1-11-2023

Good Morning All,

       Amos 5:24; “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

    There was an ad on television that speaks of someone giving “2%”.  It spoke of a store that takes 2% off the price and calls it a sale.  The gist of the ad is you have to commit much more in order to make it matter.  Sometimes we do that as well.  We only contribute a little to the cause.

    We see it in our jobs.  We all know the guy who seems to do just enough to get by.  He seems to have a knack for working when the boss watches or when evaluations are done but the rest of the time, he is either “out” or doing something mindless.  We have teammates like that as well.  They never really work in practice; they really only seem to care about their own stats.  We deal with people like that all the time; slackers who don’t put in the effort.  The only thing worse is when we are the slacker.

     The really sad thing is that a lot of Christians seem to think they only need one type of relationship, the one that God has with them.  I hear many people who talk of “me and God” as all they worry about and all they need.  They think that they are a singular entity existing all alone.

     These people are missing out on a huge part of what it means to be a Christian.  Being a Christian is about fellowship, about being a brother or sister to your neighbor.  When we think we can live a sterile, selfish life we soon find we are wrong.  True Christianity is a very messy business.  It requires you to get involved in the lives of people around us.  That can be easy when we are all the same, but it can be tough when some of us are different. 

     Some of us may not have the wealth that others have.  Some of us may not be as smart, or good looking.  Perhaps, because of age or other health reasons we don’t walk as well or talk as well.  Maybe, because of poor choices we made earlier in life, we are left broken and damaged.  Sometimes, these are the people we tend to avoid.  We want to invite people to join our church but they have to be the right people.  We marginalize and reduce rather than build and edify.

     Yet God tells us that when we only go part way with our faith; that when we think we can turn our witness for Christ on and off; we are really missing the point of God’s grace.  God frees us from the bondage of sin and the slavery to the law.  He frees us to be what are meant to be: social creatures who care for each other.  It is sin that causes us to see differences when there aren’t any.  It is sin that causes us to look only to our own needs, to our own relationship with God.  God calls us to live together, sharing the joy and the sadness, the highs and the lows.  He calls us to see that the fellowship of all believers, indeed all people, is treated with the love and respect that God created us with.  This is why he calls us to see that justice occurs.  It is by our actions that our faith is best seen.  It is as a wise man once said,” preach the gospel every day, use words if you have to.”

 Dear Father, we often fail in our relationships with our brothers and sisters and we focus only on our own needs.  Forgive us when we look past or around those in need.   Lead us to see that the greatest value is in serving our brother and living in righteousness before you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret