Devotional Rewind for Friday and Saturday

Friday

VOTD
(Proverbs 15:16)
Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it. (Pro 15:16 ESV)
Trouble is trouble. Why do we seek out that which will bring us trouble? Our first order of business should be to seek what the Father wants for us, then act accordingly.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalm 26, Mark 9:2-32, Exodus 39-40)
Psalms – How amazing it must be to, like this psalm, plead with Yahweh to judge your heart and actions. I try my best to live a set apart life, but I know myself, and I am so thankful for the grace given me by the sacrifice of Jesus.
Mark – Jesus lived his life in prayer in fasting, and was always ready for any turn of events. What can we do to be more like this?
Exodus – When we read all of the technical stuff about the tabernacle, we should keep in mind that our bodies are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. We need to make sure that we take just as seriously how holy we should be living. Are we consecrated like the tabernacle? Or do we let unclean things into the temple of Yahweh? And then, be thankful for the grace given because in the time of Moses, people would’ve been struck dead for such violation. And then, strive to be more of a true temple.

Saturday

VOTD
(Proverbs 20:7)
The righteous who walks in his integrity-- blessed are his children after him! (Pro 20:7 ESV)
I, at this point, don’t have any children. But I don’t think that’s the point. This is a concept the Christians can find all throughout the New Testament, as well. Follow our Lord and be an example of Him to the world.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalm 27:1-6, Mark 9:33- 10:12, Leviticus 1-3)
Psalm – Every beat and meter of this psalm is all about lifting up Yahweh, and in effect Yahweh lifting us up. Why is it so difficult to have my every thought be about God. I know we’re in a fallen world, but when do I get to move past that excuse? This is so beautiful. This is what I want.
Mark – “If anyone wants to be first, he will be last of all and servant of all.” We lead by example, and we don’t ask anyone to do that which we won’t/haven’t done ourselves.
Leviticus – This is considered by many (me among them most of the time) to be the most boring book in the Bible. But, if you’re willing to look there’s so much in here. There are all of these rules but the question is why are there all of these rules. And what do they symbolize. And, I think, modern Christianity has done a disservice to the book of Leviticus. Since we’re taught that we are no longer to observe Torah, we see this book of laws that we don’t have to follow anymore and we think, “well, really, what’s the point of reading this book?” 

When We're Buying Things, We Should Probably Be Buying Things

So, this is some very not good news.  If you look at the graph above you'll see some similarities and some drastic differences. The green line is representative of the stock market, and what stocks are being bought and sold. The red line is representative of what actual products are being bought and sold. The red line is what is known as the Commodities market.

The Commodities market tracks the buying and selling of actual things. It tracks how many physical things are actually bought and sold. It tracks the movement of products. Physical products. Not just pieces of paper.

So what does NASDAQ track? Well, that's complicated, but I guess it tracks the buying and selling of pieces of paper which acknowledge parts of (small) ownership in a company. But, it doesn't actually track the buying and selling of t-shirts, or books, or beach towels, or anything that you can use for anything other than your hopeful retirement account. I acknowledge that this is a bit of an oversimplification, but I think the definition still works for the purpose of this writing.

If you look at the graph, you'll see that there is a time around 1997 where the NASDAQ and the Commodities markets separate. If we think back to what was happening at this time then I think we'll remember that this was what they called the .com bubble. And then it corrected itself around 2001. The stocks and the commodities rise and fall together for a little while until 2008 when there was a collapse, but the FED also started printing monopoly money and forcing it out into the economy. You can see that the commodities - though at a slightly lower level - tried to keep up with the FED's quantitative easing, but eventually, reality kicked in and commodities started going back down to earth. But not the NASDAQ. People kept right on buying intangible products with fake money without care.

What does this mean for you and for me? I'm not going to predict doom and gloom (even though I'm rather tempted to), but I myself am going to exercise caution in the coming months and years when it comes to larger purchases of things which I don't necessarily need. If history is any indication, the discrepancy between these 2 markets will correct themselves eventually. I don't want to advertise fear, but I think that caution would be advisable. Even if the two markets meet in the middle, the large drop for the market will be a huge readjustment and will definitely be noticeable.

Sorry to ruin your day.

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Mat 6:24-25 ESV)