Good Morning Friends,
I guess we all play social, economic and even religious games according to our setting and to our generation and privileged status of being part of a group. Given the traditions to which we become accustomed, we make a set of choices about what constitutes accepted behaviors and tend to follow a set of values for our lives, with unspoken expectations of others, even if they do not claim these customs as their own. We expect that people will follow our social cues. It is double edged. The reality is that we expect other’s choices will fit ours or at the very least not place restrictions on our decisions. The problem is that life is not so simple, too often, people’s expectations are unreasonable. Their values, emotions and frustrations are different from ours, prompting and sometimes demanding a response from us that is difficult. Sometimes one group engages us in one childish game when we are playing another. The result is not only confusing but becomes a great diversion. Here we need to ask if our actions justify condemning those who are not acting as we act. Friends, when we are at risk of become obstacles to others faith it is a time to attend to what matters most. People can be so self-destructive. So, today we seek to love others with wisdom in the perfect rest of Christ’s clear communication. Have You Noticed That The Burden Seems Lighter When The One We Are Trying To Please Is God?
Scripture: For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession. It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and who repays in their own person those who reject him. He does not delay but repays in their own person those who reject him. Therefore, observe diligently the commandment—the statutes, and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today.
Deuteronomy 7:6-11 (NRSV)
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
1 John 4:7-16 (NRSV)
At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:25-30 (NRSV)
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:9, 11-13 (NRSV)
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah 9:9-10 (NRSV)
Message: Friends, God has been revealed to us so that the burden of sin on our lives might be lifted and our journey through life made easier even in its suffering. Here we might just realize that in Christ is a new righteousness and just as Israel became a holy people, so too we are to become holy. There is no compromising on this. Just as God chose Israel, so too we have been chosen to experience the love of God. And when God sets His heart on something the outcome is played out in history. That is why the heart of Jesus is not only the heart that shows us love but is itself love. There the Father’s love shines forth. There I know I am welcomed and understood as I am. There, with all my sins and limitations, I know the certainty that I am chosen and loved. Contemplating that heart, I renew my first love: the memory of that time when the Lord touched my soul and called me to follow him, the memory of the joy of having realized there was something more to life. Friends, Christ’s consciousness of a oneness with the Father is the heart of the matter that prompts both a thanksgiving to God and an appeal to mankind to embrace the way, truth and life of Jesus, that frees us from the slavery of sin. We are to embrace the sacred heart of Jesus so that we too might abide in a love that spills out of us and flows into the world around us. This is how life’s burdens are carried. You cannot please everyone. Some people want to nitpick, and nothing is going to please them no matter what. If we reject Jesus’ yoke my guess is that we are doomed to fail to communicate in a way that creates desired results. So, are we part of a generation that is not happy with anything?
And So, Jesus wants to set us free from the heavy burdens of life and to take a rest from pleasing the world to enjoy life and I hope you are doing just that this holiday weekend. Friends, Jesus could not please everyone so what gives you the idea that you can or should try. Be content from time to time to lay down your burdens balance the load and take a rest. To really know someone, one needs to know the burden of their emotions. And to really determine what makes a person tick, one needs to examine where they spend their time… how they love. So, the heart of Jesus based on how he spent his time and with whom he spent his time clearly indicates that the success of a worldly kind was never what he was seeking for himself and for others. Jesus spent time with people that had desperate needs, but he also spent time chilling out. Look at his ministry and one will see case after case of people who were blind, broke, broken and even buried but also time he spent being in prayer guided by the divine. It is clear his heart is holy not just in the doing but in the being.
Pray we accept God’s invitation to turn our heart over to a divine purpose. Pray we realize that when we contemplate the heart of Christ, we are gradually set free to set others free. Pray that we realize that to know Jesus intimately we must know his heart. Pray we like Jesus be willing to place ourselves amid hurting people. Pray we like Jesus desire to help those who cannot help themselves Pray we like Jesus are concerned with the needs of individuals more than the traditions of protocol. Pray we like Jesus use opportunities of attending to physical needs of people to earn the opportunity to minister to spiritual needs. Pray our hearts become part of a sacred community of love. Pray we realize that we cannot internalize all that is happening in the world, but that God can. Pray we trust in God’s Spirit as our guide on the journey. Pray we recognize that God navigates our life in measure of what we can handle.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 