Devos, among other things

I'm in a few different places in Scripture right now, and I'm excited to think about it. Back in July I started reading through the Bible from the front to the back, something I've never done before. Right now, I'm about 2/3rds of the way through Isaiah. I'm also, as my morning quiet times, going through the most of Paul's letters. For some reason, I skipped Romans and Corinthians and started at Galatians. I finished it last week and I'm now in Ephesians. Also, as part of Devos at work, which I'll explain below, I'm in Genesis and Matthew. I've also been reading this Voice Project retelling of Acts. So, I've got the Torah, the Prophets, the Gospels, and the Epistles all covered in some area of study, at one time! What's exciting is that I'm keeping them separate and I'm not too confused in it all! Now, if I just had some of the wisdom books and history included, I'd have the extent of it!

So, every weekday morning, before we start work in the office at NMSI, we have some time for devotions. In the past, I have to be honest, I've felt like it was of little worth. While I think it is important for people to be able to share their stories and what they're learning, I've felt like it was straying further and further from the Word. Heather and I had a talk about it and thought we'd like to see Devos become a time when we would study the Word together, as a staff.

The very next day, I'm not kidding, some of the leaders in the office started off devos by saying we would begin doing just that. Immediately, one guy, Andrew, started reading from Genesis.

With him, twice a week, we've just begun reading through the Old Testament. He gets up at 8:15 and reads until 8:45. We have prayer, and we go to work. I love it. This is how people did it in the past. Not everyone could read, so a lot of it was orally shared. I think it's a great way to think on the Word. Rarely do we have someone just read extended passages to us. Now we're getting that twice a week.

On Wednesday mornings we have a time of praise and worship. I choose some songs and we sing them to start our day. It's a favorite day of the week for me.

But then, the remaining two days of the week, we're in the New Testament. This is different than the Old Testament reading though. David Weinman, the guy leading these times is really taking it slow and trying to bring out new points in some of the readings that we have seen thousands of times. We have started in Matthew 1 and we're just going to go straight through until the end of time. Just so you know, I mean really slow. He has led devos 6 times, and we are at the end of Chapter 1.

There is so much in Scripture that I've never come across before, or I've never taken the time to really assess what an author is saying.

For instance, Matthew has a very specific point he is writing to prove. Jesus is the Messiah. I've known that this is the purpose of Matthew for a long time, but I've never really know how precise a point he is making, or taken into consideration that every single thing Matthew writes is purposeful.

Who knew the Geneology of Christ in Matthew 1 could have so much more meaning that it appears to!

I had wanted to write on some of the things I've learned from the First Chapter here, but I've already written a longer post that I had previously wanted to. Maybe I'll write more later. In the mean time, listen to some good music, or read a good book! Or go out and play in the snow on a lazy Sunday afternoon! Or, prepare for my next Post by reading and rereading and rereading Matthe Chapter 1. After all, it is Christmastime!

Later guys,
Matt