Have you ever practiced selective listening? Certainly as a teen-ager, when parents gave detailed instructions, some of which were immediately ignored. At work this occurs regularly, and in a marriage—honey, what was that you said again? The house is on fire?

I don’t believe Solomon practiced selective listening when David exhorted him to build a temple to the Lord. Perhaps selective remembering better describes Solomon’s life. Here’s David’s charge on the eve of his death:

My son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and to the work.

Solomon followed through on the temple construction, creating one of the wonders of the ancient world. But Solomon lost his way in regards to devotion. With the temple project complete, the riches of the world and his fascination with foreign women turned his heart.

Which do you think the Lord preferred? A magnificent temple dedicated in his honor, or the heart of a king fully devoted to him?

Guard your heart. It matters more than cathedrals.

1 Chronicles 18 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Diane Picchiottino

I don’t stop to consider the concepts of sin and righteousness all that often. I doubt most others do either, even those of us who spend a great deal of time in religious work. But work does not always lead to contemplation, and so I gloss over my attitudes and actions displeasing to the Lord.

Paul discussed sin and righteousness using the metaphor of slavery. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Horribly strong word—slavery. Paul uses the concept to pound home his point. We live as either a slave to sin or a slave to God. No middle ground, no room for passivity, and no third way to escape the dichotomy.

Paul’s concludes with this well-known verse: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the context of his argument we see the fullness of Paul’s thought. We either cash in our paycheck—we earn death, we’re not victims in a spiritual ponzi scheme—or we let God gift us eternal life as we enslave ourselves to Jesus the Lord.

Either way were slaves—whose chains do you prefer?

Romans 6 in reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Miltiadis Fragkidis

Paul wrote to encourage a group of Christ-followers to hang on as they faced trials and difficulties:

Let us boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Suffering forges perseverance, character and hope. As hammer pounds against the anvil, such qualities emerge. When we turn toward the Lord in our hardships we solidify. Our souls gain muscle and sinew, colors brighten. Life leaves scars, and scars show you’ve been around.

False summits disappear with our invitation to the Holy Spirit’s work. The Spirit brings a tangible realization of God’s love, serving as our advocate in a life of faith.

Like the Roman believers, hang in with the suffering that plagues us all. The blows eventually deliver—through a path of perseverance and character—the hope of God, and a richer perspective on his love for you and me.

Romans 5 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Jonny Gios

Consequences flow from our actions. If I stuff myself with junk food while watching videos on the couch night after night after night, my weight will soar and my health will crater. No one escapes the natural results of a sedentary, prepackaged lifestyle.

So why are we surprised when our experiences with the Lord follow similar routes? David recorded these thoughts after his deliverance from his enemies:

To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.

God responds with deep consideration to those who follow him and apply his ways to their lives. This passage stands as a wonderful promise for all who humbly bow before the Lord.

But to the devious—the wicked—the Lord reveals a different side. In this case shrewd means the Lord acts just as deviously toward those who live that way. He responds in kind, letting their actions boomerang back to them. They receive the just desserts for their choices.

Not that the devious ever ask, but this passage makes for a good conversation starter. Like a steady diet of Twinkies and Mountain Dew, eventually the hateful choices of the devious rule their lives.

Psalm 18 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Josh McLain