Wednesday, July 23, 2008

With just one day remaining at my internship I thought I would talk today about the last biblical quote I briefly talked about yesterday.  

Micah 6:  3-8

‘O my people, what have I done to you?
   In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
   and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
   Aaron, and Miriam.
O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
   what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
   that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.’ 

‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
   and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
   with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God?

I find it a little odd that God is questioning the people of Israel, his chosen people.  God saved them from the wrath of Egypt and lead them to the promise land.  He saved them countless tyrants and yet his people still question him.  They have no patience.  I could sit here all day and criticize the Israelites but I would be just criticizing myself and every other Christian in the world.  

My dad told a story in a sermon one time about the invention of the ejection seat in fighter jets.  During the training of the seats, pilots were launched into the air while strapped to the seat and then they would have to let go so the parachute could open and they would fall safely back to earth.  However many pilots were injured during the testing because they could not let go of the seat, the one thing that was solid and what they thought would be their safety neat.  How many of us have a seat, have a comfort that we cannot let go even it means being injured or even killed?  How many of us live in fear that if we do let go, will our parachute, our faith save us?  If you do not raise your hand you are only kidding yourself.  Even myself have doubts about my faith.  Did Jesus really die on the cross?  Did Jesus even exist?  Is everything I believe in a lie, a story that somebody made up so that they could take my money?  There are so many questions that I have with no real answer to them and I am sure many Christians have the same questions.  All we have to hold onto is our faith and for some reason, our faith is not enough sometimes.  

It is human nature to question what we cannot see, when sometimes what we cannot see is right in front of us.  Ever walk into a wall?  I do it at least once a day and not on purpose.  Just because we cannot see something does not mean it does not exist.  In my final paper about Servant Summer, I talked about a term “Irrational Rationality.”  It literally means what it reads; it is crazy but at the same time the best thing we can do.  Sociologists usually use the term as a negative term.  George Ritzer used the term when talking about his theory of McDonalization.  We as Christians can use the term as a positive term.  Believing in Jesus is crazy.  It is insane and down right foolish.  People discriminate against other Christians and lump Christians together as egotistical and downright wrong for putting their faith in a God that cannot be seen or heard.  But believing in God and believing that Jesus died and saved us from our sins is the rational, the only truth to believe in.  In the end, the world will beat  us down, criticize us for our belief, and kill us but it is our faith that will save us.  Believing is not an easy thing to do and will be at times almost impossible but in the end we will receive our reward.  80 years of believing, a lifetime of faith, will gain us a seat in heaven.  

Meanwhile God calls us only to do a few things.  He knows we can never be perfect.  Nothing we do will ever will win favor with God.  No gifts, no possessions, no actions will ever get God to like us.  Jesus took care of that for us.  All God wants us to do is live out his gospel, to give justice to those need it, to love mercy and show God’s mercy and not hide it, and live a humble life.  The best part of my job this summer was seeing the Hand of God working through our organization:  Giving parents who are not able to conceive a child to adopt, refugees who come to America with nothing are given new lives and chance to start over, and those who are affected by the massive flooding are able to rebuild with volunteers from LSG.  

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”