January 31

Proverbs – This is from Matthew Henry’s commentary:
If the slothful are to be condemned, who do nothing, much more those that do all the ill they can. Observe how such a man is described. He says and does every thing artfully, and with design. His ruin shall come without warning, and without relief. Here is a list of things hateful to God. Those sins are in a special manner provoking to God, which are hurtful to the comfort of human life. These things which God hates, we must hate in ourselves; it is nothing to hate them in others. Let us shun all such practices, and watch and pray against them; and avoid, with marked disapproval, all who are guilty of them, whatever may be their rank.

I had to go back and reread yesterday’s proverbs to understand what Henry was talking about. Hebrew poetry and wisdom writing love couplets. Even couplets that are several stanzas long.
Yesterday’s was all about sleeping in and being lazy. Today, we have someone who IS NOT lazy. Far from it! But what he is instead is deceitful. And that is worse to God. “Suddenly destroyed”. Bad news for the scoundrel.
http://bible.cc/proverbs/6-12.htm

NT – Is it hard for you to imagine that we are already at Jerusalem? It really does not seem like that long ago that Jesus was a baby escaping to Egypt with his mom and earthly dad. But Matthew spends almost a quarter of his time with us in Jerusalem and that last week. We will get day by day detail. In a book that just romps along, the pace slows way, way down. And I think this is deliberate on Matthew’s part. He was telling stuff that was important, yes. He had messages like the Sermon on the Mount and messages about what the kingdom of Heaven was about. But what Matthew really thinks is important is the time Jesus spends in Jerusalem. We get to know what he wore, what he wanted to eat, who he spent time with and where, and details about his days that we never got before. And in loving, devoted detail, we get the betrayal, arrest and trial and crucifixion. Prepare yourselves for the way of the King.
Please also take a minute to look at the map I have for you. Print it out and when Matthew says Jesus went to Bethpage, locate that on the map. If we can’t go to Jerusalem physically, we can at least follow his footsteps on the map.

This is the last day of January. I have 31 stickers on my calendar and a really big huge GO ME! for the month of January. I am not sure if I will change anything for February but I encourage you to find what motivates you to STAY IN THE WORD. For me, it is stickers. For you, it might be 2 solid weeks of Bible study and a massage. I don’t know. But think about your goal and your reward. Reading the Bible should be reward enough. But I have been a mom long enough to know that sometimes you need a little push. No matter what you have done in January, be proud of that and look forward to February. You can do it!!