Day 57 One-Year Daily Bible ReadingLeviticus 19:1 – 20:21; Mark 8:11-38; Psalm 42; Proverbs 10:17
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MY Sabbath and MY Sanctuary
Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. – Leviticus 19:30
One little (huge) Word in this verse struck me this morning. MY. God doesn’t say THE sabbath or THE sanctuary. He says MY sabbath and MY sanctuary!
It is sad how few of us keep His sabbath and give reverence to His Sanctuary. Preaching to myself here!!! Some say it is just a building, and that is in some ways right, but most church sanctuaries were set apart for the Lord when they were initially built. Over time they have changed. But even if it were true that it is just a building or part of the building, the way we treat God’s house (the building) is very representative of how we keep God’s house (our heart). You say, well, His Sabbath is actually on Saturday. It is just a day. But then Saturday or Sunday, if we keep His Sabbath day by treating it as just another day, it very likely an indication of how little time is given to God every day.
This passage hits home for me and brings me conviction. I am more apt to revere His sanctuary (the building) than my heart, His Sanctuary. Do we treat our hearts and what goes in our hearts with reverence? Do we regularly clean out anything that is not in line with His Word and His Way? In the same line, keeping His Sabbath, as He created His Sabbath to be, has become less and less a day of rest and worship and more like just an hour or two at church before we go out to lunch and then head off to other things of this world. If we keep on the path of slowly eliminating one thing and then another that we think doesn’t matter, eventually there will be only shells of the church but no real church. It is not just a building. If we aren’t gathering together, we are scattered abroad. When I see old churches that are closed down, I often wonder where the people are now.
Keep – To hold to; retain in one’s possession; not to lose or part with; to preserve; to retain; to tend to.
Reverence – Fear mingled with respect; to regard with respect and affection. We reverence superiors for their age, their authority, and their virtues. We should reverence God, His Word, and His ordinances; an act of respect such as a bow or a curtsy.
God help me to keep your instructions, even as You told us in our Proverb today, that I might be on the correct path – the Way of LIFE. Help Your church, Father!!!
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Keep His Instruction
He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth. – Proverbs 10:17
Keep His instruction, and you will be on the right path; refuse it, and you will lose your way.
Erreth – to go astray in thought or belief; be mistaken; be incorrect; to deviate from the Truth
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Thirst
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? – Psalms 42:2
Thirst is a hard thing to bear. Thirst, if left unfulfilled, can cause desperation and panic. This verse makes me ask myself, am I thirsty for God? Am I desperate to appear before Him, to draw close to Him and know Him? Help me, Lord, to thirst for You!!!
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Why Doth this Generation Seek After a Sign?
And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side. – Mark 8:11-13
How is it That Ye Do Not Understand?
Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand? – Mark 8:14-21
He Put His Hands Again Upon the Blind Man’s Eyes
And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town. – Mark 8:22-26
Who Do You Say That I Am?
And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. – Mark 8:27-30
We each have a personal relationship with Jesus. He asks each of us, Who do you say that I am? Jesus is not interested in you saying what you heard the person next to you saying. He is not interested in what you read on the internet. He wants to know who you say He is, what is in your heart regarding Him.
Get Thee Behind Me Satan
And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. – Mark 8:31-33
Whosoever will come after Me…
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34
Deny yourself– to refrain from satisfying one’s desires or needs; practice self-denial
Take up your cross – to hold, grasp or grip; pick up; receive and accept willingly
Follow Him – to come after; to conform to, comply with, obey; to imitate or copy; to go in pursuit of
What Shall a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul?
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. – Mark 8:35-38
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