February 20, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Listen to Me, My people. Listen to Me, My nation: Instruction will go out from Me. My justice will become a light to the nations.” (Isaiah 51.4)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“MY justice will become a light to the nations.” I figure we should be warned. Cries for justice have been ringing out a great deal in the last decade. Without question, we have become a people asked to become familiar and almost friendly with injustice. We don’t want to be treated unfairly, but have we turned a blind eye to the unfair treatment of others? Is awareness of such treatment justice? Awareness is not justice but knowledge. True justice falls into the category of wisdom. Wisdom is the proper, appropriate and higher purpose response to knowledge; putting knowledge into action that glorifies God and serves others in love. Are we a wise people? Call to mind the instruction given in the book of Hosea (6.8), “He has shown you, mortal man and woman, what is good. And what does this good the Lord require of you look like but to act with justice, to love mercifully and to walk humbly with your God.” This, to me, would seem to be a fitting and apt description of authentic wisdom. The words from Hosea “bring to light” the nature and character of those who are truly wise. I am speaking of the kind of kingdom wisdom to which we are called as disciples of Christ and those who have the proper fear of the Lord. Is there another wisdom?

There is worldly wisdom. There is a wisdom which takes the knowledge at hand and puts it into action for the good of others. It demonstrates an insight into the “word” that is experienced and an application that speaks of more than a knowledge of the word. Have we been moved by a poem, a quote or a teaching? Have we been inspired to respond in some way beyond ourselves? Have we been challenged in a situation to consider the pros and cons, right and wrongs, and decide to do the right thing which is probably the hard thing regardless? That is a demonstration of wisdom. Yet if it does not reach out to others and up to God is it authentic wisdom or Kingdom wisdom? I remember a phrase used in my formative years which espoused “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.” That separation of “Church and state” brings devastation to the integrity and stability of a nation. Our “Christianity,” life lived wisely according to our knowledge of the Word of God revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ, cannot be a “spiritual head trip.” Jesus demonstrated that when He brought Peter, James and John “back to earth,” so to speak, after He was transfigured before them with Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor. Peter convinced James and John that they should stay in the midst of that mountaintop experience. They so believed it, especially Peter, that it was suggested to Jesus. In that moment, the “glory” of the Lord diminished as if the light had been dimmed which in the moment before so powerfully shined. They had missed the wisdom of the moment given to them. They were “so heavenly minded” that they nearly moved into the realm of being “no earthly good.” They were about to forsake justice, mercy and humility all for the desire to bask in the glory of God. Think of what the shepherds who kept watch over their flocks in the field by night would have missed if they hadn’t “gone and seen” what the Angel of the Lord revealed and what the chorus of angels declared. They acted in wisdom to pursue the One who had been born to them that day. Because of their appropriate response, the gospel of Jesus Christ was “born.” It was in the sharing of the “good news of a great joy” which affirmed and confirmed for Mary and Joseph the very purpose for which they had been chosen to assist God in bringing Jesus in the world as “the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.” They did not abide in their worldly condition. They chose to be a part of the Kingdom of God on earth as it was in Heaven. So it was for Peter, James, John and Jesus as they came down the mountain to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly” before God and all people. The light of glory on the mountaintop became the light of truth back on planet Earth.

Mighty ones, this is the call which is placed upon us. We do not abide simply by knowledge and wisdom gained from and in the world. We are given the instruction and justice of God. Jesus was the incarnation of that instruction (the Word) and that justice (the Light, righteous understanding). What was highlighted by Jesus is our true meaning, purpose and person. He came to show us “the way, the truth and the life” which we are called to on earth that will deliver us to Heaven. In God’s wisdom we become so earthly good, as Jesus was, that we share in the heavenly-mindedness of Christ which glorifies God and brings the gospel to life. This kind of wisdom bears witness to the faith we have in God and the faith God has in us. It moves mountains and calms seas. It restores sight to the blind and causes the lamb to walk. When John the Baptizer send word out to Jesus asking “Are You the One or should be expect another?” it was to move the gospel forward. It wasn’t about doubting himself and his sacrifice nor questions the validity of Jesus’ ministry. It was John become less so that Jesus would be seen as the more. This is our mission, too, and how we can be that light which is sent to the nations so they may see the truth of God’s love and perfect desire for us all.

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

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free from death. So may we live by the name of Jesus our Christ. AMEN.