Day 255: Love Then Truth

2 John; Ezra 5-6; Psalm 93

There are two main concepts in this letter. First, love. It seems a reoccurring theme in a lot of the books. Hm, must be important. Again the emphasis is that we love God by DOING what he says. Actions. Secondly, this passage talks about holding onto the true teachings and not even welcoming those who teach falsely about Jesus. Wow, that's pretty serious. John warns that we are not to change the original teachings about who Jesus was because God will no longer be with us. We must believe the truth of Jesus' words and who he says he was, not try to search for something else that fits our lives better. I also think the order of these messages is important. First it communicates that we are to love. Cultivating that attitude of love is primary. That was Jesus' purpose. Secondly, we seek truth and hang on to it. This is done through prayer and studying God's word. Something that I was discussing with my family: we spend so much time talking about truth, what we shouldn't do, that we don't ever talk about what we should do--love.

This story in Ezra about rebuilding the temple is interesting because it shows how God uses people to bless his followers and make his plans succeed. These leaders who would typically not help the Jews, not only let them build the temple, but gave them money, encouragement, and warnings to anyone who hindered it. What would it benefit them that the Jews would rebuild the temple? Maybe somehow, but I can't come up with anything! God made sure that his plan succeeded and at the end, everyone celebrated and praised God for helping them.

This psalm is just a beautiful praise of who God is. He is majestic and eternal, more mighty and powerful than anything on earth. God is awesome!