Things to Remember While Being Perfected

I don't remember where I got this from, but I like it!

1. Mining for Good - Philippians 4:8
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

2. Rot Not - Ephesians 4:29
"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."

3. Takes One to Know One - John 13:34
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

4. The "I Insist" Principle - Philippians 2:3-4
"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

5. Go Deep Into Debt - Romans 13:8
"Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."

6. It's the Law - John 13:34
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

7. The Checklist of Love - I Corinthians 13:4-7
"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

8. Egg 'Em On - Hebrews 10:24
"And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds."

9. Share the Load - Galatians 6:2
"Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

10. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me - Ephesians 4:26-27
"Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity."

Daughter of Eve

I decided to bite the bullet and create a blog. A lot of my friends have blogs -- and have had them for years. I was holding back, but I thought it would be fun to record random thoughts on my faith and family. So I'm going to give it a shot -- not knowing how much time I'll even have to record random thoughts. :)

Today's first random thought ... Comes from reading Nehemiah 12:27-13:31 in my morning devotion. I actually read it online. Last week, I found the coolest "Gadget" on my iGoogle page (www.google.com). It's the "Read the Bible in a Year" Gadget. If you're like me and have a hard time reading the bible on a daily basis, I would recommend it to you. The only "bad" thing that I've found about using it so far is that it's not always updated with the "today's" reading plan early in the morning. But on the upside, it has an audio link, and you can LISTEN to the Bible as you read along, which for me is really good because it helps me pronounce people's names that I don't know, like Hoshaiah. Do you know how to pronounce it? I didn't either! I tend to "trip-up" on words I don't know, so by listening to someone read the Bible to me, I can read the Bible without being distracted by wondering how to pronounce someones name. So for me, listening online is a good thing, because I obsess about little things like, "How do you say, 'Hoshaiah'?". :)

The "Read the Bible in a Year" is from the English Standard Version of the Bible, which is my favorite version. John Piper's church, Bethlehem Baptist Church (http://www.hopeingod.org/) uses it, as do many other churches. Wayne Grudem is one of the translators who worked on the ESV project, and I have MUCH respect for him as a theolgian.

That's my plug for "Read the Bible in a Year", but it wasn't the "random" thought I was thinking about when I started this post. As I was reading Nehemiah, it occurred to me just how many names are mentioned, "Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; and his relatives". (Whew! Thankful for the audio version to pronounce all those names for me!)

Why did God record the genealogy of Zechariah and so many others in the Scriptures? I don't know the mind of God, so I don't know. But two thoughts occurred to me as I was reading. 1) The author of the Scriptures (which is ultimately God -- 2 Tim 3:16) lists the genealogy knowing that those who lived in that time period would be able to verify the facts that were written. No one disputed them. 2) God knows the genealogy of Zechariah, and He knows my genealogy, too! This is no small matter, either. I know. I recently started doing genealogy research (It's been so fun!) But God doesn't need genealogy records! He knows my genealogy and He knows your genealogy, too. All the way back to Adam and Eve! And that was my random thought today. Heather, the daughter of Jackie, the daughter of Mary, the daughter of ... Eve.