Baby Boots

Unt Tree

Why I Love The Bible's Old Testament

Do you ever contemplate why the Old Testament exists? Do you find it not only boring at times, but also confusing? Where is the resolve; is what these people do right or wrong, are they models to follow or to steer clear of? Why are all the numbers rounded, can’t they count? Is this God the same one that seems so patient and kind in the New Testament? Do contradictions mean the Old Testament is not trust-worthy? Why is called so many different names? Can’t we just skip to Jesus and the Apostles? Is Ezekiel or Song of Solomon saying what I think it might be? Does God really call the murderer and adulterer and bad-parent and guy who ended is life as a cold, weak man one after His own heart?

I hope to start a small series of blogs on how to study and look at the Old Testament and hopefully it addresses the why as well. But here I want to give a few sweeping, general, and broad reasons why I love and am thankful for the Old Testament.

It is different. The Old Testament is crazy. The Old Testament is wonderful. The Old Testament is exciting. The Old Testament is not the scientific-based Western thought. The Old Testament (OT) is a gathering of books like no other. It’s aim and way of getting at its target is like no other book. It has reasons for all it does but does not always disclose them (‘the secret things belong to the LORD’ and ‘wisdom conceals knowledge’).

It’s genres. There is history: of the Earth’s formation, destruction, and renewal. Of man, his purpose, failures and struggles. Of nations—Israel, Egypt, Persia, Assyria, Babylonia, and a lot of smaller Canaanite peoples. It can look at the life of one man or one nation. It is introspective and, at times, painfully ambiguous. There is poetry: The first being in Genesis from Adam’s lips, to the entire love-struck book of Song of Solomon, to the singing in the Psalms of people being murdered and lands being destroyed, and in myriads of other places. Much of what is written is done in the form of story, oral tradition written down. There are legal documents: of how to treat one another, how to tend flocks, take care of the land, how to treat outsiders, how to perform justice, how to clean, how to celebrate, how to worship, etc.

The way the OT is written is a way of theology—this word simply means the study of God, who, what, how He is. If it is kept in mind that the entire reason the book was written is to inform us about God, and to know God and to discover the human and his nature, then we can understand the Bible as a whole much better.

It’s way of making us think. There are ambiguities, there are unresolved matters, there are deep insights all to make us ponder God and ponder how the world works.

It’s breadth and depth. There are prophesies and prostitutes. There is Ruth the Moabite and Ruben the son of Israel. There are grotesque acts of rape, genocide, envy, pride, and injustice. There are spectacular manifestations of the power of sin and God.

It’s ability to create in us a substantial longing for a good ruler and a right world. In reading the OT we are to grow in our desire for something better, Someone better. We see hope that is often frail and then quickly broken only to be built back and crushed again. The OT is meant to bring us to the point almost of despair crying, ‘who will make things genuinely right?!’

It’s way of displaying God’s desire to have us love Him—He gave us language and His revelation. God decided to speak to us, the creatures who He knew would desert Him, forget Him, try to bring shame and dishonor on Him, continually disobey and rebel against Him. He knew all this yet He still decided to speak graciously to us.

These are only tips of the iceberg of why I love and am thankful for the OT but I hope it serves as a perking of your curiosity to join me in looking at some ways of how to rightly study the OT.

06-24-2010

Out of graves come diamonds
Out of dirt came man
Out of time comes wisdom
Out of grace, God’s hand.
Prudence passions forth
providence’s plan.

But I Don't Want to Read.

So there I was. It was time for bed: my teeth were brushed, my pj’s doin there thing, my thoughts set aside, and though I always read the bible at this time, this time I did not want to. Normally I had no problem picking up the Word of God and reading but I was completely uninspired.

This is me a lot. Do you ever find yourself there: just not really wanting to do it? I do. So what do you do in this time? Should you? Should you not? Is it wrong to do what you do not want to do? Is it bad?

Hopefully the following thoughts are helpful:
1. Your salvation is not dependant upon reading the bible. The reason that sinners are saved from their due demise is because of what Jesus Christ did in his coming to earth, living among man, dying unjustly, paying for sinner’s sins, and rising from the grave. It is easy to think that we are losing salvation by not reading the bible, it simply is not true. Whether you read or not tonight, Jesus has accomplished His work fully and no man can thwart that.

2. The Bible is God’s word to man. As a reminder, this book is nor like ay other book. It is a divinely inspired book whose pages were guided by the Spirit of God, the Maker and Sustainer of all. These words and stories are not from man’s mind, but God’s. These books which we call the Bible are not whimsical, not something that time breaks down and suddenly makes irrelevant. No, the Bible is God revealing Himself to man and teaching man about God.

3. The Bible is alive. The Bible does not squirm and roll like an organism, rather it is alive in the sense that it—the immutable—changes those who come in contact with it. It leaches and latches, it unsettles and comforts, it pierces and heals, it demands and gives hope, it shakes and calms.

4. The Bible is good for all men. Music has a massive influence on me—and I think most of us. I sometimes pass over albums in my iPod simply because I do not want the feeling that I know they will produce. Ion a positive note, I pick certain songs because I know they will remind me of something good or will simply put me in a better mood. The Bible is the album that is always good for you. I cannot tell you how many times I was seconds away from going to sleep, decided to read the bible and my soul was benefited. There is no way around it, if you go to the Word of God in humility and praying for some kind of help from it, you will be helped in some way.

5. It is for our soul. There are times when being shocked it a good thing: it is a violent shake that says, ‘Hey! This is important!’ For me, when I remember that this is good for my soul, it gives that jolt. I am not big on getting pumped up to do things or giving myself a pep talk but reminding myself of the greater benefit 5 minutes of reading the Bible can bring over 5 minutes of sleeping, sometimes I get the picture.

6. We are commanded by God to read. God, all across the canvas of His Word, tells us to think about the contents of the Bible, its message, its purpose, our purpose, God’s purpose. God tells us to meditate over and over and often—day and night and between—on His word. Jesus says, ‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.’ So one of the ways we display that we are followers of Jesus is by the way well know God’s word and live it out. And also remember, God is not like us, He does not command things just because He can, rather He commands things for our good; God’s wisdom sees through all the ‘buts,’ ‘what abouts,’ and all other things we think can get us off the hook. God is good and so His commands are.

7. The Word of God is a gift to us. God did not have to enter humanity at all. God could have, like many Deists believe, made all things, us, and then just stepped back and watch it go like a wind-up doll. But God chose to speak to us. Not only that but throughout the thousands of years He has, through men and occasions, preserved His words for us in 2010 to hear it and know it. Also, God could have spoken in unclear ways to us, but He chose to speak to us clearly about the major things in life--sin, atonement, salvation, justification, redeeming, discipline, wisdom, truth, beauty, holiness, loving, etc. Just because a great gift is constantly there does not mean it is to be neglected and shoved to the side as a lesser treasure.

8. Reading could lead us to help others. A benefit of knowing the word—which comes by reading—is to help others. Sometimes if I think that if I neglect reading the Bible I am, in a sense, neglecting aiding others, I am motivated to read God’s word.

Well, all of these are some simple thoughts. Habits are a good thing to have when they are promoting good things. Make a time of reading and memorizing God’s word a habit—something you do, planned and ready. God’s word never has failed nor will it ever. God does not lie—everything He says will always stand. God delights, according to Psalm 1, in those who are consumed by His words. Let’s read and study for God’s glory and our own good.

Money Talks, Sometimes Too Much

Give it away. All of it? Yes, and follow me.
Jesus was talking to a young guy who had, through inheritance or entrepreneurship, a lot of money. He was living knowing that he was doing good in life. He was comfortable in his golden shoes. He had a good status in society. He had a good status with the religious people too—at that time in the nation of Israel great profits were associated with having the favor of God. But when he came and knelt before Jesus inquiring as to what must be done to inherit eternal life, Jesus gave this shocking response, ‘Sell your possessions, give them to the poor, and follow me.’



Imagine the shock that must have filled the soul of this young man upon hearing Jesus’ response. This was a ‘good’ guy, he was morally upstanding and apparently wanted to know how to gain eternal life—seems like an admirable thing. But Jesus knew he was missing one thing, Jesus. This successful young man was lacking the Messiah, lacking the Savior he needed in order to be saved from his sin.

Money is fun. Money allows us to travel, to read, to eat exciting dishes, to gain entrance into theatres to experience astounding cinematography, music, or stories. Money is also a necessity. You are more than likely not going to eat anything without it, you need it to pay for shelter and clothes, you need it to live. But money can often get in the way. You want to gather a group of friends, you want to have a nicer than usual evening just for fun—maybe go to a nice restaurant and go to a separate place downtown known for their delightful post-entrée pleasures—, but that one friend never can seem to make it to these type of gatherings. You know he has the money, but you also know he likes to keep his money. He would rather save his money than enjoy a rare evening with his close companions. It says a lot about the guy doesn’t it? He values one thing over another.

