One Year Bible, September 3

ECCLESIASTES 4:1 - 6:12                                                                                                    
MAN IS NEVER SATISFIED:  "The Preacher" is not cynical.  There is nothing new.

PARADOXES:  Chapter 3 (I know, I know - that was yesterday) is a list of paradoxes in life.  This is because the world is twisted, disjointed and incomplete.  We are mentally and emotionally involved with this world and that creates tension and complex issues.  The wicked get what the righteous disserve, and the righteous are getting what the wicked should have gotten.  Things are upside down. 

OUR BURDEN:  To search for meaning in an upside down world.  Since no man knows the future, we don't know what's coming.  Our meaning has to come from something else.  The man ruled by his appetites and desires will never be satisfied. It is not what I HAVE, but what I AM that matters.

 LONELINESS:  Seeking the wrong things in the wrong way brings emptiness and the torment of being alone.  Men wear themselves out with work, trying to outdo one another, never stopping to ask what it's all for. 

RESPONSE:  LIFE WITH JESUS IS NOT LIKE THIS!!!   If you are experiencing ANY of these frustrations and disappointments, then you are not ABIDING in Jesus.   When we connect up with God and experience living in His Presence, all this stuff "under the sun" becomes something to enjoy.  Every day is a new day.   We become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), with a New Covenant (Heb 8:8), living as a new man (Eph 2:15), living by new doctrine (Mark 1:27), and a new commandment (John 13:34), new wineskin (Mat 9:17), new tongues (Mark 16:17), a new song (Rev 5:9; 14:3), with new mercy (Lam 3:22-23), new treasure (Mat 13:52), and a new heart (Ezek 18:31).   How many new things can you find in the Bible?

2 CORINTHIANS 6:14 - 7:7                                                                                                 
"LET US CLEANSE OURSELVES FROM ALL FILTHINESS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT."
There can be no holiness without separation, "an attitude of protest", if you will.  We can have no compromising connection with anything in the world that is alien to God.  This forbids any kind of union in which a Christian will lose his distinctiveness and integrity.  The interests of HOLINESS are gathered up into Christ. The interests of EVIL are gathered up into Belial.   They cannot co-exist because they have absolutely nothing in common.  And so too, with believers and unbelievers, because the distinction is far deeper than any bond or union can alleviate.   Paul is asserting here that people are NOT "good and bad", but people are good OR bad.  Anyone who numbs our faith, or even opposes it, cannot be our "friend". This wouldn't be so hard to accept   IF THE LOVE BETWEEN BELIEVERS TRULY BOUND US TOGETHER.

BENEFITS:  To separate ourselves from the world is to be welcomed into God's Presence.  To NOT worship with the world (at the altar of SELF) is to become God's Temple. (Nothing should be guarded more jealously than that.)  Separate yourselves and you will become God's sons and daughters and He will be your Father, which is an admission to the only love that satisfies the human soul.  

HOLINESS: Holiness is an integrated life of personal wholeness and order.  Holiness is what gives our lives credibility; it is PROOF of our relationship with God.  Anything else is a deformity, ugliness, and perversion.   Holiness is a life that pleases God.  Our desires have to be re-directed as we acquire the HABITS of holiness. Holiness is behavior that is appropriate to being in relationship with God.   Learning new habits (holiness) is a process of weaning myself from depending on substitutes for God, and training my heart to trust God for everything.  HOLINESS IS NOT A HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT!

RESPONSE:   Holiness and the "fear of God" go together. Remember, the "fear of the Lord" is a trembling awareness that life has meaning, and my choices have consequences.   For this reason, the next discussion covered in 2 Corinthians will be REPENTANCE.  It plays a major part in "perfecting holiness".  I know that for myself, it seems like the harder I try to live holy, the worse things look and the worse I behave and the more pressure I feel.   When we remodeled the living room, first Hubby tore apart what was there.   It looked worse, not better than before.  It took awhile before anything good came about.  I think the remodeling job in my heart is like that - the old wood and tiles are still junking up the place, and the new paint isn't even picked out yet!   But at least the old wallpaper has all been torn off! (That was the repentance part.)  The demands of holiness force us to break our addiction of walking by sight - and to rely heavily on the Presence of God to sustain us.  I don't pursue holiness, I pursue God, Who IS my holiness.   In worship, we become like the One we worship, as resistance is broken down.   We are holy because He is, and His goal is for us to be one with Him. 

PSALM 47:1-9                                                                                                                        
THE WAR IS OVER! God is the Great King over all the Earth - and has gone up with a shout of victory.   Any kingdom or army hostile to God is already defeated.

HOLINESS IS GOD'S THRONE: He sits enthroned on holiness.  The Holiness of God is His power IN me, and is an impartation.   My destiny is not happiness or even health, but it is holiness.  "Practical holiness" in my life is the operation of the Holy Spirit.   He is not hindered by my humanness. Growth is the result of moment-by-moment choosing and obeying the Holy Spirit as we form new habits.  The "small stuff" matters!   "Practical holiness" is not possible without drawing near to God and learning to receive from Him because holiness is God's Nature surfacing in me.  It is the Holy Spirit Who leads me into freedom from the demands of my flesh. My need is BIG, but the Spirit of God is BIGGER.   We (the Holy Spirit and me) form new habits of integrating God into every part of my life.

PROVERBS 22:16                                                                                                                 
The opposite of POVERTY is not WEALTH - it is STEWARDSHIP. We must use money the way God intended it to be used - then we are rich. God may even give us more money! Once our money uses us, then we are poor already.

RESPONSE:   I think I did already. See above.