Living in the Spirit
August 31, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it. –Psalm 139:1-6

What we don’t seem to recognize is that these words apply to every human. They are beautiful words describing a loving parent or perhaps teacher. I was at a public school recently when an in-control but very concerned pre-school teacher, darted into the hallway calling out a child’s name. It was most likely that child’s first week of school, ever. He had escaped his classroom. She found him under the stairway and gently guided him back to his room. It is hard to fathom perfect love, and it seems harder still to recognize that it is readily available to all.

We live in a world where people fear their own shadows. We build walls and put up fences and gates to protect from those we do not take the time to know or understand. We do not analyze our actions that create the reason for our fear. When we treat others as commodities for our prosperity, they resist. We justify our greed by classifying and categorizing others as less than our level of humanity. Instead of acknowledging that when all do well, all thrive.

There has been a recent competition in our political arena regarding who is the worst bigot. Truth indicates that we are all bigots at heart. We somehow feel more whole when we can identify someone as less whole than we. Such thinking has the opposite impact and in our hearts, we know that. Perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18)

Prayer: Lord, we claim Psalm 139 as an outline of your love for each of us. Empower us to recognize it is available to all. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.