The Word... Yo

Judges 1

It amazes me a lot of times when I read through the Old Testament how willing God is to hand over people groups to other people groups. When Israelites continually go in and beat up on the Canaanites, and God seems to smile and nod approvingly. What can we take from this chapter in our bibles then if all it is is a bunch of people going around killing one another and taking their lands? In the midst of all of this destruction and killing we do see a brief glimpse of grace when a man shows the Israelites how to break into the city called Luz and because of this spares the man and his family from death. But the more I read the more I don’t know if this is a case of God being happy that people are dying or Israelites and the 12 Tribes not fully doing there job, because as we get to the end of Chapter one there is a list of things and peoples that were left unconquered.

I don’t really know where I am going with this but I do know that the Israelites were called to do a job, after Joshua had died the Tribe of Judah with the help of the Tribe of Simeon, and annihilate the Cannanites. Regardless of what job it is that we are called to do, we are called to do it to the best of our abilities. We are called to live fully in Christ, and that means that in whatever it is, work or play, we are to be doing it for the Lord. It all comes back to worshipping God, that worship is more than singing on Sunday or to your local radio station on the way to work, it is about loving God with all your heart mind and soul and knowing that praising him with your actions is crucial to building a strong relationship with the God of our universe.

Community

It is pretty clear that we are called to live in community, i recently got an email from a friend who had this to say about Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 paraphrased -- "If we do life together... "we can help each other succeed," "we'll be picked up at the point of falling," "we can stay warm when the winter comes," "we can stand back to back and conquer"..."

Stand back to back and conquer, the wording is something out of a man movie, it seems William Wallace or Maximus should be uttering these words to their men in battle. I think a lot of time we forget that we are at war, a war that is unseen a war that is way more important than money, or political gain, or the economy, or whatever esle war conquers. We are called as Christians to live above ourselves as a part of this crazy thing called the world and too often we would rather shutter under the safety of the pew with our nose in a hymnal.

We are called to be the body of Christ, so it is time we step out and start acting like it, through service, in love, For Christ. We can stay warm when the winter comes folks.

Romans 1

It always amazes me how dedicated Paul is to the work of the Lord, and not only dedicated but excited. I think it is impossible to read through Romans and not be excited about sharing the word of the Lord. When I look at verses 16 and 17 I read about how unashamed Paul is of the gospel, how regardless of what is going on in the world, regardless of who it is, Paul is stoked to share the good news of Christ. He says for it is by the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… That is a reassuring thing for me to read considering my profession. That it isn’t my job to save students, it isn’t about me or how cool a program that I could put together but it is about the power of God. My job is to simply make that bridge to good available for my students and let God take it from there, besides, He is a lot better at it than I would ever be.

I guess that might be why in the second half of chapter 1 Paul begins talking about the difference between a foolish and a wise man as well as unbelief and the consequences that it holds for those who don’t love Jesus. We all need to take a step back and realize that it is all about God, not us, so whatever it may be that you are doing, do it for God… after all I think that is the very definition of worship.