Mar. 5
I am back. My project for the seminary, including the sermon series from this past fall, ended up being 102 pages long – whew! It’s nice to be done with this stage of the process. Now, I feel like I can breathe easier. I have also realized the importance of spreading out my projects for school throughout the year. Now, I have to go back and catch up on reading, but for now, I’ve read the passages for today:
Balaam was a prophet of sorts, a diviner. Balak the king of Moab wanted Balaam to curse the people of Israel, but instead he blessed them. His donkey even talks to him, and a sword wielding angel blocks his way. God has blessed the Israelites, and no one can effectively curse whom God has blessed. God’s promises will be kept!
In Jordan, archaeologists have found a plaster inscription from the 8th century BC, telling a story of Balaam son of Beor, “a seer of the gods,” and his vision of a divine council meeting, and the council’s plan for disaster on the earth.[1]
Here, Jesus outlines a vision of servant leadership – as the greatest servant leader of all. True greatness is found in true service to others.
Jesus also speaks of stumbling blocks. As a Christian, to be a stumbling block to others is essentially to be a bad example, to be the kind of Christian that makes people not want to be Christians. The biggest way we do this is by failing to love one another – “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment