On “Gifting”

Malachi 1:1, 6-14
In the run-up to Christmas, a nationwide chain of department stores is advertising itself as the ideal place for “gifters.” If you want to give the very best presents this holiday season, this company is saying, you should shop in one of its stores. The prophet Malachi, however, has an more important word to say on that subject. “When you offer blind animals in sacrifice (to God), is that not wrong? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? Try presenting that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 1:8). Apparently, there were those among the people of Israel who were willing to offer God second-rate gifts, while giving items of such low quality to other people was out of the question. Never mind whether the recipient of a gift is someone of power or prestige, is there really anyone who deserves more from us than God does? Is there anyone who ever lived who is worthy of our praise and adoration more than the God who has created and blessed us from the very beginning of our lives?

And yet, even in nations where a large percentage of the population loudly proclaims itself to be Christian, the biggest uproar often grows out of what we call our holidays, not our unwillingness to share with God and with those for whom God is most concerned. Holding back from God the very best parts of our lives while lavishing gifts on family members or friends, on co-workers or neighbors, calls our focus into question. “What does the Lord require of us but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God?” (Micah 6:8). But God also deserves our time and our money, our talents and our insight, our skills and our wisdom. God deserves generous hearts tuned to service, open minds determined to find reconciliation, open hands exchanging unreservedly the warmth and community that we all need to live most fully. Our failure to do these things, to offer these gifts to our loving Creator, says more about us than we are probably willing to admit.

Would we give blemished or broken gifts to the people on our Christmas list? Perish the thought! Then how could we consider giving anything but our very best, first and foremost, to God?

Prayer: God of grace and glory, forgive us when we fail to give our very best to you and to those for whom you are concerned, and help us to become the generous, loving people you created us to be. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

No Way To Run A Country

1 Peter 2:11-3:12

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:21-23). Passages like this one are really challenging to me. On the one hand I understand that Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. In doing so he called all people to live a life of peace and community, to turn away from violence and acts of retribution. On the other hand how do you survive in this world if you are not willing to “stand up for yourself” and to look out for your own best interests?

That’s the whole point, though, isn’t it? Jesus did not call disciples to live according to the ways of the world. Jesus called his followers to something other, a higher way. When he might have struck back he suffered in silence. When he might have put up a fight he declined to defend himself. In doing so Jesus issued a monumental challenge to all of us: choose this day whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15), either the powers of the world with their expectations of violence and aggression, or the will of God with its justice, kindness, and humility (Micah 6:8).

Most days I don’t even want to think about the issues involved here. Most days I want to go about my business and pretend that there isn’t a choice to be made. As a result, I generally stand somewhere along the line that runs between Christ-like meekness at one end and a desire to lash out at those who offend me at the other. Clearly that’s not good enough, and my prayer is that over time I might find a way to live God’s will more completely. In the meantime I invite us all to reflect on what Christ did for us and to look for the strength to go and do likewise.

Prayer: Lord, help us to live the way our Savior lived in all aspects of our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Highway Improvements

2 Peter 2:10b-16

Matthew 3:1-12

I’ve never been on a long car trip that didn’t eventually take me through an area of road construction. Maybe the guardrails needed replacing. Maybe the lanes needed re-striping. Or maybe the entire roadbed had to be redone. Whatever the case, traffic slowed down as we inched by the site before returning to normal speeds. It’s frustrating, but it leads to improved roads so it needs to be done.

Both the writer of 2 Peter and John the Baptist know that improvements need to be made in the way we are traveling spiritually. Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah as he describes John’s ministry: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3). The language in 2 Peter is far more direct. “They (false teachers of the gospel) have hearts trained in greed…They have left the straight road and gone astray…” (2 Peter 2:14-15).

What does it mean to walk a straight path, to travel in the proper direction? It means living in tune with God’s will. It means opening ourselves to what it is that God is doing in our lives. In the words of Micah, it means to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). The good news is that God has not left us to do the “road work” alone. In Jesus Christ, God walks the path with us, points out the dangerous curves and the icy patches that can cause us so much trouble. With God’s grace we are able to repair our spiritual lives and walk a straighter highway, the highway of God.

Prayer: Lord, help us to live in faithful obedience to you and to walk straight paths untainted by greed and selfishness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Micah, Martha, and Mary

Micah 6:1-8
Luke 10:38-42
I have to admit that most of the time I am like Martha. That’s not to say that I am particularly industrious, but I am “worried and distracted by many things” (Luke 10: 41). Maybe you understand what I’m talking about: job, family, social obligations, bills, shopping, the jerk in the car in front of me with the “wrong” political stickers! And just when I start to move one way, I find that something is pulling me in a different direction altogether. Sometimes the results are not pretty. I get frustrated. I frustrate the people around me––especially the ones I love. I just want to give up and go back to bed.

The song, “Times Like These,” by Foo Fighters offers a glimmer of hope in such circumstances:

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

I wish it were that easy just to “learn to live again.” But then, to hear Jesus and Micah talk, maybe it really is. “What does the Lord require of you,” says the prophet, “but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)? “Mary has chosen the better part,” Jesus tells Martha, “which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). Maybe easy isn’t the right word, but at least there are steps to be taken, a proper approach to living that offers us the chance to “learn to live (or love) again.” It involves deciding what the most important things are in life and sticking to them. Attention to the word of the Lord was Mary’s choice. Micah called for justice, loving kindness, and humility before God. Do these things and you will begin to meet God’s expectations. Do these things and you will gain that which can not be taken from you. Do these things and—I’m willing to bet—the other things will begin to take care of themselves. Or not. And if they don’t, then they probably weren’t worth the worry in the first place. So, if you are a “Martha” like me, pull up a chair and let the dishes wait for a while. Micah, Mary (and Jesus) have something to share with us.

Prayer: Lord, help us to let go of the unimportant aspects of life and to hold firmly to those things which you offer. But most of all, O God, help us to know the difference. Amen.

Holding and Waiting

Hosea 12:2-14
Acts 26:24-27:8
The words found in Hosea 12:6 are quite similar to more familiar words from the prophet Micah. Hosea charges the people to “…hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God” (Hosea 12:6). Micah, of course, calls on God’s people “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). It is waiting "continually for God" (what I would consider an act of humility as it puts one totally at God’s behest) that Paul demonstrates so clearly in the account from Acts 26 and 27. Paul might have been freed from imprisonment, according to king Festus, had he not already appealed to the emperor (Acts 26:32). But Paul’s mission is not to go free, it is to go where God’s intends him to go, waiting continually for God, and walking in humility. This is how Paul finds himself en route to Rome as a prisoner, prepared to address the highest authorities in the known world concerning Jesus Christ as Messiah.

Waiting is not something I do well, nor is humility for that matter. Learning to accept where God has sent me as an opportunity instead of a burden requires my will and my aspirations to be subsumed into God’s purpose. It requires me to trust God instead of my own instincts. It forces me to live in open reliance upon God’s presence in my life. How did Paul, of all people, manage this? How did he allow himself to go from active persecutor of the church, to global apostle, to one in shackles? He did it by holding fast to what God expected of him and by “waiting continually for God” in faithfulness.

At some point today you or I may find ourselves in a difficult situation. We may feel that the best way to handle things is to figure it out for ourselves, to use our own wisdom and skill to deal with things. What Hosea reminds us, and what Paul knew, is that God is calling us to trust in the divine will and to live accordingly, with love, justice, and patient humility. It isn’t easy. But it is God’s will. And really, that should be enough for you and me.

Prayer: Lord, help us to live with justice and love and patience, even in the most trying of times. In Jesus’ name. Amen.