Genealogical Genius

Today’s Reading:

• Genesis 25:1-4
• 1 Chronicles 1:32-33
• Genesis 25:5-6
• Genesis 25:12-18
• 1 Chronicles 1:28-31
• 1 Chronicles 1:34
• Genesis 25:19-26
• Genesis 25:7-11

Faith-Stretching Verse(s):

• This is the account of the family of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant. Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael’s descendants: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These twelve sons of Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes named after them, listed according to the places they settled and camped. – Genesis 25:12-16, NLT

Thoughts:
How important are the genealogies, really?

I don’t know anyone who really seems to like reading all the Bible’s genealogies. It’s usually not the highlight of my year, anyway. But they’re worth reading as a reinforcement to our faith.

How so? They’re nothing incredible. All they are is a list of who descended from whom. A really, really, really long list. How can a list like this reinforce our faith?

For one thing, the genealogies show how much our God cares about details. The God who claims to know everything, down to the number of hairs on each human head, shouldn’t have any trouble keeping track of details about who was whose father. So if nothing else, the genealogies give us a little bit more reason to trust that the Bible is an accurate, detailed book.

But that’s not the only reason for the genealogies. God has other ways to show us how detailed He can be. What purpose is there in the genealogies?

Let’s see if we can get a hint from where the genealogies begin. This is not the first time we’ve seen a genealogy. The genealogies start with Adam, continue to Noah, go on to Abraham, and then trace their way onward from there.

What about which people are included in the genealogies? Mostly the genealogies follow the line from one man of faith to another. Noah. Abraham. Jacob. Judah. David. Sometimes the genealogies also take a little bit of time to trace their relatives, like the one above about Ishmael. They remind us that all of humanity, including Israel’s enemies, is family.

And where do the genealogies end? The last two genealogies I can think of in the Scriptures are in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, and both end with the same person: Jesus Christ. In other words, even the genealogies tell a story, and the point of the story is that God was keeping careful watch over all of human history as He guided it from the first man, Adam, who dragged all of us into sin, to the sinless man, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and not for His own.

Even in the seemingly pointless details of Scripture, God points us to Jesus. And this happens as scores of human writers who mostly never meet each other coordinate their thoughts across centuries of Bible-writing until Jesus is born. This is no coincidence. This is evidence that God was really coordinating human history to His planned outcome. In other words, the genealogies are a reason for faith.

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.

Why Do Believers Believe?

In this New Year, I’ll be reading the Bible chronologically, and I invite you to join me. As I read, I hope to keep my thoughts focused on the question, “How can I believe this?” It seems to me that we’re living in a time when a growing number of people who know the Scriptures have come to the conclusion that the Scriptures simply aren’t credible. My hope is to show that those of us who believe do so reasonably, and to invite those who are struggling to believe or who don’t believe at all to join with us believers in standing firmly in our reasonable faith. I invite all readers into a dialogue. I do not claim to be a genius, so I doubt that my reasons for believing the Scriptures will always be unassailable. Feel free to show me where my logic falters. But also feel free to add your reasons for faith to mine. Let’s see where this journey leads as we pursue the truth together.

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

Living in a Blueprint

ALL – Psalm 106:13-31
ALL – Proverbs 27:7-9
OT – Ezekiel 16:43-17:24
NT – Hebrews 8:1-13

Interesting passage for the day: Their work is connected with a mere earthly model of the real tabernacle in heaven; for when Moses was getting ready to build the tabernacle, God warned him to follow exactly the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle as shown to him on Mount Sinai. – Hebrews 8:5, The Living Bible

Thought: How effective is life in a blueprint? The way that God commanded the Israelites to worship Him through Moses was just a blueprint of the way that we would all be called to live through Jesus.

Blueprints are guides. They aren’t comfortable. They aren’t harsh. They aren’t solid. They aren’t very satisfying. They aren’t reality. That is, they’re real visions and plans, but they still need to be realized before they can be very beneficial. Even if you go from blueprint to small-scale model, they’re only so satisfying. Which is more amazing, more useful, more fulfilling, more real: a full-sized train that drags tons of supplies across a nation or a model train that carts a few ounces of model cars and cabooses around our living rooms?

The old covenant was a blueprint and its tabernacles and temples were mere models. They were like samples given out at a grocery store—mere tastes of the full product. They were designed to prepare people for the glory of Jesus Christ and His heavenly tabernacle. Trying to live in them is like trying to live in a blueprint. But Jesus Christ has already done His work in the heavenly tabernacle on our behalf, and we can already begin to live in the realization that our sins are done for, even though we still live on earth. And one glorious day, we will experience the full life of heaven.

Question: How are you trying to build your relationship with God? What are you depending on? Where did you get your pattern? How’s it working for you? How much of a role does Jesus Christ play in your answer? He is the life our earthly blueprints have pointed to all along.

