Today's Reading:
Ecclesiastes 7:1-9:18
Hebrews 11:32-12:13
Psalm 133:1-3
Click on Text Link to Read Online
Focus Verses: Psalm 133:1-3
1
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It
is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. 3 It
is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the
LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
Insight:
We
all know what it's like to experience high traffic and increased delays
on trips to very popular destinations or public events. In the same
way, the Israelites making their feast day pilgrimage must have dealt
with busier roads and larger crowds the closer they got to Jerusalem. By
singing Psalm 133, they were reminded that the long lines and crowded
conditions (which I assume were at least as challenging and wearisome
for them as they are for us) were actually reasons for thanks and
celebration.
Why? Because these crowds were the result
of God's people coming together in obedience and reverence for God. The
gathering throngs of Israelites were giving witness to their need and
love for God. They were declaring God to be the center of their lives,
the basis of their community, and the center of their national identity.
Unity
was a joy and a blessing from God. It was being poured out upon
them--just as the oil of blessing had been poured upon Aaron so
abundantly that it flowed down to the edge of his robes. Unity was a
life-giving gift, just as the streams melting from Mount Hermon's
snowcapped peaks flowed down to bless and enrich the green valleys
below.
Response and Action:
I
want to know the joy of living in unity with my brothers and sisters in
Christ. I want to look past the hassles and demands of community life,
and celebrate the blessing God has intended it to be. I want to
recognize that the shared relationships, activities, and
responsibilities I experience in my church are a gift from God, a
blessing to my life, and a testimony to the world. I want to be a
community builder in my church family. I want to sing out the joys and
the goodness of God's people living together in unity.
O
God, you have made me for community. You have said that it is not good
for me to be alone, and you have given me so many ways to experience the
blessing of togetherness. I thank you for my wife, for my children, for
my parents and siblings, for my church, for my friends, for my
colleagues, and my neighbors. Help me to be a faithful source of
blessing to others. Give me a readiness to serve, a heart to forebear, a
word to cheer, a discipline to pray, and a maturity to enrich others,
through Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: Philippians 2:1-4
1 Therefore
if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any
comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 34 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Resources:
Life Together
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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