Psalms 98-106, Titus 1-3, Philemon, and Proverbs 1-12

Ok so after reading this first section of passages in Psalms, I can not get Matt Redman’s Bless the Lord out of my head- except with “Praise the Lord” instead of “Bless the Lord”

But I am seeing a fairly direct correlation here between what Paul is instructing in Titus and Philemon and what Solomon is saying in Proverbs. Just overall be a good human- be wise, lean on God for understanding, and by doing this you should be kind, loving, gentle, fair, not out for personal gain, greediness, or vengeance. We don’t have the history lesson here that we’ve been kinda wading through in the past few books; more getting into some general guidelines of Christian living and ironically enough- none of it SHOULD be that hard!! We aren’t talking back in the days of Moses & Aaron where you had to keep up with what kind of animal to kill for what and when and how and who could kill it. We aren’t talking about traveling to a certain place at a certain time of year. We are simply talking about:

Don’t be overbearing, quick-tempered, a drunkard, violent, or out for dishonest gain. Be hospitable, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

Fear the Lord and seek knowledge & understanding; stay away from fools/ evil doers; act with love and faithfulness. Don’t be lazy but diligent; act with righteous & honesty in all you do.

Seems like pretty easy stuff. Lessons our parents started teaching us before we could walk or talk. Things our teachers reinforced as we got older. Characteristics that are (hopefully) rewarded in you job and adult life. So if it’s “simple” why does it seems like these traits are so rarely found in real life??

I understand that Christianity is not about following the rules that tell us to act a certain way but due to God’s grace and the love of our Heavenly Father- these are the traits that should just be happening naturally in our lives, right?

What are you seeing here? New takeaways?? Specifics that jumped out at you here?

Or if not- maybe this is a fake till you make it kind of situation. If hospitality doesn’t come naturally to you- fake it/ force it until it gets a little a easier. But things like not lying for personal gain, choosing greed and success over honesty- this should