Reading the earlier posts so far this year made me think too about adopting a word for the year and what I came up with was, “God centered”. Ok, I know it’s technically two words but is one word focused. So this year I will read with you all from a God centered point of view.
So in today’s readings this stood out to me
Genesis 14
11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away.
15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Abram stayed God centred in his agendas and never forgot to give thanks
Nehemiah 3
A wonderful example of how people of all backgrounds and abilities and trades (recorded in great detail) can come together to complete a mammoth task like repairing a city wall. All made possible by having a God centred agenda.
Matthew 13
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.17For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
We all love a good story, right? Each and every time I read the parables in Matthew 13 I am reminded on how different they are revealed to me each time. What I mean is, Jesus uses these “stories” to teach us valuable life lessons. We all are in different stages of our lives and what is revealed to us through these parables is very different, person to person and time to time. What I am reminded of is to keep it God centered, so my eyes and ears stay open to receive what God wants to reveal to me.
Acts 13
I found Acts 13 to be a wonderful “walk through the garden” of the Gospel, clearly explained and detailed. Accepted by some and rejected by others and the persecution which we most definitely will experience on our walk with God.
God Bless
Neil
Sixty-six books in a year 