January 13, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike? They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.” (Isaiah 46.5-6)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Here is the danger: believing there is another way. In the desire of Israel to be included by the world, they surrendered the singularity of their identity as a people. They compromised their faith in “one God” so that everyone would just let them alone. You think they didn’t? Their calling by God was to be unique. God’s desire was for the people of the world to know life with God. God knew because He had seen what the future would hold if the life of righteousness was not chosen. You see, a forced life of righteousness is not righteousness at all. A forced life of anything is not a life at all; at least not a life worth thinking about. Jesus said, “What does a man gain if he gains the entire world but forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16.26; Mark 8.36) We see the elements and consequences of that rebellion alive and well, if you can call it a life, in today’s world. Consider the great tragedies citizens of this nation have experienced in last several months. A volatile tropical storm, Helene, brings such a volume of rain from its gulf life into the Appalachian populations of North Carolina and Tennessee at the same time a cold front from the north with the southwesterly winds racing across the front of it drags more Gulf moisture with it. The result was catastrophic flooding, loss of life and property and grief. It also brought out the truth of a community spirit with the hope of recovery. It also brought out the deficiencies of leadership parceling sparse resources because of overspending and overprioritizing of those same resources to foreign nations. I dare say, it is that kind of mentality which Jesus addressed when He gave His “great” command: “Love one another.” Jesus was speaking to the reality of doing evangelism with such fervor that forgetting to keep the home fires burning as well as keeping the widow and orphan feed and protected was too easy.

Speaking of fires, are we not seeing a similar but different scenario in the greater Los Angeles area of California. Regardless of the causes of the fires, natural or human and tragically a combination of both, the results are equally catastrophic. Entire neighborhoods and communities have been burned to the ground. Fingers too easily pointed at struggling and insufficient fire department resources blame instead of claim everyone’s responsibility for the ongoing tragedy. In the desire to live in “sunny California,” the cost of living is ignored or excused. The cost of life is devalued as property values are on the rise. But the tragedy which ought to speak the loudest is ignoring the fact of personal responsibility. What was really being ignored? The vast extent of damage which could happen if the circumstances would change just a bit. What circumstances? Listening to one news report we could hear a fire chief speak of how normal it was for brush fires to run up the mountain and away from population centers. This wasn’t the normal situation because the drought had gone too long. The normal season for such fires did not usually come in the season of Santa Anna winds. He called them “devil winds.” They race down the mountain with hurricane intensity except they bring no rain. Those winds captured the embers of three fires virtually at the same time in three distinct areas and now have become eight. It was and is a “perfect storm.” The tragedy is “nobody considered the cost.”

It, tragedy, will happen to someone else. It will not happen to me. We can easily see the mote in someone else’s eye and the reasons why their lives are so easily splintered. What we have a more difficult time is seeing the piece of firewood in our own eye that is on fire for the very same reasons. What was the balance point of the corollary to the “first and greatest commandment”? Ah, yes, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Sadly, that is exactly what has happened. The lack of love for self which is balanced by the love we should have for the “greatest Other,” who is God alone, is what has been given to others. We lose sight of the proper perspective and in its wake individual lives and entire communities are lost “down the river” or “up in smoke.” Circle back to the desire of “I will let you have what you want if you will let me have what I want.” Another way of saying it, and it is being said, “I will let you do what you want to do if you let me do what I want to do.” Or let’s go further, “I will be what I want to be and I will let you be what you want to be.” In every situation what is not truly considered is “the cost.” Now hear the teaching of Jesus again, “What does a person truly gain by becoming so worldly minded they are no heavenly good?” What? Jesus never said that? Okay, not in those words but we already heard what He said specifically without considering the cost of ignoring His teaching. He said, “What does it profit a person to gain the entire world but forfeit his/her soul?” Isn’t this really the heart of the matter?

It was the heart of the matter in the days of Isaiah as God was speaking to those who had been called to be “His people.” “His People” was not meant to be the exclusive community of “us against the world.” Rather, it was the sanctified community to become a light to the world as the salt of the earth for the “soul” purpose of bringing good news to all the people. Let’s take Paul’s word to the Romans who were Christ followers as a descriptor of “His People,” shall we. Romans 12.1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” That “true and proper worship” is an inclusive term indicating “service to God and to one another.” It wasn’t just about going to Church, Temple or home fellowship. It was about “loving one another as God has so loved us.” Our thoughts and actions should exude thanksgiving at all times with life focused on the prime directive and ultimate reality. What is that? The answer is simple: authentic living. If it isn’t living authentically, it is dying. There is no adverb or adjective to attach to death. Death in any form is simply that death, the cessation of life. It may be as a sacrifice for the sake of others, natural causes or as a victim of a crime but it is still death. Death is the cessation of life. We are not to be about death. We are to be about life. We are not meant to be about “our” life only but the lives of others. If that is the priority of everyone with a vested interest in that “good” life, then the consequences of value are greatly increased. Of course, what is “good”? Jesus said, “There is none good but the Father.” (Matthew 19.17) God becomes the authentic definition of who we are and what life we are to live. We are intended to be “His People.” Not just some of us but all of us. The tragedy is that not all of us will because life is a choice and the choice of doing wrong is as real as doing right. This is especially true if we stay short-sighted and ignore the long-term and eternal consequences. For Isaiah’s “Israel,” the debate was survival by trusting in God alone (a challenge of faith and faithfulness) or doing what is right for me in the moment (a challenge of faithlessness.) Do you see it? The singularity of thought: authentic life and living by faith and faithfulness or death by faithlessness. In order to simplify things for self, the choice is to actually complicate the matter. God said to Isaiah to ask of the people: “Who or what can compare to Me?” He was speaking to “His People.” He wasn’t concerned in the moment about the universality of mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption and salvation. He was concerned for “His People.” He had invested His heart, mind and spirit into those who had become the nation and people of Israel. He was jealous for them. He loved them. He would even die for them if need be because that is the greatest expression of authentic love. But “His People” were busy seeking their own god who would allow them to be whatever they desired just like everyone else. They simplified their worldview by complicating the outcome. What can be more complicated than eternal death?

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.