Friday - March 18

Daily Readings for Friday, March 18, 2011

• Morning Psalms 22; 148
• First Reading Deuteronomy 10:12-22
• Second Reading Hebrews 4:11-16
• Gospel John 3:22-36
• Evening Psalms 105; 130

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Deuteronomy 10:12-22

¹²So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. ¹⁴Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth with all that is in it, ¹⁵yet the LORD set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. ¹⁶Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. ¹⁷For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, ¹⁸who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing. ¹⁹You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰You shall fear the LORD your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. ²¹He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. ²²Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.

Today the Deuteronomy passage jumped out at me and I wanted to include the whole thing. It begins with a simple question - what does the Lord require of you? The question is asked to the entire people of Israel (remember - the small but mighty nation of God's chosing), but it is also a question that we should ask ourselves individually. What does God require of me? It strikes me that the answer begins with "only." This is the only thing(s) that God requires of you. Only to fear God (that's a good starting place). Only to walk in all his ways (notice the all - not some of God's ways; all of God's ways), to serve God with (again) all your heart and soul (not part of your heart or part of your soul - this means we can't have divided loyalties. You can't serve God and mammon; you can't serve God and "busyness;" you can't serve God and (fill in the blank). And (we're almost to the end of the list of things that God requires) to keep the commandments that God gives, for your well-being. (I like the idea that God has our best interests in mind when God gives the commandments. Serving God, as God's chosen people, is for our well-being, Deuternomically speaking). That's it - those are the only things that God requires of the chosen people of Israel, and by extension, you and me.

So, how are you doing?

It's really an impossible list of things to do at all times. I'm enough of a Calvinist to truly believe that there is within us a tendancy to disobey, to fall short, to turn away, and to sin. In my recent sermon, reflecting on the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by Satan, I tried to say that I don't think there is this personification of evil (wearing red with a pointy beard, horns, and a pitchfork). I think there is enough evil (fallen and brokenness) within our hearts that I don't need an projected entity to account for the bad choices I witness and experience in the world. I know my own heart (and desires) well enough to know that I sometimes willingly live in such a way that falls well short of God's glory and desire for my life.

But there in this passage are some clues as to how to attempt to live out God's requirements. I find them in the things that God claims to value and lift up. The care of the widow and orphans (those without a voice in our world) and the love of the stranger (or the other) because the people of Israel were once strangers - these are things that God values. And I believe that we honor God (praise God, love God) when we also remember to give voice to the voiceless, to advocate for those who have no power, and love and welcome the stranger.

Dear God- Thank you for the beauty of this day. Thank you for your call and claim on my life. Thank you for reminding me that your grace and love are real and certain. Thank you also for reminding me that I have a responsiblity to live my life as a greatful response to you. I ask for your grace and forgiveness when I fall short of your intention for my life and I thank you for new chances to again care for those in need and welcome those I encounter. Help me to always live as your humble servant. Amen.

John C