I Chronicles 1-5 Dear RTB’ers, For today and tomorrow we have two very long readings – at least in terms of the number of verses covered (nearly seven times our daily average of verses read). Our companion book, Search the Scriptures does a very good job introducing these nine chapters, so I suggest that you …
Author Archives: Fred
August 9 / James 5
James 5 Dear RTB’ers, James takes on the rich again. (Go back to James 1:9–11 and James 2:1–7.) But here he is challenging them for their wrongdoings. I make that distinction because all of us are “rich” in comparison to the rest of the world. But I daresay that we are not withholding wages or …
August 8 / James 4
James 4 Dear RTB’ers, Two sentences, one right after the other: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. (vv. 7b-8a) Resist and draw near. James suggests that simply resisting the devil is not enough. Fighting him without the Lord’s help is ill-advised; …
August 7 / James 3
James 3 Dear RTB’ers, The tongue. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. (v. 10a) Years ago I was working with my dad, a concrete contractor. I recall my dad calling out a truck driver who was delivering a load of concrete to us and who was speaking a mouthful of profanity. My dad asked …
August 6 / James 2:14-26
James 2:14-26 Dear RTB’ers, Today we are reading that section in James which many people either embrace or shun – faith and works. You can often hear it said that Martin Luther wanted the book of James eliminated from Scripture. With a quick Internet search I found that he did not want it eliminated, but …
August 5 / James 2:1-13
James 2:1-13 Dear RTB’ers, The ESV heading for today’s reading is “The Sin of Partiality”. But alongside partiality, in fact a prelude to partiality, is judgment. James ties these words together quickly. After a “For if…” intro to a sentence (James 2:2), he writes …have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges …
August 4 / James 1:19-27
James 1:19-27 Dear RTB’ers, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (v. 22) I’ve probably said this before, but it’s worth repeating. We have all heard of 20/80 churches, maybe even been a member of one, where 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Thankfully, St. Andrew’s is …
August 3 / James 1:1-18
James 1:1-18 Dear RTB’ers, The book of James is second only to Acts as my favorite book in all of Scripture. My first thought today was, what to say when James says it so well? Today in a short section he contrasts poverty and plenty (James 1:9-11), but on both sides of those verses his …
August 2 / Malachi 3:7-4:6
Malachi 3:7-4:6 Dear RTB’ers, Today we finish Malachi, closing with more promises from the Lord, judgment upon the arrogant and exaltation for those who fear Him. The word “fear” pops up three times in today’s reading: …those who feared the LORD… twice in Mal. 3:16 and …you who fear My name… in Mal. 4:2. We …
August 1 / Malachi 2:10-3:6
Malachi 2:10-3:6 Dear RTB’ers, Yesterday the Lord through Malachi was castigating the priests. Today He takes on the rest of Jerusalem and Judah, railing against their marrying foreign women and being unfaithful to their wives – the same issues that Ezra and Nehemiah were dealing with. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none …