July 19

July 19
One Year Bible Readings:
1 Chronicles 28:1-29:30
Romans 5:6-21
Psalm 15:1-5
Proverbs 19:18-19
Supplemental Reading for The One Year Bible.
The following are excerpts from Mike’s One Year Bible Blog.

1 Chronicles:
We finish up the book of First Chronicles today! Second Chronicles begins tomorrow! Today's readings are a nice transition from the reign of King David to his son Solomon. Our readings today set the transition scene nicely in First Chronicles 28 verses 1 & 2: "David summoned all his officials to Jerusalem--the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of the twelve army divisions, the other generals and captains, the overseers of the royal property and livestock, the palace officials, the mighty men, and all the other warriors in the kingdom. David rose and stood before them and addressed them as follows: "My brothers and my people!"" One thing that really stood out to me in David's address to his officials today was his absolute passion for God's Temple! David was so passionate about making sure the Temple was prepared for his son Solomon to build it. Yes, true, God gave David the plans for the Temple. :)
Q: But... what about us in our lives today... does God give us any "plans" for our lives today? What about the Bible? Is the Bible a "plan" for our lives today that we should follow?
 
I love David's prayer of praise to God today in 1 Chronicles 29 verses 10 through 12: "O LORD, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. Riches and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is at your discretion that people are made great and given strength."
Q: Have you ever prayed a prayer of praise like this to God? Would you like to? You could do so right now!

Romans:
Wow... I don't know what it is about Romans this year, but it is speaking to me like never before. For those of you that have gone through the One Year Bible multiple times, you probably know how this is. One year a book will kinda sorta speak to you - God's Word always does. And then the next year a book will just blow you away with its wisdom. Romans is one of those books for me this year... Paul's words in Romans 5 verses 6 through 8 today spoke to me right away: "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." This is so powerful to think about. Jesus died for us sinners. Think about how selfless this is.
Q: Would you die for someone right now? Perhaps your family or maybe someone who is especially good, as this Psalm says. But would you die for a liar, a thief, a cheat, or a hopeless addict? Maybe so... but probably not. Jesus came for us. He died for us. Us thieves. Us liars. Us cheat. Us addicts. He came to save us! Have you been saved by Jesus?

We are now called friends of God as Paul tells us in verse 11: "So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God--all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God."  
Q: Do you rejoice in knowing that you are a friend of God? If someone were to look at how you interact with others and how you spend your time and your days, would they know that you are a friend of God? Do you often spend quality time with God like you would with any other friend? Do you think spending time with God is more valuable than anything else you could do in this world?

Psalm:
Psalm 15 verses 1 & 2 today are awesome: "Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts." Psalm 15 was written for those that wished to have access to God in his Temple in Jerusalem. However, I do believe that today, through Jesus, anyone can worship God anywhere - in a church or in our homes or wherever we find ourselves. However, I do think there is truth in these Psalm verses in that we can worship God beautifully by living a blameless life (not perfect life - only Jesus was perfect this side of heaven - we will need to confess sins & repent), doing what is right, and speaking the truth from sincere hearts. I do believe these are acts of worship that demonstrate our friendship with God and our growth in becoming more like his son Jesus in our lifetimes.
Q: Do you seek to lead a blameless life? Do you seek to do what is right? Do you speak the truth from a sincere heart? Do you seek to worship God in some way each and every day? How?

Proverbs:
Proverbs chapter 19 verse 19 teaches us today: "Short-tempered people must pay their own penalty. If you rescue them once, you will have to do it again." This is an interesting Proverb to think about. What it says to me is that sometimes people can only learn things on their own. They have to make their own mistakes. Pay their own penalty. And then they'll learn. If we don't let them go through this process, and we "rescue them" once, we'll have to rescue them again. Interesting to consider this in light of verse 18: "Discipline your children while there is hope. If you don't, you will ruin their lives." This verse to me indicates that we can actually "rescue" people with godly discipline early in their lives. We can "rescue" our children through godly discipline and save them much ruin later in their lives.  
Q: Do you agree with both of these Proverbs? Do you see the wisdom in godly discipline for our children?

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