This Bible reading plan takes you through most of the Holy Scriptures each weekday of the year. Each day has three Bible readings:
You're welcome to read one, two, or all three of the readings every weekday. And if you fall behind, don't worry! You can either use the weekends to catch up or you can simply dive in to the reading for that day, even if you've missed a few days, weeks, or even months!
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5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified1 by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers,2 still preach3 circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,4 drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do5 such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
[1] 5:4
[2] 5:11
[3] 5:11
[4] 5:21
[5] 5:21
(ESV)
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." (vs. 1a)
"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." (vs. 13)
We made some home-made ice cream this past Saturday, and it was good! While there is still some left... it is disappearing fast.
I don't know about you... but every so often, our family enjoys the chance "to indulge" in a big bowl of ice-cream. The key for us, for me more than my kids... is to not indulge ever evening. This would move from the occasional enjoyment of a tasty treat, into being enslaved by something that is bad for my health.
While on a different scale of magnitude... this is what Paul is talking about when he says, "do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature".
While there is freedom to indulge in a bowl of ice cream every so often... the analogy breaks down when we consider sin - that can look as inviting as a nice desert - indulging the sinful nature is never an acceptable option.
Our faith and trust in God's grace is not to be a cover for evil. Irresponsible living is not an excuse to misuse what Christ has accomplished. We are to never use God's grace as a crutch for poor actions, thoughts, or words.
If we are "to indulge" in anything Paul says... "live by the Spirit". Vs. 16-17 of our reading say,
"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want."
I once heard a trusted pastor, who is a mentor in my life use this analogy:
"If two dogs were fighting... which one would win?"
The answer: The one you feed.
Today, feed (indulge) God's Spirit living inside of you through your faith in Jesus Christ, while at the same time starving the temptations and desires of your sinful flesh. As you do... there will be victory to celebrate.
If you'd like to read a great story of victory check out, Exodus 14.
4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD:
When men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
5 Why then has this people turned away
in perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 I have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7 Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane1
keep the time of their coming,
but my people know not
the rules2 of the LORD.
8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the LORD is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
9 The wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD,
so what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the LORD.
13 When I would gather them, declares the LORD,
there are no grapes on the vine,
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.”3
14 Why do we sit still?
Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish
and has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
16 “The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
the whole land quakes.
They come and devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
17 For behold, I am sending among you serpents,
adders that cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you,”
declares the LORD.
18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me;4
my heart is sick within me.
19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
from the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the LORD not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?”
“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images
and with their foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?
9:1 5 Oh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 6 Oh that I had in the desert
a travelers’ lodging place,
that I might leave my people
and go away from them!
For they are all adulterers,
a company of treacherous men.
3 They bend their tongue like a bow;
falsehood and not truth has grown strong7 in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they do not know me, declares the LORD.
[1] 8:7
[2] 8:7
[3] 8:13
[4] 8:18
[5] 9:1
[6] 9:2
[7] 9:3
(ESV)
Jeremiah expressed the Lord's incredulity at the persistent unrepentance His people. Unlike normal people who get up after they fall down, or who return after they turn away, Jerusalem clings to deceit in a pattern of perpetual backsliding. They do not have as much sense as the birds God created, who follow migratory patterns and return to their homes at the proper times. They act as though the physical presence of the Law in the Ark of the Covenant is enough to protect them, even though they continually disobey God's Law. Sadly, the scribes, the prophets and the priests are leaders only in leading God's people astray. Because they are all greedy for unjust gain, from the least to the greatest, they will all be put to shame, their wives taken captive, their fields conquered. God charged that their abominations were so outlandish that they didn't even know how to blush. Only too late will the people realize that they are doomed to perish, and even their fortified cities will provide no refuge. The enemy is upon them, so that it is as if the people of God can hear the snorting of their horses. It's as if they can feel the bite of the poisonous snakes that no one can charm. In the face of this unavoidable doom, Jeremiah cried out to the LORD. "My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me." The people cried out seeking the LORD, but because they had provoked Him to anger with their idols He forsook them, and they concluded, "we are not saved." As a result, Jeremiah is crushed, because even the region of Gilead, well know for it's healing balm, cannot provide the medicine the wound that God's people have afflicted on themselves. Jeremiah's eyes were filled with tears mourning for his people, yet he was so disgusted by their spiritual adultery that he wished he could escape from their midst.
63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
(ESV)