60IN60 Day 28 - Sun Jan 31

It's Day 28 and we're in Matthew 8.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 10, 26 - A reminder of the need to have faith in His power.

Help:
- Verse 4 - Jesus told the man to tell no one because that type of publicity generally brought gawkers and not people who were seriously interested in His message.
- Verse 9 - The centurion is saying, "I know you are a person with spiritual authority and what you say will happen."
- Verse 10 - The faith the centurion had was faith that what Jesus said would happen.
- Verse 12 - Many Israelites will find themselves condemned.
- Verses 21-22 - The presumption here is that the man's father had not died yet, but that he was implying that his father was sick and he needed to wait on that situation to play out.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 27 - Sat Jan 30

It's Day 27 and we're in Genesis 35.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 10 - It's worth some pondering why God chose as the person who would receive the name Israel someone whose primary trait was being a deceiver.

Help:
- Verse 2 - Why Jacob hadn't done this up to this point speaks to his lack of fervor for God.
- Verse 4 - Apparently the earrings were a way to express their allegiance to that god.
- Verse 22 - More family dysfunction.
- Verse 28 - Back in that day, people lived longer.  God would shorten the typical lifespan later.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 26 - Fri Jan 29

It's Day 26 and we're in Genesis 34.

What's the Bible say about the book you're reading today? "All Scripture is inspired by God. . ." (2 Timothy 3:16). So reading the Bible helps me know how God sees things. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing really jumped out to me today.

Help:
- Verse 2 - He raped her.
- Verses 3-4, 7, 19 - Yes, this is sick.  As you can see throughout Genesis, there's a lot of dysfunction and evil in this family.
- Verse 8 - Hamor didn't know what had happened.
- Verses 20-24 - Their motive in this was to provide an opportunity to plunder them.  See verse 23.
- Verse 25 - Remember (and this is important to remember throughout the book of Genesis) that not everything the Bible describes is approved by God.  This is an evil response to the original wrong that was done.
- Verse 31 - They justified their evil in their minds.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 25 - Thurs Jan 28

It's Day 25 and we're in Genesis 33.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing really jumped out to me today.

Help:
- Verse 10 - "as one sees the face of God" - That is, he was expecting judgment.
- Verses 14, 17 - Again Jacob deceives, saying he's going to one place and then ending up somewhere else.
- Verse 15 - He accepts Esau's offer.
- Verses 17-18 - Jacob eventually settles in a different city.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 24 - Wed Jan 27

It's Day 24 and we're in Genesis 32.

One reason to be in the Bible regularly? It cuts through the clutter. We are surrounded by tons of information, but so much of it is essentially irrelevant to a meaningful life. The Bible speaks to the issues that matter. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 28 - The word "striven" is interesting to me.  God seems to appreciate the fact that Jacob battled with Him.

Help:
- Verses 22-23 - Jacob sent them across and stayed behind, but when it came time to face Esau, he was out front (33:1-3).
- Verses 24-32 - This is an important but peculiar scene.  It is apparently a pre-Incarnate appearance of Christ and they battle.  There is some resonance to the scene of all the times we "wrestle" with God spiritually during difficult times.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 23 - Tues Jan 26

It's Day 23 and we're in Genesis 31.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 43 - He'd justified in his mind the way he'd mistreated Jacob.  How often do we feel like we've done nothing wrong when we're actually guilty?

Help:
- Verse 20 - Jacob is consistently deceptive.  This is just another example.
- Verse 35 - She lied and said she was having her period and that's why she couldn't stand.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 22 - Mon Jan 25

It's Day 22 and we're in Genesis 30.

What's the Bible say about the book you're reading today? "All Scripture is. . . profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). Reading the Bible will make your day more "profitable."

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 3, 9 - Always trying to force things.

