Today’s Readings  – Psalm 61,62, 68:1-20,21-23,24-36, Genesis 42:1-17, 1 Corinthians 5:1-8, Mark 3:19-35

http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/bcp/

Here are the verses that tugged at my heart today with a few comments.

Psalm 61

¹ O God, listen to my cry!
Lead me to the towering rock of safety,
³     for you are my safe refuge,
    a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.
⁴ Let me live forever in your sanctuary,
    safe beneath the shelter of your wings! Interlude

Tom – I need to pray like that. I am praying like that today. It is a matter of my relationship with God.

Psalm 62

¹ I wait quietly before God,
    for my victory comes from him.

⁵ Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
    for my hope is in him.

⁹ Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
    and the powerful are not what they appear to be.
If you weigh them on the scales,
    together they are lighter than a breath of air.

¹⁰ Don’t make your living by extortion
    or put your hope in stealing.
And if your wealth increases,
    don’t make it the center of your life.

¹¹ God has spoken plainly,
    and I have heard it many times:
Power, O God, belongs to you;
¹²     unfailing love, O Lord, is yours.
Surely you repay all people
    according to what they have done.

Tom – I am a common man who often gets proud and puffy. I need a God-perspective on myself and on God. Scales do not compliment me. Wealth cannot be the center of my life. God is everything. My relationship with God defines me.

In the Genesis reading, Joseph’s brothers showed up needing bread, but first a relationship needed to be reestablished.

In Corinth, Paul was dealing with a serious relationship problem.

1 Corinthians 5:1-8

⁸ So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old breadof wickedness.

Tom – I need to do some sorting in my life too — daily sorting.

Mark 3:19-35

²⁰ One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. ²¹ When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

³¹ Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. ³² There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothersare outside asking for you.”

³³ Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ³⁴ Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. ³⁵ Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Tom – I want to be a brother of Jesus today and that is all I need to be.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.