possibly look at the one who loved me and gave himself for me and say, 'I just want to do (fill in the blank) because it will make me happy.'

And, you know, the (fill in the blank) could be anything from, say, reading a bunch of salacious tales on Reddit compilations to  carrying a grudge against someone who caused emotional pain to jumping into an illicit relationship.  Doesn't matter.  If it's not in obedience to him,  how can that action be reconciled with being crucified with Christ?

Definitely worth a selah.