daily spiritual reflection
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BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them up as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
- (Moses) Deuteronomy 1:4-9
THOUGHT: I had a friend in high school who just loved good quotes-- great song lyrics, good Bible verses, quotes from her favorite novels, wisdom from great people of the age. She collected them in this notebook and then she would write them in really cool places-- on the walls of her room, on her hand, pasted on to her computer, all over the front of her school notebook. She surrounded herself with wisdom, good ideas, and spiritual affirmation, putting words as reminders into place all over her life. My friend inspired me in many ways, and she taught me the power of the words we put up all around us, the things we talk about often. When I tried what she had done, I discovered that soon the words that had become part of my life's setting were also part of my mindset, easily recalled.
Words are like this. If we want great and wise words to be implemented into our lives, we must think on them often, talk about them freely with others, and choose to act on them. In this passage, Moses understands this about God's words. God's words bring life, and so to implement them as a lifestyle (so that people might have a full life), Moses encourages the people to make the words visible all around them, to talk about them in conversation, and to teach them to their children.
One of the great things Moses says is that the words are to be "on your hearts." Imagine the difference between rules that you know about in your head and somehow have governing authority over you (for example, traffic speeding laws), and words that live on your heart, out of your heart's desire to love and to obey, words that you are in tune with, that you want to make up your life's structure (for example, mom's wise advice that goes with you everywhere you go and seems truer each day). Which category do you find the Bible to go into?
Think about the words that provide your life's setting. What makes up the subjects of your conversations? Is it complaining? Worrying? Gossiping? Or are they words of love, grace, forgiveness, truth, encouragement, God's work, hope, meaning/purpose? What words do you have all around you each day? Are there any words you want to implement in your life that you could put up as Moses directs us to? Any of the Bible verses we have read so far?
CHALLENGE: Maybe you grew up with the Bible as a great source of truth in your life and love it. Maybe you find the idea of God's law anything but loving because you had a bad experience with Christianity earlier in life. Maybe you don't think about the Bible at all and it just seems like another old book that people talk about a lot. The Bible calls itself "living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword." I had a friend who once called it "A love story: a love letter, from God to us." Imagine if the Bible were alive, and active, and able to be interacted with, implemented into our lives today, thousands of years later. Imagine if the Bible is full of unconditional love and wisdom for us.
What kind of expectations do you have when you read the Bible? Do these resonate or no? Sometimes we have to try something out to see if it's helpful.
This week, take Moses' advice, and put up God's words around you--- put them on your wall, on your door, on your bathroom mirror, on your desktop of your computer, on the margins of your school notes. See what happens as you surround yourself with God's words/wisdom. Look for changes in you. Do you find yourself gaining patience and hope? Being more life-giving in conversations? Wiser? More grateful? Is it easier to call these words to mind?
If you're not sure where to start in finding Bible Verses to put up (in addition to the ones we've been going through in these reflections), here are a few I've collected that you might find helpful:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a -- Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
Galatians 5:22-23 -- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Micah 6:8- He has showed you, o man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Psalm 139 (all)
Psalm 23 (all)
Psalm 119:18 -- Open my eyes that I may see the wonderful things in your law.
Deuteronomy 3:16-- Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Proverbs 3:5-6 -- Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.
Philippians 4:4-7 -- Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
James 3:13-18 -- Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such 'wisdom' does not come down from Heaven but is earthly, unspiritual of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; the peaceloving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit; impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
Romans 12:1-2 -- Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 -- Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
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