Monday, November 29, 2021
Because God Blesses Us to Know Beauty
no matter the tangles of life the intrude on our days
Therefore We are Able to Be God’s Blessings for Others
Deuteronomy 28:1-6
If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God:
Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.
Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-bowl.
Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
Matthew 12:50
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.
Words of Grace For Today
Both passages say clearly enough that it is all up to us: if we do the right things, if we obey all God’s commandments, if we do God’s will, then
then we will be blessed in all ways,
then we will be Jesus’ brother, sister or mother.
That certainly is how the world works and how religious authorities have parsed God’s blessings in their attempts to control their followers.
God is not so parsed, not correctly anyway.
God’s blessings are not so parsed, not correctly anyway.
Jesus’ brothers and sisters and mother are not so determined, not correctly anyway.
But this is the way of the world, and it is our self-centred, familiar, assuring and futile way of working God’s will in our world.
Trouble is, it’s not us that works God’s will and this is God’s world.
God’s way, clearly demonstrated in the story of Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection, is that God blesses us, and we either can surrender to that, or work our way out of the blessings by going our own way. Even then God pursues us, relentlessly, promising to forgive us, give us re-newed lives, and send us out again to be God’s blessings for others.
God’s blessings are not tied to how powerful, wealthy, or famous we are. God’s blessings are contained in the God given ability to be able to love, and love completely and unconditionally. For is love, starting with fear and love for God, and then love for ourselves, our neighbours and our enemies … in love we find life, life’s meaning and purpose and a joy that cannot be marred by circumstances, no matter how bad they may be.
The joy that God gives us is familiar to most people. It is like living life being in love. Some know it as a teenager’s 1st love, or as a young adult knowing this is the one person to marry, or as holding your new born infant, or as guiding children as they grow up, or as playing with grandchildren, or as growing old together and sharing memories as you deal with new challenges.
Most all of us experience that being in love, and loving others, gives us a profound joy.
Being in love with God, fearing and loving God, gives us an even more profound joy. All our times of being in love come to an end. Some endings leave us lost, as if the pathways and walls of life itself have crumbled out from under us.
Being in love and fearing God is markedly different because that love never comes to an end since it is determined not by our capacity to love, but by God’s promises to love us always. God loves us always, no matter the twists and turns we take in life. Trusting that God loves us gives a pervasive joy, a foundational joy.
Today we pray, may we live fearing and loving God as God loves us. May we be God’s love for all other people, so that we do not forget how precious God’s love is.