Please read!!!!
Since today is the last day of Malachi, tomorrow we are taking a little different approach before starting our next book.
We are going to go with Travis' idea and rotate who the lead blogger for the day will be. That person will get to pick any passage of their choosing to discuss for the day, and everyone else will comment on it with their thoughts with the intent of discussion.
Please try to get it posted early in the day because that way we all have time to look it over and discuss.
Travis will start tomorrow and later I'll post the planned order.
Here's the order that we'll go in:
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.
ReplyDeleteMalachi 4:1-2
The stakes are high. we must realize that ultimately the greatest determinant of our future is not our education, or what job we get, or where we choose to live, but whether or not we abide in the Covenant of God. All of the inheritance and all of the riches of the wicked will burn up and they will be left with nothing. Only those who remain in Christ will pass through the flames.
This should change our perspective on how we see many of the trials and tribulations and tragedies in life. In the Brothers Karamazov, Ivan (one of the brothers) has turned away from the religion of his family and chosen to become an atheist. One of the arguments that his gives is that to him, it is unbearable to imagine that a just God could allow children to suffer, or die young. The flaw in his worldview is that Ivan does not realize what is truly important in the Christian worldview. No matter how much pain may occur in this life, everything will pale in comparison with the life that is to come. The value and weight of our actions in this life may echo throughout eternity, but it is only eternity which gives anything in this life lasting value.
Today comes from Romans 12: 14-15 (ESV)
ReplyDelete[Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.]
Again a perfect description of the church's oneness in Christ. As God's children we must relate to others in both the good times and the bad. To truly show love to others we must bring ourselves to their level enough so that their own well-being is greater than the concern for our own. This is the same way Christ saved us, by becoming human likes us with every joy, pain, and fear but then choosing to fulfill his duty. To our enemies we should pray and ask God to forgive them just as Christ asked God to forgive those who crucified Him. If we practiced this consistently, how much better our lives in Christ would be.
Malachi 4
ReplyDelete“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall." Malachi 4: 2
Those who fear The Lord will be healed and will be free. What an encouraging passage.
When I am tested and perfected by The Lord, It will be a thousand times more beautiful and joyous than anything I could imagine. So much so that I will go forth skipping in freedom.
I imagine there will be pain in the perfection process as He will be separating those sins that I had held on to for so long from my soul so I can be pure and blameless, but with that pain comes freedom from sin. Freedom from satan. Freedom from all the evil that satan introduces into the world. Freedom to finally be the pure an blameless child of God that we have each been called to be.
This whole passage really spoke to me about the omnipotence and the absolute nature of God. Not only does he promise that a day is coming when the evildoers will "be stubble" and he will "set them ablaze", but he also promises that the righteous shall tread on the wicked and "rise with healing in its wings." If we hold fast to the promises of God in steadfast love, we will be able to have victory over Satan and the evildoers of this world. This chapter is both encouraging and humbling at the same time, and really just breathes the sheer power of the Lord to me.
ReplyDeleteSo thats a little scary; nice, short, and blunt. I like it. It speaks to God's power and might.
ReplyDeleteGreat...
Now, when I read this, I couldn't help but to feel uncomfortable because all this things that I know I do that go against what God has laid out for me keep coming to my mind. I'm aware of my short-comings and failures and can in no way even begin to pretend that I will be found among those that God saves. In reading this, I often think of myself as being in the group that is getting obliterated, which doesn't sound fun. While people do say that you should work out your salvation with fear and trembling or whatnot, it doesn't mean that because you do, that because you are uncertain about it, that you are in fact saved. I tend to resist saying that yes I am saved since that to me sounds arrogant in a way. How should I know if I'm saved? Thats for God to decide, not me. Maybe I am already, and this uneasiness is in vain, but I can't assume I am and live on because what I see in my life does not reflect that; or the idea that I have of being saved. This chapter painted a nice picture of what's to come, so you better do what you can to get ready.
We'll file this one under late-night (kind of, Im tired), bible-inspired, philosophical Omar rants. Hope you enjoy.