📖 It won't come naturally

I. Treating others the way Jesus did does not come naturally.

In Matthew 14, right after Jesus hears that John the Baptist has been killed, he withdrew to a remote place to be alone. But when the crowds heard where Jesus was, they followed him.

In this moment, Jesus’ response to the crowds was not annoyance or anger. Instead, we are told in verse 14:

“When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.”

In the midst of his own grief, Jesus was still compassionate toward people who needed him.

For us, the compassion of Jesus is not something we develop unless we are intentionally walking with him and seeing other people as Jesus sees them: valuable and worth serving.

Treating others the way Jesus treats people does not come naturally. And so, we seek to “train ourselves in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16) so we can show compassion towards others like Jesus has shown toward us.

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II. In the book of Exodus, we see that God’s laws are given to God’s people to demonstrate his love. God first rescued Israel and then showed them how to live in a way that honors him and loves people.

Because Jesus is the perfect embodiment of love, it makes sense that Scripture tells us that he fulfilled the law. Jesus came to offer us grace, and then teaches us how to walk with him. His commands are not meant to be a burden for God’s people, but a blessing.

So remember the order. God offers salvation first, then invites us to live in a way that honors him and others, and is ultimately for our good.

God doesn’t call you to earn His love. He calls you to live from it.

Because God saves first and then gives commands, your obedience isn’t about proving yourself. It’s about responding to grace.

This week: Instead of asking, “What do I need to do to be a better Christian?” ask, “How can I respond to what Jesus has already done for me?”

In Genesis 15:18, God promises Abraham land stretching from Egypt to the Euphrates, far larger than what Israel ever actually occupied. The “promised land” boundaries were never fully possessed by Israel.

Even at its peak under David and Solomon, Israel didn’t occupy all the land described in Genesis 15, largely due to their unfaithfulness.

This shows us that their possession of the land was real, but partial, and it points forward to a greater, fuller fulfillment in God’s Kingdom through Christ.

The Unseen Realm by Michael S. Heiser

A book about divine and supernatural beings in the Bible, and how to read the Bible from the supernatural worldview of the biblical authors.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The author does a great job working through various passages of Scripture in detail to show how what we would call divine/supernatural beings are present all over the Bible.

It's hard to recap this book in a brief review, but suffice it to say, I learned a great deal and feel I understand better some of the things I was confused about before. The book is long (600+ pages, but there are a lot of footnotes, so if you don't read all of those, it's not quite as long), yet it held my attention throughout.

There were times I was a little confused and had a hard time tracking, but overall this book was written in a pretty understandable way, assuming you have a familiarity with the Bible.

Some arguments he puts forth are, of course, speculative, but what is not speculative is that Scripture references divine beings all throughout its pages. Better understanding what they are doing, and the spiritual battle taking place, was very eye-opening.

Yes, there is only one Creator God over all things, but just like he created humans, he created spiritual beings. This book does a fascinating job of pointing out how they are functioning in the Scriptures, while also not trying to claim things the Scriptures do not tell us.

If you're up for the task, I'd recommend giving this book a try.

8/10

P.S. Being a pet is hard…