Help:
- Verses 3, 9 - Through Genesis, this seems to be something that people resorted to when getting pregnant became hard.  It pretty much always ends badly.
- Verses 15-16 - It sounds like it denigrated to the place where Jacob was being told where to sleep.
- Verse 22 - As stated before, God is not normally the one who actively decides on fertility issues.  This is unusual because of the historic importance of this family in Israel's story.
- Verses 37-40 - This, of course, has no value in and of itself.  It only worked because God blessed it.  I think He does similar things today - working through our sometimes hair-brained plans - so that we know it's from Him.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 21 - Sun Jan 24

It's Day 21 and we're in Genesis 29.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 32 - Such dysfunction.

Help:
- Verse 10 - As stated before, it was fairly common back then to take your spouse from your extended family.  Most people lived in relatively small groups that necessitated this.
- Verse 11 - The kiss here was not a romantic one, but one of greeting (probably on the cheeks).
- Verses 18-19 - Back then the family had much more say in determining who a woman married.
- Verse 23 - Presumably much drinking had gone on before this, making this mistake in the dark possible.
- Verse 31 - As stated before, God isn't normally the one actively orchestrating fertility issues like this.  This is different because of the historical importance of this family.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 20 - Sat Jan 23

It's Day 20 and we're in Genesis 28.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 6-9 - There is something sad about Esau here trying to do what he thinks will please his parents.  It seems like he's always falling short.

Help:
- Verse 2, 9 - As mentioned before, back then it was fairly common to take your spouse from your extended family.  The fact that most lived in small tribes or small villages necessitated it.
- Verse 9 - Polygamy was common back then.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 19 - Fri Jan 22

It's Day 19 and we're in Genesis 27.

Remember that your daily reading in the Bible isn't about gaining information - it's about changing your life to be more like Christ. That means that you need to take action on what God speaks to you about.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 20 - This happens pretty often - God's name gets invoked in a lie to make it fly.

Help:
- Verses 6-13 - This is very dysfunctional.
- Verses 33-36 - Although it was taken by deception, there was authority that God had granted to Isaac to speak the blessing and there was authority when he spoke it.  It's somewhat similar today to, for instance, the authority that is granted to a pastor to speak God's Word and that authority can be used for good or hypocrisy.
- Verse 46 - Rebekah is using this as a cover to get Jacob out of town before Esau kills him.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com. 

60IN60 Day 18 - Thurs Jan 21

It's Day 18 and we're in Genesis 26.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 24 - It's interesting to me that Abraham's influence is lingering even after his death.

Help:
- Verse 7 - Yes, he just made the same stupid mistake that his father made twice.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Comments:
- Interesting note from my Archaeological Study Bible:  "A concubine in Old Testament times was not a paramour or illicit lover but a woman lawfully United in marriage to a man in a relationship inferior to that of a regular wife.  No moral stigma was attached to this status, which was considered a natural part of a polygamous social system.  Concubines enjoyed no other right than that of lawful cohabitation.  They exercised no authority within the family or in household affairs, and their husbands could send them away at any time with a small present.  Their children as well, by means of small presents, could be excluded from family heritage even though they were regarded as legitimate.  In patriarchal times, at least, the immediate cause of concubinage was often the barrenness of the lawful wife, who would herself suggest that her husband have children by her maidservant."  (Not a good position to be in!)

60IN60 Day 17 - Wed Jan 20

It's Day 17 and we're in Genesis 25.

One thing that's important as we read daily: being eager to hear Him speak to you. Go into your reading expectant that God desires to share something with you.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 6 - The fact that Abraham had concubines is an uncomfortable truth.  It's one to wrestle with.

Help:
- Verse 6 - Given the larger life story of Abraham, we presume that these concubines were later in his life.
- Verse 7 - Back then people lived longer.
- Verse 21 - This is not to say that God's hand is usually the deciding factor in such things.  Given what we read in v. 26, this is an unusual situation with implications for what God is doing in bringing about Israel.  I believe that, normally, fertility issues are not specifically driven by the hand of God.
- Verse 22 - "If it is so" - She's saying, "If this is from God, then why the struggling within me?"
- Verse 28 - Remember that not everything the Bible describes is approved by God.  A lot of the behavior of the "heroes of the faith" is sinful.  Here, this idea of playing favorites among the children is a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what they get.
- Verses 31-34 - Esau was obviously someone who didn't think through the implications of his decisions.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 16 - Tues Jan 19

It's Day 16 and we're in Genesis 24.

We'll be reading the stories of Isaac and Jacob from Genesis.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 14 - God doesn't usually grant requests like that, but sometimes His mercy is unusually generous.

Help:
- Verse 2 - "place your hand under my thigh" - This was the equivalent of a handshake back then.  It seems odd to us, but then again if someone 600 years from now heard that we pressed the palms of our hands together and shook them up and down, they might think that weird too.
- Verses 21, 27, 38 - He was wondering whether this woman was of Abraham's house.  Yes, it seems odd to us to marry fairly close relatives, but it was common back then when tribes and towns were usually relatively small.
- Verse 51 - The family had a lot more say back then in arranging marriages.  This seems weird to us because we're used to romantic love being the only standard for marriage.  Before we judge their system too harshly, we should probably remember the divorce rate that our system has created.
- Verse 67 - That means he married her.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 15 - Mon Jan 18

It's Day 15 and we're in 1 Corinthians 8.

If you struggle with the feeling that you need to hurry through the reading, it can be helpful to lay aside a certain length of time for the reading. "I'm going to spend the next ten minutes reading the Bible. If I get done early, I'll go back and re-read it. If I don't get it done, that's fine. Now I can relax and not try to hurry through so I can get on with the other things I need to get done today. I'm going to be here for ten minutes."

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 9 - Don't use your freedom in Christ in a way that causes a brother or sister in Christ to stumble.

Help:
- Verse 1 - Food sacrificed to idols was a big issue back then.
- Verses 2-3 - If you think you know it all, you're not as smart as you think you are.
- Verses 4-5 - If food is sacrificed to an idol God, nothing has really happened with that food because that idol isn't real and can't affect the food.  There is only one alive God.
- Verse 7 - Some weaker Christians were bothered by the fact that the food had been sacrificed to the idol even though the idol isn't real.
- Verses 9-10 - Don't use your freedom in Christ in a way that trips up a fellow believer.  An example today: Biblically I have the freedom to drink wine if I want to but I don't because it might cause a weaker believer to stumble in seeing his preacher drinking.
- Verse 13 - He vows to avoid meat sacrificed to idols if it's going to hurt his brother in Christ.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com. 

60IN60 Day 14 - Sun Jan 17

It's Day 14 and we're in 1 Corinthians 7.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing jumped out to me today.  That's ok - there will be days like that.

Help:
- Verses 1-5 - If we get married, we need to fulfill the sexual aspects of our commitment.
- Verse 7 - Paul was single and he argues that you can do more for the Lord without the obligations of a family.  He also recognizes that not everyone can do this.
- Verses 10-11 - This is a hard teaching.  It's important to read all the New Testament passages on divorce together in order to get a clear understanding of what's acceptable and what's not.
- Verse 14 - The unbelieving spouse is drawn closer to God through the presence of the believing partner.  Similarly, the children are raise with at least one Christian parent.
- Verses 27-34 - The basic point: life is short, the time till judgment is short, and we should treat the time as precious for serving the Lord.
- Verses 36-37 - This gives a lot more authority to the father in determining who to marry than they exercise today.  It was a common thing in that culture, but that's not to say that we are obligated to live that way.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 13 - Sat Jan 16

It's Day 13 and we're in 1 Corinthians 6.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 9-10 - It strikes me that out of this list of sins we would likely first note that homosexuals are listed, given our current political battles.  We're not nearly as likely to note that "covetous" are in there too, since that's a sin that almost all of us are committing.

