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Thursday
Malachi 2:1-10
1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to
give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even
send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea,
I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your
faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take
you away with it.
4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you,
that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them
to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before
my name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found
in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn
many away from iniquity.
7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should
seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD
of hosts.
8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to
stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith
the LORD of hosts.
9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before
all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have
been partial in the law.
10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why
do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning
the covenant of our fathers?
1st Lesson Questions -
Malachi 2:1-10 Have I, like Levi, turned many away from iniquity? (V. 6) Are my own lips free from iniquity? (V. 6) Do I cultivate a healthy “fear” (i.e., deep reverence and respect) for God’s majesty (V. 5), or is my God “too small,” as J.B. Phillips has written? RESOLVE.
Second Lesson
1 Peter 2:11-17
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain
from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that,
whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your
good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of
visitation.
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's
sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put
to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness,
but as the servants of God.
17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the
king.
2nd Lesson Questions -
1 Peter 2:11-17 Do I live in such a manner that unbelievers (“Gentiles” in verse 12) are compelled to “glorify God”? What specific conduct on my part would bring about such a result? RESOLVE.