Day 287 (Saturday) - Matthew 17:14-20:34

I love in Matthew 20, the Parable of the Vineyard Workers. It’s a great reminder to me that fairness is not godliness. I like things to be fair. The thing I need to remember is that the gifts only come from God and he can give whatever he wants to whomever whenever he pleases. None of us deserve anything but God gives each of us better than we deserve. So who are we to complain about what God has done for one person vs. another?

Day 286 (Friday) - Matthew 14:13-17:13

There are some very popular Jesus events in our reading today; the feeding of the 5000 as well as the lesser known feeding of the 4000. But I want to point out something we don’t really talk a lot about. This is the second time that Jesus has been asked to show a miraculous sign to prove who he is and Jesus points to Jonah. Did you have any idea that the events that took place when you read Jonah were to become a backdrop for Jesus death and resurrection. Some scholars believe that the book of Jonah is uncovering much more than first meets the eye.

Day 285 (Thursday) - Matthew 12:22-14:12

Would you like to know a secret about Jesus’ teaching? Unless Jesus makes his parables completely clear by the content or explanation, much of the application is guess work…educated guess work but still guess work. Jesus says a lot of hard stuff. He wants us to see things and this side of eternity it is very difficult. Don’t freak out or feel like you’re not cutting the mustard if you don’t always understand every word, story or chapter in the bible, just work on the things you do understand. That will take a lifetime in itself!

Day 284 (Wednesday) - Matthew 10:16-12:21

I have said it before but John the Baptist is my favorite Bible character. He was a relative of Jesus and he knew his own role as the one who God called to prepare the way for the Messiah and he knew Jesus was the Messiah. What is so striking is how deep the idea of a military Messiah was. People expected the Messiah to form an army and rebel against the Roman’s and defeat them. John the Baptist knows better but he just has to ask. Are you really the Messiah or should we be looking for someone else.

Don’t we say this to Jesus ever time things don’t go our way? Are you real or did I miss it somewhere?

Day 283 (Tuesday) - Matthew 8:1-10:15

Jesus is doing a lot of healing in these passages and answering clarifying questions as to who he is and what his ministry is about. It is so obvious that people as a whole don’t understand Jesus and I think that still the norm today. The more religious the person, the harder it is for that person to hear the teaching of Jesus. We love to look down on other from a top our high horses, but following Jesus will destroy that form of self gratification and pride. Jesus didn’t come for those that don’t want him, he came for those that do…do you?

Day 282 (Monday) - Matthew 5-7

The Gospel According to Matthew, or as it has been shortened to; Matthew, is a good choice to be the first book in the New Testament. Mark was probably written before Matthew but Matthew has that beautiful genealogy that links the Old Testaments with the New. It shows how God has been working and continues to work. The book is for the Jews as it shows how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecy. It has details about Jesus’ life that none of the other gospels contain. Its style and vocabulary make it a great book for public reading and has been used in the church over the millennia more than any other.

Day 281 (Sunday) - Matthew 1-4

Well, you did it, you read the entire Old Testament! This is no small feat. Only a small percentage of Christians have done what you just did. In fact, here’s a post from an theist blog:

What percent of "Christians" do you think have read the entire Bible?

I will remember at the first meeting of a atheists & agnostics club at the university I went to, we were introducing ourselves and we were supposed to tell the story of becoming skeptics and this one guy said. "I was a good Christian until I finally got around to reading the Bible." Everyone laughed because we knew how true that was. I have read the Bible cover to cover five times and bits and pieces of it constantly. I love being able to quote more scripture than the fundies.

I seriously think that if every "Christian" had to read the entire Bible for themselves, about half of them would lose their faith.

This is NOT a Christian bashing thread. There are many, many Christians who I respect and have a deep, philosophical understanding of the ancient scrolls. My real beef is with the Sunday School Christians and the Pick & Choose scriptures of the Fundies.

Well Bible reader...what do you have to say? Is your faith intact?