Monday, May 14, 2007

The Daily Nature of Faith

Jim:

The Luke passage serves to wrap the other two up today.

Deuteronomy 8:1-10
The latter part of verse 3 says, “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” God had given the Hebrew people manna on a daily basis throughout their wilderness journey (except on the Sabbath day when there was no manna to collect). This was to show them that life depends on more than just food, it depends as well on God’s activity in the world. For us the issue isn’t manna. But the point is that we don’t find the meaning of life in our accomplishments or our achievements or our accumulated goods. God is the source of our living and we depend on everything that God says and does to live our fullest lives.

James 1:1-15
James is not one of my favorite books in the Bible, but there are some very challenging ideas at work here. Verses 14 and 15 are a good example. “But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it, then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, give birth to death.” First of all, I find this a helpful reminder that it is our own sinful nature that causes us problems. Comedian Flip Wilson used to get big laughs when he’d say, “the devil made me do it.” But the truth is that we are the ones who create our own sinful situations by giving in to our desires. Secondly, I think the image of desire conceiving and giving birth to sin, and sin maturing and giving birth to death is very apt. Left unchecked and allowed to fester, our desires and our sins lead us to a place where we can no longer recognize the will of God and indeed turn our backs on God’s purpose in our lives.

Luke 9:18-27
Verse 23 is familiar to most of us: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Matthew and Mark also include this saying, but only Luke adds the word “daily.” Luke seems to be telling us to prepare to make discipleship a constant, ongoing, fact of life, not something that one does once in a while or on occasion, and certainly not just on Sundays. To take up the cross “daily” might mean beginning each day by orienting ourselves to God’s will, consciously deciding how we will use that day to God’s glory. Nor should we think of taking up the cross as similar to wearing one as a fashion accessory. To live as a disciple of Jesus Christ has as much or more to do with who we are on the inside as on the outside. Discipleship is difficult work that requires our fulltime attention, day in and day out. The daily nature of discipleship is reminiscent of the manna in Deuteronomy 8 which required the people to gather just enough for one day and to trust that there would be more the next day. The ongoing nature of discipleship stands over and against the ongoing nature of our desires, our sins, and the death to which they lead as recounted in James 1.

No comments: