My Online Faith Journal

 I mixed up my readings today for a little variety.  Most of the time when I have read through the Bible in a year I did not go through it sequentially.  I would write a list of the book names on a sheet of paper and then plan on reading 4 chapters a day.  I would jump around from Old and New Testament back and forth often pairing books that I don't like as much with ones that I do.  Such as pairing Leviticus with Hebrews or one of the gospels.  If you read about 4 chapters a day of the Bible you should get through it in a year even with missing some days.  My present challenge is to read through the New Testament in February.  So, today I did Luke 7-9 and then read 1 John, 2 John and 3 John.  I've always loved the personal way that John writes and the way he emphasizes walking in love and living out your example.  One of the passages that stood out to me today is in Luke 7:40-50.  Jesus goes to the home of Simon who was a Pharisee because he has been invited to a dinner.  In t

      My reading through the New Testament included Mark 13 through Luke 6.  Many of these passages are very similar in all three gospels. Possibly one exception is the detail that Luke gives of John the Baptist and his parents.  From Luke we learn that Mary and Elizabeth knew each other and that Mary stayed with Elizabeth and her family right up until the time when John the Baptist was born.  We learn also that Jesus' parents lost track of Jesus for about three days during one of their annual trips to Jerusalem to take part in the Festivals.      One of the passages that stood out to me was in Luke 6:31-38. Where Jesus clearly teaches us that to be a follower of His means that we will be a compassionate people who have mercy on others.   31  [ a ] Treat people the same way you want them to  [ b ] treat you.   32  If you love those who love you, what credit is  that  to you? For even sinners love those who love them.   33  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit

     Today is day 3 of the challenge I gave myself to read through the New Testament.  Today I read Matthew 20 through Mark 2.  Obviously, that is most of Jesus' ministry.  So, it is hard to sum up these important passages.  I think one of the things I noticed first is how brief this story is.  Jesus is thought to have lived on earth for about 33 years and his life story is summed up in 28 chapters of Matthew.  While it is full of miracles and teachings and obviously Jesus' death and resurrection there is nothing about his childhood or much of his family life or much of his relationship with his mother or father or if he ever worked at a regular job.  In fact, Mark sums up the temptations of Jesus in one verse.  So this is not a complete biography nor was it meant to be.  It is a pointed writing to tell us who Jesus is.       The other thing that struck me is that even though it is Judas who betrays Jesus and leads the Pharisees and others to him is that Jesus is always in cont

     I challenged myself to read the New Testament in February, so today's reading is Matthew chapters 1 through 10.  Mainly focusing on the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry and healings including the temptation of Jesus and his teachings.  Just a couple of thoughts about this.      The first thing you notice is that Jesus' story begins in a very odd way.  I think those of us who have grown up in the church and heard this story often may become insensitive to how different it is.  Jesus is sent basically to two teenagers (Mary and Joseph) who are engaged to be married and entrusts them with his son.  Then almost immediately there is a threat to Jesus' life by Herod who then kills all the babies 2 years and younger who lived in the same area where the wise men said Jesus was.  Then when Jesus does return to Israel it is in a backwater land like Nazareth (Matthew 2:23).  Not a kind of place that most of us would pick for sure.        The people were clearly amazed at