September 28 – Nehemiah 8-10

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Nehemiah 8-10. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art

I feel blessed. Because of when and where I was born I am able to read God’s word. I was born in an age and culture that values education. I learned from a very early point in life what the markings on paper, when written in English, mean. I am able to read something and comprehend. Because of that, I am able to pick up a Bible and read it. The ability to pick up a Bible is another blessing. I am sitting in my office. In this room I have nine Bibles that I was easily able to look around and count. Many of those are various translations, King James Version, New Living Translation, New International Version (Copyright 1984 & 2011), Contemporary English Version, and the New American Standard Bible. Not only do I have those printed Bible, but I also have at my finger tips electronic copies of those translations and many more on my computer screen and on the Bible App from YouVersion. I am blessed that each day I have the ability and option to read from God’s Word.

That was not the case for the Exiles returning to Judah and Jerusalem. Many probably had the ability to read, but most did not have a copy of the Law – the first five books of the Bible, also known as The Pentateuch, The Torah, and the Law of Moses. When Ezra along with the other priest read and explained the Law to them they were amazed at what it said. What an event to witness that day. The stories of the Bible amaze me many days, but sometimes I find it rather boring because it has been a part of my entire life. But here are the people, most hearing God’s Word’s and commands for the first time.

If nothing else, consider yourself blessed that this morning you could read the Bible out of your choice to do so because of when and where you born. Consider yourself blessed to have at your finger tips many English translations of the Bible to help you get a fuller grasp of God’s Word. Consider yourself blessed to be able to use technology to read God’s Word. Friends, we are truly blessed!

August 16 - Jeremiah 32-34

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Jeremiah 32-34. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan. 

How do you feel when you are able to do something nice for someone else? I would imagine, unless you have ice in your veins, that you feel pretty good. Maybe that good feeling comes after cleaning the leaves for an elderly neighbor in the fall. Maybe that good feeling comes when volunteering at the food pantry in your community. Maybe that good feeling comes when you serve with others at a place like Matthew 25 Ministries in Cincinnati. Maybe that good feeling comes when you get your loved ones that specific gift they have desired. It thrilled me last Christmas to watch Crystal open her Kitchen Aid mixer when she thought it was completely out of the budget! Doing good, making someone’s day, often leaves us with a happy feeling.

This is because we have been created in the image of God. What makes us happy is what makes Him happy. God reminded us today in our reading blessing us makes Him happy. God says … “I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.” (Jeremiah 32:40-41 NLT) God wanted to do good for Israel. In doing good He confessed it would bring them joy.

However, His blessings were based on a covenant that God created with them. It is important to not that a covenant is not a contract. A covenant is much more than a contract. A contract says if one of the parties does not keep up their end of the deal then both can easily walk away. But a covenant while creating an agreement is much more binding. A covenant does not look out for your own interest, but for others. A covenant requires unconditional promises to be made. A covenant relationship is based on steadfast love. A covenant views the commitment as permanent. A covenant requires confrontation and forgiveness when wrongs are committed. A covenant requires the exact opposite commitment of a contract.

I am thankful for God’s covenant with us. I am thankful, that if I keep my end of the covenant, I do not have to suffer the confrontation that is necessary. I am thankful that blessing me in whatever God chooses is what makes Him happy. 

June 19 – Ecclesiastes 1 - 6

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Ecclesiastes 1 - 6. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art

Ecclesiastes is the third book we have come to penned by King Solomon son of King David. If you remember Solomon wisely asked for wisdom from God when given anything he wanted to ask for. God blessed him because his request pleased God. We have read and seen the blessing God bestowed on Solomon; giving him the privilege of building the Temple, a magnificent palace, and all kinds of great wealth. According to Solomon’s writings in Ecclesiastes Solomon denied himself nothing and in doing so learned an important lesson.

Solomon learns this … “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NLT) and … “We don’t remember what happened in the past and future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.” (Ecclesiastes 1:11 NLT) How true those words are. Sure we might have new inventions … the iPad I do my reading on and preach my sermons form was not something old turned new. But what is on it is nothing new … I am still reading text, taking in information, reading a Bible that found its completely nearly two thousand years ago. The sermons I write, filled with what I think are the freshest ways to say the same things, have all been preached before. Sure the iPad may be new, but what is on it was simply done in a different way before.

So why don’t we learn from the generations before? I think the answer is found later in the reading. History books can teach us a lesson. People can share what they have experienced. We can have all the head knowledge available. But I think too we need the experience. “Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18 NLT) It is good to learn from our own mistakes. It is good to enjoy life. It is good to find pleasure where God intended pleasure. It is good to make mistakes. Mistakes only make us stronger, they only teach us a lesson, they only mold and shape us the way God intends us to be.

