February Day 17

Leviticus 5-7 - God wanted his people to understand the sacredness of his presence.  His desires is that when we worship, our hearts would be pure.  God is Holy - undefiled, set apart, fully good. 

Psalm 39 - Life is short in view of eternity.  Our lives on earth are like a breath that vanishes quickly.  What we spend our lives focussed on matters.  If we spend our entire life in pursuit of worldly wealth, we will waste it on what is extremely temporary and our lives will in the end be meaningless.  God has made us for so much more meaning than that.  To experience his purpose, we need to repent from our rebellion - refusing to fully follow God's design for us - because our rebellion will position us to experience unwanted pain in life. While there will still be pain in this broken world, we welcome more pain when we remove ourselves from God's protection by choosing to chase our own desires. 

Matthew 17:14-27 - The disciples may have lacked the faith to understand that the physical problems were symptoms of a greater spiritual issue.  Jesus rebuked the demon and once the spiritual issue was resolved, the physical was as well. Because the disciples were not approaching the matter as a faith matter, they missed the real issue and didn't pray for what was actually needed. Jesus told the disciples to pay the temple tax, not out of obligation, but for the sake of peace.  This is an example of what it looks like to work to be at peace with people.  

Acts 24 - Paul explained his case and defended his innocence.  Felix was interested in what Paul had to say until Paul began talking about future accountability for one's life choices.  Many people like the story of the gospel as long as it doesn't interfere with the way they want to live their lives.