Tag Archives: Following God’s Way

Getting in Sync with God

Living in the Spirit

October 25, 2022

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 1:10-18

Hear the word of the Lord,
   you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
   you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
   says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams
   and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
   or of lambs, or of goats.

Come now, let us argue it out,
   says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
   they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
   they shall become like wool. –Isaiah 1:10-11, 18

Have you noticed that the people who do not want anyone to tell them what to do in life are the same people who want to tell others what they can do? That seems to be what Isaiah is challenging. The people of his day brought all kinds of burnt offerings etc. to gain God’s blessings when God wants his followers to change their way of being. My Sunday School class just finished a study of the Ten Commandments. None of them mentioned burnt offerings or fatted calves. They talk about how we should love and respect God and treat one another.

It is in the depths of our studies and communion with God that we can discern the ways of God. Daily self-examination will help us find our way. One way to do that is to spend time discerning how we fair at following those Ten Commandments, reviewing the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, or Jesus’s outline of how he judges us found in Matthew 25:31-46. Look for common faults that need to be addressed. Target the issues that are out of sync with God’s teachings and seek God’s guidance regarding how to correct our behavior.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we choose to honor you in ways that do not bring you glory. 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.

Whom Shall God Send?

Living in the Spirit
May 22, 2018

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ –Isaiah 6:4-8

Unclean lip—there is a lot of that going around these days. I do not like living in a time when all language seems targeted at what the writer/speaker wants us to believe to strengthen the author’s views. We are used to the 30 second or 60 second sound bite that tightly controls content and never tells the whole story. It is very hard to write without introducing one’s own viewpoints but technical writing demands that. Clearly delineated opinion pieces allow for personal interpretations.

Having worked in public welfare for many years, I have no idea how many times I have had someone get in my face assuring me that hoards of undocumented aliens are receiving public assistance. When I tell them, there is a law against that I am assured I do not know what I am talking about. Even if I show them the law, they assure me it is not being enforced. It frightens me to hear candidates running for office with a platform of ending all the welfare going to “illegal Immigrants” because those candidates are so naïve about our system of laws or don’t care if it gets them elected*.

How is a prophet to be heard amidst the cacophony of people paid to shape our perceptions of reality? Isaiah faced that challenge as he worked to save Israel from its path of destruction. Followers of Christ called to share the good news of God’s through not only their words but their lives must trust God t touch our lives in such a way that we are compelled to speak God’s truth and more importantly lie God’s truth.

Prayer: Lord, touch not just my lips but my keyboard and my way of being so that they accurately reflect your way, your truth, and your life. Amen.

*For more information seehttp://econofact.org/do-undocumented-immigrants-overuse-government-benefits

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.