This is exactly what Jesus was doing with the young stud: he was showing him that there was something in the way of him getting into eternal life, it was the guys love for money. Before you write this post off as ludicrous, narrow-minded, impractical, and too radical let me say that money and having lots of it is not bad or even sinful. That’s right, I said it: you can be the world’s wealthiest individual and still be on your way to heaven, if you love Jesus more than your money.

As the title suggests, money talks. Seriously. It talks about where you have gone, what your favorite items are, what, ultimately, you value. Sorry, but your money is ratting you out and even having an intimate heart-to-heart will not shut it up. But spending money is not bad either, we need to provide for ourselves and others. This area is where the Christian is weird. Christians are to work just as hard at their job and provide just as well for their families, but that hard-earned money is also to be given away. Just like that, no strings, no qualms, just give it away. (though not all of it) And not only give the money away but do it happily and willingly with zero expectation of receiving any of it back or getting the nodding approval of some high ranking official. In fact, Jesus tells his followers to do it secretly so that others do not know you are doing it or how often or how much.

I will say it again: Christians are to give away their hard-earned money with no expectation of approval from others or financial return or compensation for so doing. Why? What is the cause of this nonsense? Gratitude. You see, for the Christian we realize that absolutely nothing good in this world do we deserve. In fact, what we deserve is for the Creator of this earth, the One who gives us breath and makes our heart beat, this powerful Being to kill us; He has the right to obliterate and extinguish our existence. But He has not and more so He has decided to rescue us, to have Jesus pay for our sins which so set alight His just wrath and fury. With that understanding then, one way His followers show appreciation to Him is by sacrificing. Throughout history followers of the One True God have given their money, their live-stock, their land and its fruits to God. IT is an act of worship it is a selfless megaphone to God saying thank you for loving me! And God loves it in return. He does not need it—He owns it all already—but he enjoys the heart of worship that the giver brings to Him.

The rich kid who Jesus talked with went away confounded and sad because he had lots of money. Jesus does not command ever who follows him to immediately give all their money away, but he does say you either serve me entirely or not. It is easy to be quasi-committal but Jesus demands it all. Jesus says you can have all the money in the world has long as you hold it with your hand opened so that if I want to take it all away at some point you are okay with that.

Jesus and his followers always say there is a cost to following Jesus, and this does not avoid your wallet. This is so because money talks.

Hope for Today

I remember nights when I could not sleep, I was racking my brain trying to recall each sin or thing I thought might be sin that I was involved in recently. I would think over words, actions, thoughts until I felt I had gathered them all in and then I would say, “God, please forgive all my sins.” I would always immediately add on “. . . and all the ones I have missed . . . and any sins I will commit in the future too.” As a middle-school child who probably was not a Christian I was aware of the existence of God and terrified of Him. I never fell asleep knowing that I was forgiven. As much as a kid that age can I remember thinking that one day God was going to get me, He was going to grab me up and have His vengeance and there was much to be had.

Fast forward some years later and for the first time I realized, by some means that I would come to understand later, I was completely forgiven if I simply followed Jesus. It was not a matter of my ability to recall each offense I committed against God, rather realizing that my entire nature, not just my actions, was the constant smoke in the eyes of our Maker. And then understanding that the reason Jesus willfully was murdered but defeated death by coming back to life was to change my nature so that I could be obedient to God instead of rebel against Him.

Friend, your life may be fun and not a moment of it tainted with grief or remorse but that does not mean it is the life that is going to extend into eternity. Some call Christians arrogant for stating that the person of Jesus Christ whom they follow is the only avenue into eternal life, and this is just as arrogant as passenger who points out to the unaware driver that there is a child crossing the street up ahead.

As I was back in middle school, awkwardly acknowledging the existence of God, so you may comprehend that some sort of ultimate being exists without even considering that He may have some say in your life and even more, that He may demand it. A life ”lived to the full with no regrets” may not be the best life, and perhaps the unappealing life now may be the one that going to last forever.

There is no hope for tomorrow if you do not wrestle with the One who made all things, and this is because there is no life in the living without a relationship with Him. The good news is that Jesus already died and defeated death and sin. That is the hope for today and for all days: we all sin against a Holy God but His Son stood in our place so we could stand before Him for eternity with exceeding joy.