<\/p>\n
Luke 18:9-14; Mark 10:1-12; Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:13-16; Matthew 19:13-15; Luke 18:15-17; Mark 10:17-31; Matthew 19:16-30; Luke 18:18-30<\/strong><\/span> Matthew:<\/strong> In Matthew 19 we read a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees on divorce.\u00a0 The context of this discussion basically revolved around 2 Jewish schools \u2013 Shammai and Hillel \u2013 and their differing viewpoints in Jesus\u2019 day on Deuteronomy 24 verses 1-4: \u201cIf a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD . Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 From the NIV Study Bible commentary \u2013 The Shammai school held that \u201csomething indecent\u201d from verse 1 above meant \u201cmarital unfaithfulness\u201d \u2013 the only allowable cause for divorce.\u00a0 Hillel emphasized to the preceding clause, \u201cwho becomes displeasing to him\u201d in verse 1 above \u2013 they would allow for a man to divorce his wife for anything she did that he disliked.\u00a0 Jesus in the midst of these 2 viewpoints seems to take to the side of Shammai \u2013 but, only after first pointing back to God\u2019s original ideal for marriage.\u00a0 So\u2026\u00a0 there you have the context.\u00a0 What does that mean for us today? I honestly will say that I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I do know that many folks participating in this blog are divorced.\u00a0 And many are married.\u00a0 And many are single.\u00a0 So\u2026\u00a0 I guess I\u2019d encourage you to read more or study more about the topic of divorce if you feel God is calling you to this.\u00a0 I do believe in God\u2019s grace in each of our lives and I believe in Jesus\u2026\u00a0 Bible.org does have a pretty long overview of Marriage, Abortion and Divorce<\/strong> <\/span>at this link<\/span> \u2013 I haven\u2019t read it all, so I can\u2019t say that I agree with everything at this link\u2026 but, if you\u2019re interested in diving more into this topic you may want to read.\u00a0 Also, Bible.org\u2019s commentary on today\u2019s readings in Matthew chapter 19 titled \u201cQuestions About Marriage and Divorce\u201d<\/strong> are <\/span>at this link<\/span>.\u00a0 No matter what happens in our life \u2013 marriage, divorce, health, sickness \u2013 we always have One whose love will never fail us:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today:<\/strong> \u201cEveryone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.\u201d<\/em> Matthew 19:29 NIV<\/span><\/p>\n Prayer Point:<\/strong> Pray that you will place your relationship with Jesus and spending eternity with Him about all else.<\/span><\/p>\n Comments from You:<\/strong>\u00a0 What verses or insights stand out to you in today\u2019s readings?\u00a0 Please post up by clicking on the \u201cComments\u201d link below!<\/span><\/p>\n Glory to God! p.s. Download our monthly Small Group study notes for our Chronological Bible readings at this link.<\/span><\/p>\n p.s. #2 \u2013 Download a schedule of our Chronological Bible readings for the year in PDF format at this link.<\/span><\/p>\n p.s. #3 \u2013 I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Chronological Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Luke 18:9-14; Mark 10:1-12; Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:13-16; Matthew 19:13-15; Luke 18:15-17; Mark 10:17-31; Matthew 19:16-30; Luke 18:18-30~ Click here to read today\u2019s Scripture on Bible Gateway ~~ Listen to today\u2019s Scripture with The ESV Bible ~ Matthew: In Matthew 19 we read a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees on divorce.\u00a0 The context of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[3746,45,46,558,53,231],"class_list":["post-32812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-study","tag-21st","tag-bible","tag-blog","tag-chronological","tag-october","tag-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
~ Click here to read today\u2019s Scripture on Bible Gateway ~<\/span><\/em>
~ Listen to today\u2019s Scripture with <\/em>The ESV Bible<\/em><\/span> ~<\/p>\n
Today in Matthew 19 we read some challenging verses about the Rich Young Man.\u00a0 I have read some commentaries say that we don\u2019t need to take Jesus\u2019 words literally that each of us must sell all of our goods and give to the poor.\u00a0 However, these words in context to this rich young man were indeed to be taken literally by him \u2013 and he knew it.\u00a0 He wouldn\u2019t do it.\u00a0 Jesus called him to do this, I think, because the young man\u2019s \u201cstuff\u201d was an impediment to his relationship with God.\u00a0 Perhaps the young man literally valued his stuff more than God.\u00a0 So \u2013 while the commentaries say that we don\u2019t have to take Jesus\u2019 teaching to this young man literally, I do think we should keep in mind that Jesus may ask of us something along these lines.\u00a0 Jesus may ask us to pack up and become a missionary.\u00a0 Or maybe he\u2019ll ask us to leave a high powered, high paying job, to go serve the poor in our town.\u00a0 Or he may ask us to not spend our money on luxury items, but to invest in micro credit loan programs in third world countries.\u00a0 So \u2013 while this may seem like Jesus was asking a lot of this rich young man, keep in mind that Jesus asks much of each of us.\u00a0 And really, Jesus simply asks us to follow him.\u00a0 Will you follow Jesus?\u00a0 No matter the cost?\u00a0 No matter what you have to \u201cgive up\u201d?\u00a0 Will you follow him?\u00a0 Below is a painting by Heinrich Hoffman from the late 19th century of Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler:<\/span><\/p>\n
Bible.org\u2019s commentary on today\u2019s readings in Matthew chapter 19 titled \u201cWealth and the Kingdom of Heaven\u201d<\/strong> is <\/span>at this link<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n
Worship Video:<\/strong>\u00a0 Today\u2019s readings reminded me of the Chris Tomlin & Jesse Reeves song \u201cKing of Glory.\u201d Here\u2019s a great story behind the song and the song itself too, performed live:<\/span><\/p>\n
Mike<\/span><\/p>\n