Today’s Readings: Psalm 41; Exodus 19:1-16; Luke 16:19-31; Romans 15:1-6; Psalm 119:73-96
Today’s reading from Luke is one that makes many of us VERY uncomfortable. I suppose that’s because it seems so unlike the God whom we know to be full of unconditional love and grace. The more I sit with the passage, however, the more I realize that perhaps the teaching was meant to say more about our nature than it does about God’s. Let me tell you what I mean by that. One of the biggest challenges spiritual leaders face these days is the extremely low priority people give to God in their lives: that is until something serious happens. As soon as people face a difficult circumstance (a circumstance such as a divorce, an illness, a death) suddenly God jumps to the top of the list. Nothing wrong with that! For awhile, in fact, God remains at the top of their list. Then time passes and the pain heals. Guess what happens to God? Once again God drops toward the bottom of their list. This reality suggests that faith born primarily out of a situation or circumstance is often very shallow. Maybe that’s why - when the deceased rich man asked if he could go back and warn his brothers - his request was refused. The sad reality is that in the long run it probably wouldn’t have mattered much in the lives of the deceased rich man’s brothers. So where are you at with your faith? Are you on a roller coaster of sorts where you turn to God in the midst of crises and form an intimate bond, only to ignore God when things get better; or do you stay connected with God on a regular basis – through both bad AND good? Hopefully we can use this disturbing and challenging teaching from Jesus to move us toward a more sustained relationship with God. Til next time…
Today’s reading from Luke is one that makes many of us VERY uncomfortable. I suppose that’s because it seems so unlike the God whom we know to be full of unconditional love and grace. The more I sit with the passage, however, the more I realize that perhaps the teaching was meant to say more about our nature than it does about God’s. Let me tell you what I mean by that. One of the biggest challenges spiritual leaders face these days is the extremely low priority people give to God in their lives: that is until something serious happens. As soon as people face a difficult circumstance (a circumstance such as a divorce, an illness, a death) suddenly God jumps to the top of the list. Nothing wrong with that! For awhile, in fact, God remains at the top of their list. Then time passes and the pain heals. Guess what happens to God? Once again God drops toward the bottom of their list. This reality suggests that faith born primarily out of a situation or circumstance is often very shallow. Maybe that’s why - when the deceased rich man asked if he could go back and warn his brothers - his request was refused. The sad reality is that in the long run it probably wouldn’t have mattered much in the lives of the deceased rich man’s brothers. So where are you at with your faith? Are you on a roller coaster of sorts where you turn to God in the midst of crises and form an intimate bond, only to ignore God when things get better; or do you stay connected with God on a regular basis – through both bad AND good? Hopefully we can use this disturbing and challenging teaching from Jesus to move us toward a more sustained relationship with God. Til next time…
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