Hello peeps and peepesses. Going to get this done nice and early before going to Bible Study later and trying to lead that too... Busy little Jon! Onto business then,
Today’s readings
Job 33:1-34:37
Matthew 23:1-39
Psalm 18:25-36
So we get a pair of Elihu's rants today and this lad is full of a passionate belief in his own wisdom coming from God. Only it's nothing new or different from what's gone before. I think we can all be guilty of thinking our point of view is unique or vital just because it's ours. Elihu seems really naieve in his faith and petulant in his attitude. He's like one of those people that says "No offense but..." and then says something blatantly meant to offend. He's completely unsympathetic to Job's plight and actually ignores his own rules on proving Job wrong with evidence. I think there are a lot of lessons we can learn from Job and I'll do my best to have a proper discussion of it when we finish the book but today it just seems like God is saying, just because you're young and think you're doing things differently it doesn't mean it's being done for God. What I mean is that Elihu thinks he's being radical and different because he is filled with God's spirit. But in fact he's doing it as much for his own standing with the others educated people of the time. If you have ideas for change or a passion for God, then make sure it's that passion that continues to fuel you and that selfish desires and egotistical pride don't get in the way.
Into the New Testament we... roly poly? Really Joel?! Well apparently so. Please folks, feel free to suggest better verbs than these. This Lucas child is becoming something of a guest star!
Anyway... Jesus starts by talking about how we interact with people and what sort of an example we set. It's interesting that Jesus doesn't outright rebuke the Pharisees and I think this is important because they were also God's children and shouldn't be thought of as "the baddies" or anything. Jesus says that whilst following their teachings on the law is brilliant, following them isn't so much. I did an essay at GCSE on whether ministers and priests should be held to a higher standard of expectations and my answer then is the same as here. People are human and we will all mess up. Role models can only do so much before something about them lets you down. Even Bret Hart isn't perfect. And it pains me to say that... But the role model we ought to be following is God. Jesus says that we all have just one teacher and it's God who we ultimately need to look at for inspiration and example.
But that's not to say that we shouldn't be active role models. If someone looks up to you then that's a fantastic responsibility to have and you should be trying to reflect God to them by listening to them and focusing them onto God too. It's very easy to try and bask in the glow, I know believe me; I've got my own facebook fan club after all! But seriously, being a role model is something that is a privelege but one that we will ultimately not succeed at and in those times it's important that the person who looks up at us can see God standing behind us as the true role model.
Jesus continues to rebuke the Pharisees challenging how they live their lives. He's very harsh here on people that nitpick which I'll have to own up to. It all comes back to judging others when there's so much we need to focus on. Be very careful giving out advice if the same advice could be said to you. If you're honest before God about your flaws then you'll be better prepared to help other people cope with theirs.
The last paragraph is interesting because it appears Jesus condemns Jerusalem and refuses to come back there. But let's think about this. When Jesus leaves Jerusalem, it's because He's died. And when He returns? This isn't talking about the second coming but the resurrection. I love that Jesus points out how after centuries of Jerusalem messing up as a city and turning their back on God's prophets, He still loves them and wants to show them salvation.
Finally we're into our Psalm and we continue with this long old praise. Verse 30 is a particularly odd verse as the Psalmist says that basically living God's will is an easy and smooth path... Well, he does if you take it out of context I suppose :) To me this section is describing how it's never going to be a challenge to find God's salvation and love. It might hurt us to live that life but the actual truth of salvation is a one way road that's got no speed limit. But is safe... Poor analogy that.
So what have we seen today? To me it's a call to responsible friendship. Any of you who were in Connect on Sunday will hopefully remember us talking about gossiping and encouraging people and this week God really seems to be laying how we treat other people on my heart. I'd challenge you this week to be like Jesus wants us, responsible role models, and not just spouting what we think is God's judgement or criticism or advice on other people. Pick a person that you know you could have a better opinion of and try to see the good in them. Try to see how their flaws are no different from yours in God's eyes and that the only way you'll help them is by encouraging them with God in your corner, not criticising them whilst being guilty yourself. Check the ego at the feet of God so that you can better help other people.
And that's your lot for today. Yesterday's song is here and I'm loving that Scooter has made their blog debut. I'm going to try and get a couple more in at some point so get your rave heads on :) Today's is mega, crazy hard so 8 million points if you get it. Questions, criticisms and comments welcome as always,
Jon
YAY! :)
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