Tag Christianity

Provision for Eternity

Todd R 2 Comments

The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is full of drama, but more importantly, lessons.  After being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, Joseph rises to the position of overseeing all of Egypt, under only Pharaoh.  God blessed Joseph with the ability to see and interpret others’ dreams, and he was able to interpret one of Pharaoh’s dreams, which foretold seven years of bountiful harvest that would be followed by seven years of famine.

Based on this glimpse of the future in a dream, Joseph recommended the following plan, which they put into action: “Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.”[1]  This stored provision of food would help get Egypt through the years of famine.  But there’s also another lesson in Joseph’s plan.

Like Joseph, we have knowledge of the future that, in our case, we have learned through the Bible – that destruction is coming to this world.  Not just a regional famine, but worldwide, total judgement and destruction.  God’s word is like a dream that God has interpreted for His people through His Spirit so we may prepare for that future time.

How do we make provision for the world to come?

Photo by Diane Helentjaris on Unsplash

In Joseph’s case, he had Egypt use its current resources to invest in the future he knew was coming.  We can do the same, but how?  We can invest through our tithes and offerings.  By loving someone as Christ would.  By giving our time in service.  By supporting missionaries.  By being a strong witness in word and deed.  We do it when we do anything to advance God’s kingdom in this world, in His church and among our neighbors near and far.

These investments don’t save us – we are only justified by faith in what Christ has done for us – but that same Christ has told us to “lay up” these investments in Matthew 6:19-20, which says:

 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Many of us save and invest diligently for goals like retirement, college, vacation, a house or a car, and we should.  But we should also save and invest diligently in eternity, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”[2]

How can we invest today?

[1] Genesis 41:34
[2] Matthew 6:21

The God Who Puts Food on the Table

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There are many reasons to praise God, many ways that He blesses us.  One of these is given in Psalm 111:5, and it’s something we shouldn’t take for granted:

“He provides food for those who fear him;
            he remembers his covenant forever.”

While this may be a reference specifically to God providing manna and quail to the Israelites when they wandered in the wilderness, it applies more broadly to any food provided to anyone at any time.  Therefore, we should praise Him whenever we have something to eat.

But He doesn’t just deliver food from the grocery store to us.  He provides everything required for food to exist in the first place.  He designed everything involved in the growth of what we eat.  Sunlight, rain, soil conditions and nutrients, all have a role in the growth of fruits and vegetables.  All of these roles act the way they need to be by design.  Food doesn’t exist by chance and is not an accident of a blind nature.

Then add what’s needed to produce the meat we may eat.  First, those plants need to contain what animals need to eat and grow.  The animals need to be able to not only digest those things, but then to turn them into something edible for us.  Again, all ordained by God, the intelligent creator of our universe, who “provides food for those who fear him.”

Also, He is not only a God who designs and provides, but a God of mercy, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”[1]  He provides food even for those who do not praise Him and give thanks to Him, so they might come to know Him by His mercy towards them.

Those who fear God, praise and thank Him for the food He provides, the complexity of the world He designed, and His mercy toward all His people.  But also, to reflect His character, provide food for those in need, showing them the mercy and love of the God who puts food on our tables.

“He provides food for those who fear him;
            he remembers his covenant forever“

[1] Matthew 5:45b

Daily Readings for August 4 – 10

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Fellow travelers:

Here is the list of readings for this week: 2 chapters to read per day as the main reading plan, and extra chapters for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2025.  Reading 3 chapters a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends almost exactly covers the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, so the “extra” readings are about 9 chapters per week.

Follow along (or not) any way you choose!

