Live faithfully under God's authority

Monday, March 31, 2014 Devotions: Ps 89; Gen 49:1-28; 1 Cor 10:14-11:1; Mk 7:24-37 YHWH, I will sing of Your steadfast love forever; I will proclaim Your faithfulness to every generation. God keeps His covenants. So let all creation praise our God. He made and He owns heavens and earth, seas and lands, planets and galaxies. He Is almighty, holy, merciful. He sets His servants in place, and guides His people by their leadership. He punishes transgressions, but He does not remove His steadfast love. So let us abide and await God's initiative. Blessed be YHWH forever. As Jacob's life came to its end, he gathered his sons to him and spoke his final blessings and prophesies over them: Reuben, firstborn, first fruits of your father's power, preeminent in pride and power, but unstable as water: since you defiled your father's bed, you are deposed. Simeon and Levi: brothers and men of wanton violence, let me not join their company or heed their counsel; cursed be their fierce anger and cruel wrath: I will divide and scatter them in the territories of Israel. Judah, praised by your brothers, you will have victory and the scepter will not depart from you; you will be the line through which Messiah comes, eternal ruler of God's people. Zebulun will live by the sea along Israel's north coast; haven for ships , neighbor of Sidon Issachar is strong and stubborn, tied to the land and to labor; he will become a slave at forced labor. Dan shall judge his people, and he will be a snake along the paths of his enemies, bringing down those who seek to ride past him. Gad will live in cycles of raiding—a marauder pitted against marauders. Asher will eat rich food. Naphtali is a doe set free, bearing comely fawns. Joseph is a fruitful bough, whose branches reach across the wall. He was assailed by fierce archers, harassed by enemies, but he stood firm, sustained by the Mighty One of Israel, by El Shaddai, Who will bless Joseph with heaven's benediction, blessed on earth and sea, blessed with fertility and his father's favor—separated from his brothers by distinction and competence. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, devouring prey in the morning, and dividing spoil in the evening. Such are the twelve tribes descended from Israel, and their father's final words concerning each of his sons and their tribes. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: Beloved, shun idol worship. We partake of the body and blood of the Messiah, and so participate in His own Person. As there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all participate in the one bread. In Israel, those who eat from the altar are partners in the altar. Pagans offer sacrifices to demons, and I don't want you to be partners of demons. We must not provoke the Lord, Who is far mightier than we. Our faith makes us free, but not all things are helpful; not all things edify. Seek the good of everyone; feel free to eat what is sold in the market—the earth is our Lord's, and all on earth belongs to Him. If you accept a dinner invitation from an unbeliever, eat what is set before you without quibbles of conscience. But if someone tells you: 'This has been sacrificed to an idol,' do not eat it, to spare the other person's conscience. Our liberty is not defined by someone else's scruples. We are not to be denounced for what we receive with thanks to God. So: do all you do, eating and drinking or abstaining, to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or Gentiles or to God's own church. Imitate me: I try to please all people in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage but that of many, that they may be saved. Imitate me, as I imitate Christ. Jesus led His disciples into the territory of Tyre and Sidon, where He was not widely known. He entered a house there, and tried to keep a low profile. But immediately a Syrophonecian woman heard Jesus was near, and she came into the house and fell at Jesus' feet. She begged Him to cast out a demon that possessed her daughter. Jesus said, 'Let the children be fed first; it is not right to take their bread and throw it to the dogs.' But the woman persisted: 'Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' And Jesus said to her, 'For this saying, you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.' And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon as gone.