Kingdom Building
October 14, 2019
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 31:27-34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say:
‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. –Jeremiah 31:27-31
Jeremiah reports here that God will do a new thing, a different thing. Deuteronomy 5:9: states You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me,
I see funny stories on social media about people seeing their parents in their actions as they age. For better and sometimes for worse, we are our parent’s children. What we sometimes forget is that we are unique individuals too. We are shaped by genetics, history, the environment and our cultural. Ultimately we are responsible for our successes and failures by accepting who we are and becoming all that we can be. I read once somewhere I cannot tell you where that Pete Rose was not the most talented baseball player. He holds the major league records for games (3562), at bats (14053), hits (4256), and singles (3215). He also has the most RBI of any player without a season of 100 or more (1314, with a career-high of 82 in 1969)*. I guess he just loved baseball and gave it all he had.
God created each of us in God’s image and loves us enough to provide us guidance through the life of Jesus particularly on how to live among others, gifted us with grace through the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, and provides the Holy Spirit to be our constant link to God. Maintaining these relationships is paramount to our fulfilling our covenant with God our Creator as we take full responsibility for our actions and decision, whether we sin or not. We suffer the consequences of our behavior, good or bad, sour grapes and all.
Prayer: Creator God, show us the way to find ourselves in our relationship with you for we know that all you created is by nature good. Help us develop our goodness. Amen.
*https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Pete_Rose#targetText=He%20holds%20the%20major%20league,high%20of%2082%20in%201969).
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.