Monday, August 4: Deuteronomy 1-2
Tuesday, August 5: Deuteronomy 3-4
Wednesday, August 6: Deuteronomy 5-6
Thursday, August 7: Deuteronomy 7-8
Friday, August 8: Deuteronomy 9-10
Saturday, August 9: Deuteronomy 11-12
Sunday, August 10: Deuteronomy 13-14

Extra chapters for those reading the whole Bible this year:
Jeremiah 3 – 11

Going On to Maturity

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The New Testament book of Hebrews is one of my favorite books of the Bible, laying out many truths about Jesus and their connections to Old Testament practices and images.  But the author doesn’t tell us about these things to satisfy our curiosity, but to help us grow closer to God.  To grow more mature in our faith.  Near the middle of the book, in Hebrews 6:1, the author wrote:

“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God”

The writer is saying here that there is more to Christian maturity than “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,” but that these things are the foundation of maturity.  As this verse begins with a “therefore,” we should ask what that word is there for.  At the end of Hebrews 5, the author had written about his audience needing to be taught “basic principles,” which he referred to as “milk.”[1]  These believers need to move on to the “solid food” of mature believers, “those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”[2]

But this does not mean we can abandon the “basic principles” of the Christian faith and leave them behind.  John Calvin wrote that, “in building a house we must never leave the foundation; and yet to be always engaged in laying it, would be ridiculous. For as the foundation is laid for the sake of what is built on it, he who is occupied in laying it and proceeds not to the superstruction, wearies himself with foolish and useless labor.”

It does mean that maturity takes “constant practice,” which takes time and commitment.  Time we could spend rebuilding the foundation again but instead should be spending training ourselves to “distinguish good from evil.” Sometimes we put too much effort into knowing about God, rather than into getting to know Him personally, in the relationship He intended.  Knowing God includes loving what He loves and hating what He hates, which doesn’t happen overnight, and doesn’t happen at all if we don’t focus on it appropriately.

I haven’t nearly fully developed my relationship with God.  I have a long way to go, and always will, but Christian sanctification works itself out in lifelong growth and it requires us to train our discernment over time.  A long time.

“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity”

We’ll get there someday.  He guarantees that someday we will be fully mature!

[1] Hebrews 5:12
[2] Hebrews 5:14

Of Love and Forgiveness

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Fellow travelers,

Have you known Christians who love well?  Not ones who know the Bible well, or who know all the right doctrines, or who are involved in many church activities.  Not even a person who writes (or reads) a great blog.  These are not bad things, and they may help someone become more loving, but they aren’t the same thing as being a person who loves as Christ loved.  Who loves well.

Not everyone like this gets there the same way, but Jesus mentioned at least one specific way: the more we know how great God’s forgiveness for us is, the greater is our love.

This comes from Luke chapter 7, in the story about “a woman of the city, who was a sinner.”  This woman broke an expensive flask of ointment over Jesus’s feet, then wiped the ointment on His feet with her hair and tears.  What a bold statement of devotion to Jesus she made!

However, Jesus was criticized by a Pharisee for not refusing this act of worship: “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”[1]  To the Pharisee, an upright, respectable religious person should have nothing to do with this sinful woman.

In response, Jesus tells a parable about a man who was forgiven a very large debt, and therefore loved the one who forgave him more than another man did who was forgiven a smaller debt.  Jesus contrasts the actions of the Pharisee – who didn’t treat Jesus with nearly as much honor as the “sinner” – with the woman, and says: “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

We don’t know much for sure about this woman’s sins, but we know the Pharisee was aware of them and hated her for it.  He thought her sins were worse than others and should exclude her from any social interactions.  We also know that she was aware of how great her sin was, but she also knew that Jesus loved and forgave her anyway, even though her sin was great.  Jesus tells us her devotion is proof of that.

This story shows us that those with “checkered” pasts, full of sin, pain, and suffering, can become the most passionate believers, as they know what the gospel is capable of overcoming first-hand, in themselves and in others.  Jesus and his early followers went to these outcast people, and the faith of that first generation of Christians changed the world forever!

So, who is willing and able to reach out to sinners in the same way God reached out to them in Christ?  Those who have a very real sense of how great are the sins God that has forgiven them. Often the greatest “sinners” are the ones who learn how to love well.

[1] Luke 7:37-39