Theology Thursday: Pain in the Offering
Bible Read-through update: I'm a bit off the schedule for covering the NT twice. I'm up to 1st Peter, and I really need to finish my first pass this month to stay on track. In the OT, I was severely derailed by the genealogies in 1 Chronicles (and by really not getting enough sleep).
I've been tossing around, in my own mind, this question: "Should I worry about reading the genealogies?" So far, my answer still comes back "Yes," even though I happen to know that a certain pastor who encourages Bible-reading skips them. Maybe I'm just a perfectionist when it comes to reading, and since the Bible counts as a book on my List of Fifty for the year, I don't want to say I read it unless I really read it.
And really, should a Bible read-through be easy? This morning I came across 1 Chronicles 21, the passage where the plague (sent as a judgment for David taking a census) stops, and David goes to the home of the location the plague stopped and tells the owner he wants to buy the building and offer sacrifices there. The owner, Araunah, offers to make the whole place a gift, and even to give David the cattle and grain for the offering. But David refuses, and has one of my favorite lines in the whole Bible:
I've written in the past that Bible reading is easy for me. It's an ingrained part of my morning routine, and it really doesn't take a particular effort on my part to do it. After all, I'm constantly reading something, so reading a particular thing is no big deal. Maybe the difficulty I'm having this year is God trying to tell me that he wants my offering to cost me something.
I think this goes for many areas of ministry, as well. When I sing at church, it takes time, it take rehearsal, and it causes me some nervousness. These are all costs, and they're generally asssumed to be negatives. But when I consider that some pain in an offering is a good thing, it changes the perspective somewhat.
I'm sure there are many other areas this would apply to, but I'm going to leave it at that for today.
June 19th, 2009 - 09:59
Seth,
I like this! It is too easy to just read words and not to get meaning. That’s where the pain is–stop, look and listen. I am reading a little book called “Intimacy with God” by Chuck Swindoll. It talks about making a sacrifice of time and attention and going deep. I think that’s what God longs for us to do!
Love you,
Mom