Help:
- Verse 1, 4-6 - Paul teaches that we should not sue other Christians in public court.  Instead, the church should find a wise person within the congregation to decide the matter.  Sadly, I do not know of a single instance of this being obeyed.
- Verses 2-3 - We will be part of ruling with Christ.
- Verse 7 - There are bigger things that losing a little money.
- Verse 13 - The issue here was food sacrificed to idols.  Paul notes that both the food and our earthly stomachs will someday be gone (when we die).  Our focus instead needs to be on the larger question of honoring God with all we do.
- Verse 15 - Having the Spirit within us, we are the Temple of God.  To go to a prostitute, we'd be physically uniting the Temple of God with a prostitute.
- Verse 18 - Sexual sin is different because our physical bodies are involved in the act of committing the sin.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 12 - Fri Jan 15

It's Day 12 and we're in 1 Corinthians 5.

Father, what do You want to teach us today through Your Word?

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 9-10 - We get this wrong so often.  We act like we're supposed to be staying away from the sinners in the world.  That's absurd.  Of course they're doing things that are wrong - the Bible teaches that you need the Spirit within you to live a truly good life.  It's the people who are claiming to be Christians and yet are still living in their sin that we should stay away from.

Help:
- Verse 1 - Someone had married or was having sex with his father's second wife (not his mom, but still inappropriate).
- Verses 2-5 - When Christians fall into major sin, it is the responsibility of the church to exercise church discipline and confront that sin.
- Verse 6 - Having a little bit of unrepentant sin condoned in the church would quickly spread to a larger accommodating of sin.
- Verses 7-8 - We are to be a new people, with the old sin cleaned out.
- Verses 9-13 - Another passage on church discipline.  When there is major sin within the church, it needs to be confronted.  Conversely, sin among those outside the church is to be expected since they don't have God in their lives.  We are to work to win them to Christ, not avoid them because they're sinners.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 11 - Thurs Jan 14

It's Day 11 and we're in 1 Corinthians 4.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 20 - I want to see His power unleashed in my church and in my life.

Help:
- Verse 3 - "I do not even examine myself" - I think what he means by that is he recognizes that his own evaluation of his life isn't the final one.  God's is.  So he doesn't excuse or praise himself based on his own evaluation of his life.
- Verse 8 - They were arrogant and full of themselves, so Paul mocks them as thinking they're "kings."
- Verse 10 - Paul was willing to abandon himself to the things of Christ even if it didn't look good publicly.  The Corinthians were concerned about appearances.
- Verse 15 - That is, he was the one who led them to faith.
- Verse 16 - Not that he's perfect, but the chapter clearly shows that they were still in an immature state, so he's encouraging them to walk more like he is.
- Verse 21 - When he came to visit them, did they want to have their act cleaned up or did they want him to come with discipline?

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 10 - Wed Jan 13

It's Day 10 and we're in 1 Corinthians 3.

If you come across something in your reading that doesn't make sense at first, be quick to re-read and to ask questions. If I can help answer anything, drop me an email.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 13-14 - I do not want the work of my life to be burned away.  It want it to deserve to be rewarded.

Help:
- Verses 1, 3 - The reference to "men of flesh" is part of a comparison of between people who are spiritually-minded and those unsaved people who are focused on earthly, fleshly pursuits.
- Verse 2 - He gave them basic teaching, like a baby would require basic food like milk.  They should have been ready for the more advanced teaching.
- Verse 4 - They were picking their favorite preachers and dividing into camps.
- Verse 8 - We're all part of the process of seeing spiritual growth and Kingdom expansion and we will receive our reward based on the part we played.
- Verses 12-15 - This is about the final judgment for Christians.  We are not judged for salvation, but for rewards.  If my life has honored Christ and my work has been for Him, my work will stand up to the fire of judgment.  If I've lived for this world and its fleeting loves, my life's work will be burned away as being worthless.
- Verse 20 - Earthly "wisdom" is often considered folly in God's eyes.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.