Today’s Readings: Psalm 80; Hosea 10:1-12; Matthew 17:9-13; Acts 19:1-17; Psalm 36
It’s certainly understandable that many of us find ourselves in situations where we want to take shortcuts in life. When it comes to Christmas, for instance, it’s easy for us to think that we can capture the Christmas spirit if we simply watch a favorite Christmas movie on television, bake holiday goodies to share with loved ones, or attend a social gathering with family, friends, or co-workers. On the surface, these are all activities that people engulfed in the Christmas spirit might partake in. Here’s the difference, however. Folks who have the Christmas spirit do these things because they already have the Christmas spirit within them; they don’t do these things in order to get the Christmas spirit. In today’s reading from Acts, we are introduced to another group of people who got things a bit mixed up as well. In that passage we met a group of itinerant exorcists who were enthralled with the miraculous things that Paul could accomplish. Instead of taking the time to build a relationship with the One who could empower them to do those miraculous things, they tried to take a short cut and do those things without first building the relationship with God. Needless to say, things didn’t turn out so well for them. While it’s easy to sit back and criticize the exorcists for their approach, it’s not uncommon to run into modern day versions of these folks. These folks want to bypass - or completely ignore – God in their day-to-day life; then life throws them a curveball (i.e. they face a sudden illness or a period of unemployment); and they expect a magical fix to solve their problems at hand. During this season of Advent when we are blessed with the opportunity to slow down and contemplate the conditions of our heart in anticipation of the coming of the Christ child, my prayer is that we will use this time to continue to build a healthy, vital relationship with the God of Jesus – not a “relationship” dependent on what rabbit God can pull out of the hat for us. Til next time…
It’s certainly understandable that many of us find ourselves in situations where we want to take shortcuts in life. When it comes to Christmas, for instance, it’s easy for us to think that we can capture the Christmas spirit if we simply watch a favorite Christmas movie on television, bake holiday goodies to share with loved ones, or attend a social gathering with family, friends, or co-workers. On the surface, these are all activities that people engulfed in the Christmas spirit might partake in. Here’s the difference, however. Folks who have the Christmas spirit do these things because they already have the Christmas spirit within them; they don’t do these things in order to get the Christmas spirit. In today’s reading from Acts, we are introduced to another group of people who got things a bit mixed up as well. In that passage we met a group of itinerant exorcists who were enthralled with the miraculous things that Paul could accomplish. Instead of taking the time to build a relationship with the One who could empower them to do those miraculous things, they tried to take a short cut and do those things without first building the relationship with God. Needless to say, things didn’t turn out so well for them. While it’s easy to sit back and criticize the exorcists for their approach, it’s not uncommon to run into modern day versions of these folks. These folks want to bypass - or completely ignore – God in their day-to-day life; then life throws them a curveball (i.e. they face a sudden illness or a period of unemployment); and they expect a magical fix to solve their problems at hand. During this season of Advent when we are blessed with the opportunity to slow down and contemplate the conditions of our heart in anticipation of the coming of the Christ child, my prayer is that we will use this time to continue to build a healthy, vital relationship with the God of Jesus – not a “relationship” dependent on what rabbit God can pull out of the hat for us. Til next time…
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