November 28, 2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.27)

“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life as to what you will eat or drink; or about your body as to what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6.25)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I want to start today’s reflection with a word that was given to me during my own reflection time: Righteousness is learning to live an unbroken life in a broken world. It seems that there are many throughout the history of humanity who have been striving to grasp that “perfect” life. The descriptors for “perfection” include riches, power, wealth, beauty, real estate, resources that never end and more. In the Sermon on the Mount[ainside], Jesus set the standard of the perfection for which we are to strive: be perfect as your Father who is in Heaven is perfect. Well, easy enough for Jesus to say that because He was perfect: perfectly God and perfectly human. But, as we considered that challenge, it was not in the context of possessions or a flawless life. Rather, perfection was bound in the ability to live in peace because of the desire to be forgiving. Exuding such trust in the process of forgiveness even for God Himself created and creates the environment of perfection. What does God have to strive for? Is His existence dependent on anything? His wants and desires focus on that of those He is determined to call His own people. And for our benefit, His own people is not limited by race, creed, ethos, religion, finance or even gender. Most of all, His own people is not limited to those who are called Jews who are the offspring of the nation of Israel. They are most certainly included in His own people. By the very teaching of Jesus, they are considered first. They are not, by any stretch of the imagination called “only.”

And if we look at their legacy of life in faith and in practice, they are far from perfect. The image they project speaks more to the broken world than living an unbroken life. In truth, they spend more time attempting to fix the brokenness than espouse the wholeness. They even misinterpreted the “sacrifice” requirements as if they were “fix alls” separate from the ones needing to be fixed. In other words, they didn’t mind going through the actions but stayed distant from the anticipated effect. All of that gives us a better look at the “unclean” state of life reflected upon when it came to fasting and giving. By that I mean, separation of the gift from the giver. The emphasis of Jesus, Immanuel or God with us, is God’s way of bringing harmony and unity between the gift and the giver, the action and the actor, the word and the speaker. We might say, “It is easy to talk a good game but playing it out is a different story.” Or, “we know what to do but doing it is a whole different story.” Even the Apostle Paul wrestled with this when he wrote to the Christians of the Roman Empire, “The good I intend to do, I do not do. The wrong I do not intend to do, I do more often than naught.” (paraphrase of Romans 7.19) But, none of that means that we cannot strive toward the perfection extended as a challenge by Jesus.

Because we are aligned with Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, striving to live an unbroken life in a broken world changes our focus to define who and what we are by the Kingdom of God and not of the kingdom of humankind. Our existence far exceeds the things of this world as we accept our lives as “new creatures and new creations in Christ Jesus.” Our needs are said to be met by trusting in God’s promises and provisions. As our needs are met and His truth is opened to us in prayer, praise and posturing, our wants are also met. Knowing this, why should we even worry or have fear for the lack of anything? We have the means, the resources, the opportunities and the spirit of doing what God’s has made us to be and to do on earth as we will in Heaven. We are not intended to be conditionally connected to the things of this world. We are called to be in the world but not of it. We are called to project the things of the Kingdom of God in Heaven as being of utmost importance here on earth. Ultimately, we side with Jesus who declared, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” Does this mean we are to ignore this world? Not at all. There are many who do not know the truth as we can know it for ourselves. We are the messengers of hope, faith, truth and love to a world that is hungering and thirsting for righteousness: to live unbroken lives in a broken world.

PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.