A faithful community?

 Israel began as God's chosen people.  They were given the great blessing of His Word and His care.  The Messiah was born among the people of Israel.  But were they a faithful community?  In Exodus, we are told about great worship experiences and also grumbling and idolatry.  In Judges, the cycle of sin, crying out to God, deliverance, then brief periods of obedience happens over and over for the nation.  God does something amazing and they worship and "get it together" to follow Him obediently.  But then, life happens and they get apathetic.  They don't teach their children to worship.  And they fall into sin.  

 What about us?  Are we a faithful community?  Or do we just have great worship experiences on Sundays and then live the rest of the week our own way?  It's easy to see Israel's problem, but it's a lot like their speck and our plank (Matthew 7:4-5).  Faithfulness is an always thing.  And it is easy to get complacent.  Daily life is so . . . daily.  But we must always remember our first love (Revelation 2:4).   We cannot possibly be faithful without Jesus.  His Holy Spirit is what keeps us faithful.  That is why relationship is so much more important than religion.  Religion leads to Sunday morning experiences and living your own way the rest of the week.  Relationship lead to every day faithfulness.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I am not . . .

OK, it has been a while since I blogged, but today I am feeling a little inspired. I am struggling mightily, again. Guilt. All the mistakes of the past. All the mistakes of the present. Guilt. I was listening to some music this morning, trying to focus on praise, when a song came on talking about how much I was forgiven. And grace washed over me, again. I am forgiven. Right there in the laundry room, while folding to mountains of clothes, I said it, out loud - "Go away, Satan, and take your guilt with you! I am forgiven, and that is all there is to it!" Peace. Followed quickly by my usual need to find a friend of my childhood. I do some googling, again. Maybe success this time, maybe not. But why do I have this terrible need to keep looking to people of my past? What am I clinging to? What am I running from? This week is a restful break. Don't get me wrong, there is still work to do. But instead of having school, we are just going to do some cleaning and relax a little. Y
Read more

Crushed, but not broken

Anyone who really knows me (the few there are), knows that I love children's literature. One thing I love about really good, usually older, children's books is the parallels that God reveals about Himself to me through these timeless treasures. The more I study God's Word and commmune with His heart, the more I see these. Here is my most recent discovery: The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams is a great example. Hebrews 5:8 says "Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered." As I pondered this truth, and the truth that our own suffering is for our good and His glory, I was a little confused. Why do we have to suffer and what does that really mean? Then I read this book, and the Spirit spoke clarification to my heart. In this book, a young boy receives a stuffed rabbit for Christmas. The rabbit is beautiful and nice, however, not played with at first. Then, as the boy loves the rabbit, it becomes shabby and suffers because of its missha
Read more

Psalm 127

  127   (Biblical text in italics) This is a “wisdom psalm” written by King Solomon.   The ESV Study Bible gives a few helpful themes: “without the Lord’s blessing, human toil is worthless” and “diligence is neither greed nor restless anxiety.” 1 Unless Yahweh builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless Yahweh watches the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. When we try to do things ourselves, be it control things about our home or protect those we love, we end up failing.  We must trust the Lord to do all these things and be about the business of obediently following Him, no matter what He asks us to do.  We must work in faith, trusting God with the outcome of our labors. 2 It is in vain that you rise up early, That you sit out late, O you who eat the bread of painful labors; For in this manner, He gives sleep to His beloved. The Lord doesn’t want us to be focused strictly on busyness and “getting ahead” or even on protection of those around us.  He give
Read more