Tuesday, April 28, 2020
nor to the sunset of life with the most power or possessions
but to see if you can bring to Grace all the people God places in your path.
1 Chronicles 22:19
Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Go and build the sanctuary of the Lord God so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the Lord.’
1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.
Words of Grace For Today
Goals, competitions, setting one’s mind … these all are very human endeavours, good endeavours, too.
They cannot net us real security, real love, real faith, real hope, or real life, no matter how hard we try.
These are gifts from God, already at our baptisms. Seeking them is to first deny that God has given them to us. We get to rest assured that these are already ours. We need not set our minds and hearts on seeking and finding the Lord our God. God has found us. That game never was one we could succeed at anyway.
So why all the images in these scripture passages?
Is there something about goals, competitions, setting one’ heart and mind to doing something that is part of our life as God-made saints?
Naturally. All humans have some degree of drive. God designed us so. Exercising this drive is a large part of a full life, life lived as God created and redeemed us to live.
These drives cannot win God’s favour. We already have it, along with salvation, joy, and the fullness of life that goes along with being claimed by God.
These drives cannot win us joy. God has completed our joy with Christ’s resurrection.
These drives cannot win us security, faith, or hope, nor love. All these God has already lavishly poured over us, so that we can share them with others.
These drives move us there, to share all that God has given us with others.
There most certainly is a race, and it is good for the heart to participate in it every day. The race is to see who can give away the greatest percentage to the benefit of the most people. The best we can do is come in tied for second place, along with all the other God-made saints. Jesus has first place wrapped up.
So, if you can at all, get in on that race, at least take a daily walk in that direction. It is very counter intuitive to what the Devil plants in our hearts and minds as the way to success. It fits with the best of creation made by God.
Be the best you can. There are lots of people needing what we have to share during this pandemic, and it’s not the virus!