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ALL – Psalm 150:1-6
ALL – Proverbs 18:9-10
OT – 2 Kings 20:1-22:2
NT – Acts 21:18-36

Interesting passage for the day: As for the Gentile Christians, we aren’t asking them to follow these Jewish customs at all—except for the ones we wrote to them about: not to eat food offered to idols, not to eat unbled meat from strangled animals, and not to commit fornication. – Acts 21:25, The Living Bible

Thought: On the one hand, the Jewish believers were VERY serious about having Jewish believers continue to follow Jewish customs. This verse comes in the midst of a section where Paul has returned to Jerusalem amid rumors that he teaches not only non-Jews, but also Jews, to stop acting like Jews once they put their faith in Jesus Christ. In reality, all he was teaching was that Jews and Gentiles could both come to Christ by faith without becoming something they weren’t—Gentiles didn’t have to become Jews to follow Jesus. So Paul was being asked to prove to the Jews that he was for Jewish Christians living like Jews—he wasn’t against a Jewish lifestyle. But on the other hand, it is important to notice that Gentiles (non-Jews) are allowed to follow Jesus as Gentiles. We who are not Jews may still know and walk with God. Jesus’ blood is enough to make us clean. We don’t have to adopt a whole new nationality and learn to apply the entire set of Jewish laws and customs. All we’re asked to do is to avoid a couple of foods and to be sexually pure. The rest of God’s commands are commands that we can live out in distinctly non-Jewish ways.

Question: What kinds of things make you feel restricted by the call to walk with Jesus? Compare what makes you feel restricted to how much more restricted you would be if you had to follow all the Jewish rituals and customs just to follow Jesus.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.