Today’s Hebrew Testament chronological reading is in 1 Chronicles 5 and 6.
The Psalms/ Proverbs reading is in Proverbs 4.
The Greek Testament reading is in Colossians 3.
ESSENTIAL STUDIES.
1 Chronicles 5 and 6, Two sides of the same coin
Additional studies: 1 and 2 Chronicles Index
Or the idea that if grace, then not Law. The Law is in fact a gift of grace! Out of our own human wisdom, we do not know what way to walk that will provide for our blessing and prosperity. So God revealed to us His way in the Law, in the form of commandments, so that by walking in it we could be gifted with blessing and prosperity—everything, in fact, that provides for human happiness on this side of heaven! Consider that the Law of the Sabbath is a gift of grace, for rest from labor and painful toil, which we earned for ourselves because of our sin (Gen 3:16-19), is a gift of grace!
Proverbs 4, Chiastic structures
Additional studies: Proverbs Index
The theme that repeats in all sections of the structure, is, Listen to and receive my words; keep them and do not forsake them. The Hebrew word in Pro 4:2 translated “law,” is torah. The Hebrew word torah is found throughout Proverbs in the context of a loving father’s wise instruction to his children. Thus Scripture teaches us what our heavenly Father’s Torah really is: less “law” of an impartial cosmic judge, and more “wise instruction” of our loving Father, who loves His children and does not want to see them stumbling in darkness through life, from one destruction to the next, until their life is finally taken from them. Anyone who is a parent can relate to the motivation of our Father’s heart, in giving us His good doctrine found in Torah!
Colossians 3, Chiastic structure
Additional studies: Colossians Index
We learn that the things we set the affections of our hearts on, are the things we will do in word and deed. Words and actions do not come from thin air, but they are produced in the heart, the “production room” if you will, of each person. Therefore, the central axis: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. It is something we allow or do not allow, our choice. If we were to honestly look at our lives, and see there a struggle with improper affections or appetites, or anger and filthy talk coming out of our mouths, we can change it by changing what we let our hearts dwell on. If we set our affections on the things of the earth, then we will produce the wrong for which God has stored up wrath, without partiality. No one will escape it because they are members of the right church or affirm the right doctrine. But if we let the word of Christ dwell richly in us, setting our affections on the things above, then we will produce those things that receive the reward of the inheritance of the children of God, the children of obedience. ♥
THREE-YEAR BIBLE.
The three-year plan is here.
Today’s reading is in Psalm 102 and 103.
Suggested study: Psalm 102, Bible for Beginners, and Psalm 103, Bible for Beginners.
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