Almost there, Chronos!
Regarding the future: If you (or someone you know) want to do this in the new year, I will continue to post at www.steveorr.blogspot.com for anyone to access throughout the year.
KEY VERSE: “So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.” (Hebrews 6:1)
Blessings,
Steve
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We’re reading The One Year Chronological Bible, New Living Translation (Tyndale). It’s best with your own copy. Or, paste in this link to the daily reading schedule:
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This week's highlights:
Letter to the Hebrews (author unknown ... but much evidence suggests Paul or someone who had been discipled by Paul). The end of the Timothy letters. The roll call of faith (Hebrews 11). The great cloud of witnesses. The two letters from Peter to the church at large.
Why we care about Hebrews, a letter written to Jewish believers: Many of the “issues” raised, today, against Christianity are addressed in this letter. Interesting, isn’t it, how a letter that purports to serve one group ends up centuries later being useful to a completely different group of believers? These are questions raised, not only by our friends, acquaintances, and debaters, but also by us. Definitely worth a read.
Something that helps us understand: when the word “holy” appears (as it does often in scripture, and especially in the Peter letters), it likely doesn’t mean what you think it does. In the Bible, it actually means “separate, utter otherness, set apart.” Try reading those passages while holding that in your mind. It’s the idea that God is so utterly different from what we humans tend to be. Add to that, when we are called upon to be holy, we need to try to be so distinct from our environment that we approach this ideal. That may be a tall order which we can never fully achieve, but we are to try.
Comments:
December 17th —Hebrews Chapters 1&2— The author makes the case for Jesus being superior to Angels, that he created everything, and is now in charge of everything. Why do we care? Like today, there was a problem with Angel-worship during the first century. Plus there was a lot of confusion, fostered by false teachers, about which beings were of highest authority. Finally, there was a false teaching, still in play today, that God was just the most powerful angel, and that Jesus was just one of many angels (an important one, but not necessarily the most important one).
December 18th —Hebrews 5:8— Jesus “learned obedience from the things He suffered.” That’s thought-provoking ...
December 19th —Hebrews 9:27— “...each person is destined to die once and after that comes the judgment....”
December 19th —Hebrews 10:24— “let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” That means we spend some time thinking up just exactly how we could motivate ourselves and other believers to take action in love. That’s not passive ...
December 20th (and my birthday) —Hebrews Chapter 11— The “Roll Call of Faith” opens with a statement that has been much misunderstood ... mostly because they keep re-translating it to try to convey its meaning. NLT says: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT - http://bible.com/116/heb.11.1.nlt).
King James is the best known translation: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV - http://bible.com/114/heb.11.1.nkjv).
I find it most understandable to think of it this way: “Of the things we have hoped for, faith is the confidence we have that God can make them come true; that they already have substance in God’s consideration. Of matters not currently perceivable by us, but which we are supposed to believe anyway, faith actually is the evidence they currently exist.”
December 20th —Hebrews Chapter 11 is one of those Bible chapters, along with verse 12:1 (“the great cloud of witnesses”), that should be read every week by every christian. It’s that important to our understanding of our place in God’s plan. [The other Bible chapters that should be read each week are: Acts 7, 1st Corinthians 13, Romans 12, Hebrews 11, Romans 13, Isaiah 40]
December 21st —Hebrews Chapter 13— There are so many phrases, here, that we have often heard from the pulpit and from the hymnal.
A. Show hospitality to strangers for some have entertained angels unaware (verse 2)
B. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Verse 5)
C. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Verse 8)
D. This world is not my home (verse 14)
December 22nd —1st Peter 3:15— I think the verse is a bit stronger if rendered this way: “In your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord.” It calls on us to regard Jesus as higher than any authority we encounter in this life, but not requiring us to be confrontational about it. What is important is that we keep reminding ourselves just who it is that we serve.
December 22nd —1st Peter 4:8— “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.” This is active love, transformational love ...
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS? —>There are some who suggest this is a process by which we not only get our sins covered (forgiven), but also those to whom we ”show deep love.”
December 23rd —2nd Peter 1:5-9— Sometimes referred to as the “Learning to Love,” pyramid, this seems to some to be steps in a process; that accomplishing or achieving mastery of one level (such as faith) is needed before one can fully achieve the next level (“moral excellence”, “virtue”). Others have suggested that we should be attempting all of these activities, continuously, but recognizing that they do build on one another. These actions do seem to provide a pathway to being able to truly love ourselves and others as per the greatest and second greatest commandments. Consider especially the word “develop” in verse nine (9). I’m more in the second camp; working on all of them at once. How can you go wrong with that approach?
Next week:
John’s three letters: the first to “my dear children”; the second to “the chosen lady”; the third to “my dear friend.” Jude’s letter to the churches. The book of God’s Revelation to the Apostle John (the fifth Bible piece penned by John).
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