Cover your nakedness

I came upon this passage in my daily reading today:

Exodus 20:26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

This was the last verse for today’s reading. What struck me was the phrase “your nakedness”. I wondered about this. In the beginning Adam and Eve were both naked and they had no shame yet after sin enters there is shame associated with nakedness as we find in this passage. I did a quick search on the phrase “your nakedness” in the ESV and found 8 occurrences of this phrase, all but one in the Old Testament. The one occurrence in the New Testament was found in Revelation 3:18.

               Every time this phrase is used it’s in the context of sin or a reminder of sin. Physical nudity is there but that seems to be a reminder of sin and the need of being covered. Why was it important that the priest not show his nakedness to the Lord? Because it’s the reminder of sin and rebellion. God spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden and he clothed them with animal skins to cover their nakedness; to cover their sin.

               God in Christ covers our nakedness; sin, in clothing us with the Lamb of God; Jesus.

Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

               God still does the clothing; God by the blood of Christ covers our nakedness.

Those are my ramblings for today.

 

A review of: "Real life, real miracles"

Real life, real miracles by James L. Garlow and Keith Wall

First the good:

Some books are difficult to read because they’re not written in a way that makes reading them easy. This book is not one of those, instead it’s very easy to read and the stories do keep your attention.

Now the not so good:   

The book is supposed to be a collection of, what the author calls real life “miracles”. Some of the stories are a bit graphic for my taste. Like the story of a man who was stabbed. The book goes into great graphic detail. Thankfully these kinds of stories are few.  Most of the stories range from the spectacular and hard to believe to the silly, like one story about a container of sour cream that never went empty even though each time they went to get some out, there was only enough for one portion. They would place the empty container back in the fridge and the next time they went to get sour cream it had enough for one more portion. God did this, we’re told in the book, because he cared for a little girl who got tired of eating potatoes. That story seems a bit silly and I don’t think God is working the miracle of the never ending container of sour cream. Some of the other stories discuss people going to a “church” service and going on stage to have a “pastor” lay his hands on them and pray over them and they’re instantly healed.

There are stories in the book that certainly show the hand of God but many of the stories are over the top and seem to be, if not total fabrications then embellished a bit, at least that’s the way it felt to me as I read the book.

               I don’t recommend this book at all. There are too many strange and silly stories that make me question the reliability of the details. Do yourself a favor and avoid this book.

 

 

Disclosure of Material: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR Title 16, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Keep going!

How are you doing on your daily Bible reading? I pray you're doing well but if something has happened and you’re not quite on track let me offer a few suggestions.

1.      Keep reading. Don’t let the fact that you have fallen behind upset you or keep you from reading God’s word, after all it’s not simply reading the Bible so you can say I finished in a year. Reading the Bible is a lifelong adventure and one that produces all kinds of wonderful fruit. So pick it up and keep going. Even if you didn’t start yet, start right now.

2.      Make a plan. Make a Bible reading plan that starts on Monday and ends on Friday. If you’re on track you can either take the weekend off or get ahead. This is also helpful because if you find you missed a day or two you can get caught up again over the weekend.  

3.      Read twice as much. Read two days worth every day. This will get you caught up or if you are caught up this will help you stay caught up even if you find yourself missing a day or two here or there. Pulse if you read two days worth everyday you’re going to finish before the year is up.

Let me offer a few more suggestions for those reading the Bible daily.

1.      Get a friend to read with you. If you and another person are reading daily you can encourage each other and you will have a lot to talk about when you meet up for coffee.

2.      Use a Bible software program. There’s a tone of Bible software out there and most of them have a feature that will help you read the scriptures daily. My choice is Logos Bible Software but there are others. Ask a friend what software they use or do a quick internet search.

 

3.      Remember why you’re reading the Bible. It has nothing to do with reading the Bible simply to say you’ve read the Bible (or at least it shouldn’t). You’re not reading just any book this is God’s word. You and I are hearing the voice of God as we read. We are getting to know the mind of Christ when we read the Bible and we are being renewed and transformed as we read the Bible.

I hope these suggestions have helped.

God richly bless you as you continue to hear God speak through his word.