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

Planned Generosity

ALL – Psalm 40:1-10
ALL – Proverbs 22:1
OT – Job 16:1-19:29
NT – 1 Corinthians 16:1-24

Interesting passage for the day: On every Lord’s Day each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week, and use it for this offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once. – 1 Corinthians 16:2, The Living Bible

Thought: Have you ever noticed that the New Testament seems to be much more interested in the heart of a giver than in the act of giving?

Don’t get me wrong. Jesus and the apostles definitely talk about giving. But they want us to give because we are givers. They want our actions to flow from our nature.

With that said, someone whose nature is generous will want to give, and someone who wants to give will want to consider making plans to give. The Corinthians had said that they would collect money to give to Christians in Jerusalem. So Paul talked with them about their plans. If they wanted to give substantially and helpfully, they would have to make plans and follow them. Paul urged them not to plan on a last-minute scramble to give. Instead, he encouraged them to give what they could each and every week until the gift was ready to be sent.

Too many of us are not generous. We want to hold on to as much of our money as possible. So we find other ways to justify ourselves as givers (when we can never justify ourselves—only Christ makes it so that we can get out of God’s courtroom safely). We spend our money quickly, so that “we just don’t have anything left to give this week.” Or we give a couple bucks each week or month, not giving generously because “the church doesn’t need my money.” Some of us claim, “I’m tithing my time instead”—which is ironic. Assuming that we’re awake 112 hours a week, you would expect to see us giving at least 11 hours each week to specifically kingdom-building activities, which rarely happens. It’s also ironic because none of the time we’re tithing ever seems to be money-earning time; that’s our time, not God’s.

Lord, may we recognize all that You’ve given us, repent of our selfishness, give ourselves entirely to You, and be transformed into generous people who scheme up ways to give even more.

Question: I’m convinced that I need to grow in generosity. Do you? What are some creative ways that we could extend our generosity?

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

Command: Share Good News

ALL – Psalm 26:1-12
ALL – Proverbs 20:19
OT – 2 Chronicles 33:14-34:33
NT – Romans 16:8-27

Interesting passage for the day: This is God’s plan of salvation for you Gentles, kept secret from the beginning of time. But now as the prophets foretold and as God commands, this message is being preached everywhere, so that people all around the world will have faith in Christ and obey him. – Romans 16:25b-26, The Living Bible

Thought: Salvation is God’s idea. When a natural disaster strikes and tons of lives perish, and thousands of people are left homeless and without access to clean water or food, those people can’t really save themselves. It takes someone who is already safe and who has the resources to save others – this person has to initiate a Search and Rescue Mission.

That’s what God has done. All of us have been struck by the natural disaster of our own sins and their consequences. But God had the idea to save us. He’s implemented His plan, called the gospel—the Good News. And it is God’s command that those who have the Good News make sure it keeps spreading to others, so that they can be saved, too.

Question: Some people are really gifted at spreading the good news. But while some will spread the Good News more successfully than others, we all have some way to obey God’s command. Even if it seems small, what can you do to spread God’s Good News?

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

How to Use This (Customizable) Devotional

Happy New Year! This year I’ll be reading through the whole Bible instead of only through the Old Testament. But you don’t have to. I’ve chosen a Bible reading plan that you can customize to help you take the next step in your own spiritual life (the Bible reading plan, by the way, can be found and downloaded from http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan.asp?version=51&startmmdd=0101).

So here’s how it works. Each day, there will be four readings—for example, today’s readings are:

Genesis 1:1-2:25
Matthew 1:1-2:12
Psalm 1:1-6
Proverbs 1:1-6

And each day I will mark the readings with the following abbreviations: OT (Old Testament), NT (New Testament), ALL (Everyone). It will look like this:

ALL - Psalm 1:1-6
ALL - Proverbs 1:1-6
OT - Genesis 1:1-2:25
NT - Matthew 1:1-2:12

Notice that I rearranged the readings, putting the 2 readings labeled ALL on top. Those two readings will usually be the shortest, because they come from the Psalms and the Proverbs. I’ve put them on top because I would encourage everyone who doesn’t have another Scripture reading plan to read at least these two Scriptures each day.

The rest of the reading plan is just as simple. If you would like to read through the Old Testament in a year, then read through the Scriptures labeled OT, in addition to the ones labeled ALL. If you would like to read through the New Testament in a year, then read through the Scriptures labeled NT—and I would encourage you to continue reading the Scriptures labeled ALL, too. And some of you will want to read through the entire Bible—just join me in reading each Scripture each day.

I’m sure that there will be some who read this plan days, weeks, or even months after we’ve started it. No worries! Join us wherever we are. Don’t worry about “catching up.” If you stay faithful in your reading, starting now, you’ll have plenty of time to read the Scriptures for yourself.

Which plan have you chosen?