Sunday, October 12, 2008

LIFE COMES FAST


Exodus 32:1-33:23; Matthew 26:69-27:14; Psalm 33:1-11; Proverb 8:33-36

“The Lord told Moses, ‘Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.  How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live!  They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it.  They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

“Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, ‘You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.’  But Peter denied it in front of everyone. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said….  Peter swore, ‘A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!’  And immediately the rooster crowed.  Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”  And he went away, weeping bitterly.”

“Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates…. For whoever finds me finds life….
 But those who miss me injure themselves….”

“Life comes at you fast….”  Some of those Nationwide Insurance commercials were pretty funny – a couple of months ago.  Today, not so much.  Change has come with unthinkable speed.  Our foundations have been seriously eroded, and there is no one who has not been wounded.  Looking deeper, though, perhaps our foundations have not been so much eroded as they have been abandoned. 

After all, humanity has been shifting its allegiance in God for thousands of years, often on little more than a whim.  Our relationship with the Lord is frequently at its most precarious right after great blessing.  Then, we forget history.  We forget our need for Christ when we don’t feel it.  We have been consistently disappointed in the long term results of rejecting the Holy Spirit and the way the Bible calls us to live.  Yet, still, we are quick to turn away and slow to repent. 

As people of God in today’s world, we must reclaim and reprioritize what is truly important, and hang onto that steadfastly while the winds of change blow.  We are in the process of being freed – whether we like it or not – from the demon of conspicuous consumption. Now, we need to recapture the basics of simple contentment.  Complaining and worrying just don’t do any good.  Our great challenge, and our great opportunity, is to live within our means and rely more radically and consistently on the Father.  It’s tougher than it sounds.  It’s much easier to let go of stuff we never had than to give up what we do have or mourn what we did have.  Humans are not typically “backward compatible;” we do not necessarily adapt well to going “back to the future” or learn from earlier mistakes.  But there is one thing we would do well to remember from both Old and New Testaments, and the Psalms in between:

For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does.
 The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes.
 But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.

God knows exactly what’s going on.  He may have planned it.  Either way, though, we can sleep well knowing He has things under control even when we don’t.

No comments: