Thursday, November 3, 2011

Thursday, November 3 ~ Miriam

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Jeremiah 33, 21; Hebrews 9.

Jeremiah 33 34 spoke to me of true repentance today.  (My apologies... it seems I read Jeremiah 34 instead of 33.  Sorry for the confusion!)  The king proclaimed freedom for the Hebrew slaves, making a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem.  God commanded, way back in the desert, that after a fellow Hebrew had sold himself into slavery and had served six years, he was to be set free.  The people did set their slaves free, but then changed their minds and enslaved them again.  Understandably, this made God angry.

How often do we repent for sin and then go back to it?  Or are there certain things for which we don't really want to repent, even though we know we should?  Repentance is not only being sorry for your sin, but turning away from it.  In this case, we don't know that the people wanted to free their slaves, we only know that they did free them because of the covenant King Zedekiah made with them, and then they turned around and took the slaves back.  Do we do this with any of our "pet" sins?  Do we say we're sorry because we know we should be and we really don't want to sin, but this one thing is just something we really want to keep doing even though we know we shouldn't?

Hebrews talked about the blood of Christ.  I don't know if I've ever really thought deeper about what I was reading as I read this chapter.  It seems very clear and self-explanatory, and it is, but have I just read it through quickly in the past, thinking "Oh, yeah, I know this stuff already?"  Maybe.  Today, I coloured about 1/4 of the chapter in my Bible.

"He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Heb. 9:12-14, emphasis mine)

It's what's inside that counts.

Happy Thursday!  Have a great weekend.

Tomorrow's passage:  Jeremiah 34, 37 & 38, Hebrews 10:1-18.

5 comments:

tammi said...

I just love the chapters in Hebrews that prove Christ's supremacy. But I find the chapter on His qualifications as the ultimate, eternal High Priest the most beautiful.

Tammy said...

Your comments about Jeremiah 33 had me thoroughly confused. I thought I had majorly missed something. Then I finally realized you were referring to Jeremiah 34! Great thoughts here though either way Miriam. :)

I do love Jeremiah 33's theme of redemption. Just like we've seen over and over that our nations resemble Israel and we sure do seem to have a day or reckoning coming - how I long for these words to also ring true for our countries....

"Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security...I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honour before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it."

Miriam said...

Oh boy! I must have looked at the wrong chapter when I looked it up in my Bible. Maybe I should go back to doing the readings on-line! Sorry about that!

Tammy said...

Totally no worries. It's not the first time that's happened to one of us, and I'm sure it won't be the last! ;) Besides, you still left Tammi several chapters to work with for her post tomorrow! :)

tammi said...

Haha, I totally didn't catch that! I'd read tomorrow's readings already, but because we're skipping around so much in Jeremiah, I didn't think anything of it! It's all good ~ I don't really talk much about that chapter anyway!