Living in the Spirit
July 30, 2020
Scripture Reading:
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his compassion is over all that he has made.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand,
satisfying the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is just in all his ways,
and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfils the desire of all who fear him;
he also hears their cry, and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and all flesh will bless his holy name for ever and ever.
If I counted right the word, “all” appears 13 times in the above scripture. Do you think the Psalmist is trying to tell us something? Perhaps he or she is trying to tell us something that we have been missing. People have a long history of trying to sort out who is better and who is not. Misogyny appeared shortly after Adam and Eve walked out of the Garden of Eden. The Bible is full of stories of tribalism. Racism sprang to life as a thing around the 17th century. Persons with disabilities or differences in appearance have always been treated differently. Jacob’s first, and undesired wife, is described as having something amiss with her eyes. The meaning of the word describing her eyes has apparently been lost, but it is translated in many ways to avoid saying not as attractive as her sister Rachel’s.
Why is it that we cannot accept God at God’s word? God indeed sees us as individuals, each with his or her worth that can never be measured against anyone else’s worth. And here we are as a people who seem to need to create hierarchies of quality based on our own worldly values, not God’s. We are a long way from the Kingdom of God, Jesus envisioned.
We do not need to stay here. God created each of us in God’s image and, therefore, we are all capable of loving all without bias and bigotry. It starts with us accepting the worth God instilled in each of us and seeking that image in all others.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we do not see your gift of worth is all we need and all anyone needs. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.