Today I have reached my 67th birthday. It is a palindromic date 22/2/22 or 22/02/2022.

This time last year I celebrated my State Pension at 66 years.

My older brother never reached 67 years old so, after following behind him all his life, in this one respect I have overtaken him. I wondered how to mark this milestone for my readers. My New Year blogpost gave an introduction to biblical exegesis, a much needed skill in our day, but not many people will take the time to study the Bible, although the Gospel of Mark would fit on to one newspaper page and can be read in a short period of time. The benefits of daily Bible reading have been documented. So I decided to mark today by linking you to my summary of the Bible.

My summary of the Old Testament

I have finally completed my lengthy summary of the Old Testament. Whereas I summarised the New Testament in one sitting on one day, I didn’t find the time to do the same for the Old Testament, which is about three times as long as the New Testament. Many people ignore the Old Testament, so here is your opportunity to become at least familiar with its main outline.

The whole of the Gospel of Mark could be printed on one page of a newspaper, so that there is little excuse for people not knowing the basics of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My having summarised the Old and New Testaments in two blogposts, you can now familiarise yourself with the whole Bible in a few short sittings.

Bible exegesis

Reading a summary is one thing, but reading the Bible itself is better.

Tuesday’s Child is full of grace

I was born on a Tuesday, and today is also Tuesday, reminding me of a childhood poem:

“Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace. Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go. Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living. But the child that is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.”

Nursery rhyme

I give no credence to such superstition, but it is an opportunity to draw the attention of my readers to God’s grace. The godly can say: “By the grace of God, I am what I am” 1Cor 15:10. I was born on 22 February 1955 and I was born again Jn 3:3,5–7 on 14 October 1973, aged 18 years old.

Divine grace is the undeserved favour of God to sinners. Some people think that they deserve to go to heaven because they have not harmed anyone. If you deserve it, it is not grace. If you deserve it, it is wages. The Bible says of wages:

“The wages due to sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 6:23.

You want divine grace, not your just deserts. This is freely available in Jesus Christ.

“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” 2Cor 9:15, for “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” Rom 6:23.

The apostle Paul’s epistles in the New Testament

Every blessing to my readers.

Update

22/2/2022: Russian President Vladimir Putin has ‘chosen’ my birthday 22/2/22 to move Russian troops into the Donbas just as the markets chose my birthday two years ago 22/02/20 to begin their global crash when they realised the 2020-2021 coronavirus pandemic was on its way. Those who know my interest in mnemonics will understand my using today’s palindromic date as a reminder not only of these global events but also of my moving from 66-67 years old. Further, I associate 67 with Ps 67 which begins with a global agenda and a call to the nations to praise the God of Israel:

1 Lord, bless and pity us,
shine on us with Thy face:
2 That th’ earth Thy way, and nations all
may know Thy saving grace.
3 Let people praise Thee, Lord;
let people all Thee praise.
4 O let the nations be glad,
in songs their voices raise:

Scottish Metrical Psalm 67

22 Feb 2022: not to be outdone by Russia’s strong-arm tactics, Canada’s Justin Trudeau has extended his emergency powers.

22 Feb 2022: I came across this gem at 23:13 hours today.