For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
John 17
What is eternal life? How did Jesus bring glory to God? Jesus’ prayers sum up and solidify all that He had been teaching His disciples over the past few chapters. He prays that all who know with certainty that God sent Him would be united with God in love. His teaching tells us that being a Christian is about so much more than believing in God. It is about truly knowing God and becoming a part of His very existence. We then live in a way that shows we belong to Him because He lives and loves through us, just as He did through Jesus. And we now have true life because of our connection with the eternal life source.
When we are united with God, we are also united with others who are united with God. We are all connected. If we could truly grasp this truth, surely it would change the way we treat one another as believers.
Zech. 9-10
Israel is not the only nation that belongs to God. He brought them up out of nothing and set them apart for some very special and specific purposes. Yet in reality, the entire world belongs to God. Thus, His redemption plan includes not just Israel and Judah, but all the nations. We see evidence of that truth everywhere, and Zechariah 9 contains one good example. When speaking God’s word against the Philistines, Zechariah says, “Those who are left will belong to our God and become a clan in Judah” (from Zech. 9:7).
Ps. 150
Who should praise the Lord? For what? Where? Read this psalm out loud and praise the Lord that you’ve read and thought about all 150 psalms! Way to go! Reading this Psalm, I get the sense that we tend to under-praise God. Certainly it’s good even to simply acknowledge God’s greatness and goodness. But this Psalm sounds all-in. It is vibrant, enthusiastic, energetic. It seems to be calling all who have breath not just to praise the LORD, but to praise the LORD with all the breath they have.