Learn from the generations that have come before. Avoid major catastrophes. But enjoy life. Learn from your own mistakes. Pass those lessons along to the next generation.

At West Side we believe highly in prayer. We are asking people to join with us in praying daily for West Side. If you would like to join us please click here and subscribe to receive daily emails containing a short prayer request for West Side. We appreciate your partnership.

May 9 – 2 Samuel 8-9 & 1 Chronicles 18

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from 2 Samuel 8-9 & 1 Chronicles 18. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

Photo Credit: Microsoft Office Clip Art

In the book of Acts we learn an interesting bit of information about the way God viewed David … God testified about David saying … “I have found David son of Jesses, a man after my own heart.” (Acts 13:22 NLT) What an awesome achievement for any person to accomplish, to be considered by God to mold and shape your heart and desire after His. Isn’t that what all Christians are called to be striving for?

I think we see an example of this in our reading from today. David is now firmly established on the throne. God has delivered Israel from their foreign enemies under the leadership of David. Now David wants to make sure that Saul’s decedents, especially those of his good friend Jonathan are taken care of. One such son remains, the cripple son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth. Normally a new king from a different family would completely kill the previous king’s entire family so there would be no heir who could claim the line to the throne. But David is not concerned about his throne, but more about the people he is serving. David does the right thing by Mephibosheth and even makes him a part of his household by inviting him to his table.

I think this example, while only one of many, gives us a glimpse of what God meant by calling David a man after His own heart. To be a man or woman after God’s own heart means you are seeking in all situations to do the right thing.  To honor your enemies. To sit down and wait until the game is over to talk to the referee who called that obvious ball a strike. To not be the grumpy neighbor who all the kids are afraid of. I firmly believe doing the right thing is one step in being like David, a man or woman after God’s own heart.

At West Side we believe highly in prayer. We are asking people to join with us in praying daily for West Side. If you would like to join us please click here and subscribe to receive daily emails containing a short prayer request for West Side. We appreciate your partnership.

January 15 – Job 40-42

Today’s reading comes from Job 40-42. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Today we have finished the book of Job. We have seen the life he had lived and the reverence to God he did it with. We have seen Satan approach God seeking permission to destroy the fabric of Job’s entire life. From that destruction we have witnessed the remorse, strength, questions, and faith that Job contained. We have witnessed the back and forth between Job and his friends. We have also experienced the thoughts of a young man. And we have now concluded with God’s own words.

In all Job did he never cursed God. He never turned his back on God. He did certainly struggle, he did certainly question God. And because Job asked for God to show up and to correct him, and instruct him God did just that. In the end, because of his faith, because he was willing to learn, because he was willing to be wrong and submit to the authority and leadership of God, Job is blessed beyond what he previously had before the destruction in his life.

There is a powerful lesson we can learn from Job. If we are humble, if we have faith, if we are willing to listen and learn from God, to be open to his teaching, to allow it to mold and shape our lives … when the valleys of this present themselves we will come out stronger than before. Job did just that and in the end it is said of him … “After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.” (Job 42:16-17 NIV84) What a beautiful eulogy of Job.

The storms of life will define us. The definition will come from how we handle these storms. If we handle them well it may be said of us that we lived a full life, full of years, full of memories. If we do not handle them well it may be said of us, not in a eulogy at our funeral, but around the dinner table at family get-togethers about the negative ways we handled the storms of life. How do you want people to speak of you? Live as Job did, learning and growing from the pains, toils, heartaches, and calamities and you will be remembered well.

January 9 – Job 21-23

Today’s reading comes from Job 21-23. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

In his back and forth Job and his friends continue to discuss what has brought this calamity on. In chapter twenty-one Job describes the wicked, the immoral of the earth. The way he sees it, the wicked live on, sometime in elegance while the righteous get by with little means … “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.” (Job 21:7-8 NIV84).  Toward the end of the chapter in verse thirty-three he remarks how people follow after the wicked.

In Job’s mind the world is backwards. The wicked are blessed and followed while the righteous, those who strive to honor God, seem to suffer heartache and isolation. We might even argue with Job. We see similar things play out in our world. One of the most humble righteous seeking people of the twentieth century, Mother Teresa, had no personal wealth and seemed to wrestle with her isolation. On the other side of the coin we look at Hollywood and we see people who are immoral, dishonest, and wicked in many regards awarded with fame and fortune.

However, I wander if we are considering blessedness true blessedness when we evaluate it against fame and fortune? I think we, like Job and his friends may evaluate God’s blessings differently than God does. I don’t think that thought was lost on Job … “But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” (Job 23:8-10 NIV84) I think Job knows and understands where true blessings come from.

So how do you define blessings? Do you measure them the way the world does? Do you measure them the way God does? And exactly how does God measure blessings?