Digging Deeper Daily: By Daily Bible Reading PodcastSample

1KINGS 8:
Yesterday we heard lots and lots of details about the building of the temple. A man from Tyre, Huram, must have been an efficient and artistic technician in working with bronze casting. He corresponds to the two craftsmen who designed and constructed the first tabernacle.

PSALM 119:97-112:
Again we are focussing on what God’s Word means to us. A favorite verse from yesterday’s portion is verse 89:

Ps. 119:89 GNT “Your word, O Lord, will last forever; it is eternal in heaven.”

JOHN 6b:
There is an important play on words between Jesus and the crowd in Capernaum which does not come out clearly in either the NLT or the GNT. It involves the word ‘work’. Observe verses 27-29:

John 6:27 NLT [Don’t//But don’t] be so concerned about perishable things like food. [Work instead to gain//Spend your energy seeking] the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”

John 6:27 GNT Do not work for food that spoils; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.”

28 GNT So they asked him, “What [work] can we do in order to do [the work//what] God wants us to do?”
29 Jesus answered, “[The work//What] God wants you to do is to believe in [me,] the one [whom] he sent.”

The irony captured in this play on words is that normally the act of believing is not considered a ‘work’. In fact, in later NT writings there is a strong contrast between working for salvation vs. believing for salvation. (As we discussed when reading James, this is more like two sides of a coin than a contradiction.) I bring this up to remind us that ‘believing’ is an act of the will. It is something one can choose to do, and therefore it can be called a ‘work’.