Today’s Readings: Psalm 50; Hosea 12:2-9; Matthew 23:23-28; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-7; Psalm 49
Lots of times words or phrases are used in the Bible that are very abstract – so abstract, in fact, that they are difficult to wrap your mind around. That’s why I try to take advantage of every opportunity to take those abstract concepts and flesh them out in very concrete ways by tying them to real-life circumstances. Take the phrase that Paul uses in today’s reading from 1 Thessalonians – “sons and daughters of the Light”. What do those words really mean? Well, Paul tried to flesh the phrase out a bit when he describes sons and daughters of the Light as those who “live under wide open skies and know where [they] stand” (1 Thessalonians 5:4 from The Message). That still doesn’t bring total clarity to my mind, however. What did bring some clarity to my mind regarding this concept was the recent experience I had journeying with a family whose husband/father spent the last two weeks in Hospice. The individual passed away last night just before midnight. During that sacred journey, the family taught me what it meant to live under wide open skies and to know where they stood. That’s because the family had developed deep and loving relationships with one another that left literally nothing unsaid. In the critical moments before their husband/father’s transition, the family stood beside one another with a complete sense of integrity as they loved one another not for who they wanted the other to be, but for who the other really was. Talk about living uder open skies and knowing where you stand! That concrete, tangible experience helped me experience the sacred words from today’s text on a much deeper level. The next time you run across words or phrases in Scripture whose ambiguity causes you some confusion, take those words and put them into the context of your life and see if their application to a everyday life circumstance might help bring further clarity into your mind and spirit. Til next time…
Lots of times words or phrases are used in the Bible that are very abstract – so abstract, in fact, that they are difficult to wrap your mind around. That’s why I try to take advantage of every opportunity to take those abstract concepts and flesh them out in very concrete ways by tying them to real-life circumstances. Take the phrase that Paul uses in today’s reading from 1 Thessalonians – “sons and daughters of the Light”. What do those words really mean? Well, Paul tried to flesh the phrase out a bit when he describes sons and daughters of the Light as those who “live under wide open skies and know where [they] stand” (1 Thessalonians 5:4 from The Message). That still doesn’t bring total clarity to my mind, however. What did bring some clarity to my mind regarding this concept was the recent experience I had journeying with a family whose husband/father spent the last two weeks in Hospice. The individual passed away last night just before midnight. During that sacred journey, the family taught me what it meant to live under wide open skies and to know where they stood. That’s because the family had developed deep and loving relationships with one another that left literally nothing unsaid. In the critical moments before their husband/father’s transition, the family stood beside one another with a complete sense of integrity as they loved one another not for who they wanted the other to be, but for who the other really was. Talk about living uder open skies and knowing where you stand! That concrete, tangible experience helped me experience the sacred words from today’s text on a much deeper level. The next time you run across words or phrases in Scripture whose ambiguity causes you some confusion, take those words and put them into the context of your life and see if their application to a everyday life circumstance might help bring further clarity into your mind and spirit. Til next time…
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