May 14 – Psalms 32, 51, 86, & 122

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Psalms 32, 51, 86, & 122. 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.

When David was caught in his sin with Bathsheba heavy remorse took over his life. His heart truly was tormented by what he had done in his sin. That is evident in his fasting and prayer while the child lay sick. We find his broken heart in our reading today. We see his prayer for transformation in Psalm 51.

What stood out to me was the truth found in Psalm 32. David describes what the unconfused and un-confronted sin in his life did to him … “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long” (Psalm 32:3). Have you ever been there? Ever had something turning inside your heart that you just could not get a grasp around? Learn from David, free yourself … “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All m guilt is gone” (Psalm 32:5). Want to be free, confess the sin in your life.

Confess the sin in your life first to God. There true freedom will be granted. However, you need to do the same with those you have wronged, those you have hurt, and those you have sinned against. Confession is good for the soul. Confession will open up true freedom.  

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.

February 17 – Leviticus 14-15

Today’s reading comes from Leviticus 14-15. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

There is an image painted in today’s reading that I find absolutely remarkable. We found out yesterday that anyone who had an infectious skin disease would have to be removed from the people and live in isolation. This was an incredibly horrible separation. We learned in Genesis when God created Eve that man was not meant to be alone. Isolation we know today is one of the most dreaded punishments that any of our prisons can offer. For someone with an infectious skin disease they dream of the day when healing might happen.

And if and when that healing took place an amazing symbol is performed. Read again verse seven of chapter fourteen … “Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the infectious disease and pronounce him clean. Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields.” Lev. 14:7 NIV84. When a person with an infectious disease is found to be clean a bird is to be released to fly free. When a person with the disease is now clean and pronounced clean, they are like that bird able to fly free, hug loved ones, mingle in the marketplace, fellowship with other people, and find intimacy with their spouse. They have been set free.

Here’s the really remarkable … in Christ’s no matter what blemish we had that separated us from God it has been paid in full for. We are set free like the bird, no longer bound by sin, and no longer diseased in the eyes of God. We can now have intimacy with God. What an awesome reminder of this.

At West Side we are beginning a new prayer partner campaign. 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.

Living like a Pharisee?

Below is the daily Bible reading I am doing for West Side Church of Christ. Feel free to follow along.

Today’s reading (Matthew 23) is not the first time Jesus has confronted the Pharisees. In fact he has already done so on many occasions for many different reasons. Today’s attack was his worst one yet. Jesus really cut to the heart of their issue and almost damned them to an eternity in Hell.

Like we have said before, the Pharisees were part of the Jewish ruling class. They were well trained in the scriptures. In fact they would have had the majority if not all of our Old Testament memorized. Not only did they follow the laws of Moses to a “T”, they also imposed their own laws upon the people so they had no chance at violating the Law of Moses. While everything on the outside looked great, inside they were a mess. Inside their hearts were not motivated by piety, but by greed and community recognition.

For those of us who have been around the church for a while, I wander how much we have moved into the area of being a modern Pharisee. Maybe our hearts are not motivated by greed and community recognition, but maybe we have taken the commands of scripture to the extreme to guard against sin. Now I am not saying that this is completely a bad thing. But Paul tells us that we have been set free. What does that mean? Well, I think it means that we do not have to work so hard to guard our lives of sin that we find ourselves not enjoying the salvation we are offered.

I grew up in a congregation that from the pulpit had a very strong stance on alcohol. Our ministers own family had been devastated from the use of alcohol. His feelings on the stuff eventually permeated throughout the congregation. Growing up I had a very negative view of alcohol. Before I went to college I had the impression that the consumption of alcohol was a sin. Over the past several years my views of alcohol have changed. I personally have no desire to even taste the stuff (never have had), but I recognize that drinking alcohol is not banned in the Bible. Drunkenness is banned, but alcohol is not.

Having said all that, when I see someone drinking alcohol, even someone I know is not a Christian, a negative impression comes into my mind. I am still weak in that area of my life. Thus on my view of alcohol I have become a modern Pharisee. I have taken something that is not sinful to consume and made it sinful. Why? Because I know that it is easy for it to pass into the sinful category.

Here is what I am getting at. I think we have to be careful to not place parameters on being a follow of Christ that are not there. When we do that we become a Pharisee. Now our motives might not be destructive, but we have to be careful not to take the joy out of being a Christian.

I hope I did not confuse anyone today, or even offend anyone. Thank you for reading along.