Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,
for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,
that he should live on forever and never see the pit.
But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Verses 7-9,15
Who knew that the Gospel was contained in four verses in a Psalm?? But there it is, all "nutshell" like!
Nothing in the universe is more valuable than the glory of God. Seeing the connection between the hallowing of God's name as the first passion of Jesus and the glory of God as the supreme value in the universe shows that there is no conflict between these two. Hallowing God's name and glorifying God are largely the same act. Page 351
(Caught up again)
Zechariah 7:4-10
What does God mean when he says, "You're interested in religion, I'm interested in people?"
Before I answer that, let me just say that that statement is not in the more traditional translations. And not being a Hebrew scholar, I'm not sure where Mr. Peterson got the statement. Basically, the ESV (English Standard Version, my favorite translation) says that they were doing the feasts and fasts for themselves.
However, I can see the truth of the statement, still. When a people get to the point where they are performing rituals just for the sake of the ritual, they are more interested in religion than in people. Heck, they are more interested in religion than in God!
I have to ask myself at this point, have I gotten to that point? Am I more interested in the flow of things on Sunday morning than I am in the people that walk through the sanctuary before church? This hits me hard, especially in light of what God has been showing me over the last week. And, I must admit, I am getting more excited as he continues to add on to what he is teaching me. I keep thinking, ok, that going to be all for a while, but no. It keeps on coming. I cannot let my Sunday mornings be occupied by being upset over where an extension cord is! Or that the people who use the stage on Thursday night didn't leave things the way they found them. These things may not be "religion," but they are peripheral. God wants me to be more interested in people.
Who do I know that is in need of justice, love, and compassion? Wow. The majority of our congregation!! I have described this before, but our group of worshippers mostly come from either a prison background or some kind of addiction problem. So there you go. A ton of people in need of love and compassion. And, sometimes, even some justice.
Are there any "religious" activities that might be merely meeting my own selfish needs? I'll have to think on that one. Right this second, I can't think of any "religious" activities. There are plenty of non-religious activities that just serve to meet my selfish...I'm going to call them "wants" rather than "needs!" But I don't think anything I do in worship planning just meets a need that I have. Unless it's choice of songs...but like I said, I'm going to have to think about that one.
I live to glorify and magnify your name. My calling is that of leading people to do the same. Let us all worship you. I long for that day, foretold in Philippians 2, when "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!" What a glorious day that will be!
Imagine God being interested in you just because you're you. Now imagine God being interested in someone you don't find interesting. Wonder at that.
Hah!! I love that. I've got several people already in mind. This is so cool!
Grace and peace, friends!