FEBRUARY 25 "I DID IT MY WAY"

  THE song that Frank Sinatra may very well be most remembered for may just be, "I did it my way". Not so much because it was such a wonderful song (although it was pretty good) but more so due to the irony of the song and how it's meaning played out in his life. Frank Sinatra did not leave behind a legacy anyone would want to follow in. It was certainly a life of failure, misery and destruction. He was an alcoholic, divorced, scattered children, scattered relationships and involvement with the mob. He died a broken, miserable and lonely man, but yet today, the radio stations will still play one of Frank's greatest hits, "I did it my way". So what does this have to do with today's reading....well we read that the children of Israel are offering sacrifices in the open fields and God commands them to stop doing this or be cut off from His people. God is telling Moses, "you tell these people they are not to make sacrifices in the open field but are to bring their sacrifices to the Lord, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice them there!" (paraphrased by me) And my first thought is, "so what, who cares where they are sacrificing, as long as they are?, right?" WRONG! God says "what do you think i instituted this for, for nothing?" (paraphrased by me) I can't help but think of the Church when I read this; more and more Christians are blowing off the church and doing "their own thing...my way" at home. And DON'T you dare try to challenge them on it or they will tear you apart. Would not God say the same here? "No, you're not going to do your own thing, do you think I instituted the Church for nothing, is there not a reason a purpose?" (paraphrased by me) "But it's imperfect", we say. Even more imperfect than the church was the practice of the sacrifices, but yet God says, we will continue to do them and YOU will do them at the Temple, NOT just where you want. And there are many reasons for this that we don't have time to get into, but first and foremost would be the reason God clearly defines and that reason is, left to ourselves, and our ways, we will get squirly. We will naturally start to pervert everything, doing it our way. "Out on our own, out in the open fields is how CULTS get started, it naturally breeds a perversion and twisting of the way things "ought" to be. The Antithesis of the Christian Faith is "my way". Remember, when you are doing "your way" one thing you can be sure of..., is you're not doing it GOD'S WAY.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NOVEMBER 6 "DOES GOD STILL DO MIRACLES?"

 The Psalmist writes, "who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord!" I dare say, there are some reading this blog that might challenge that!"  They would say, "list them, I'm hard pressed to think of one! How'' your miracle life? Miracles go hand in hand with opportunity. We have our lives so structured and we don't venture out in faith, we keep it safe. Well then don't complain you have no miracles. Peter had to step out of the boat to experience a miracle, but don't forget there was a handful of other disciples that stayed in the boat, safe and experienced no miracle! You can have it both ways.  Christians who venture, in faith, are the ones that have the "lists of miracles" to write about.   "Does God still do miracles? In your intellect you say, "yes of course", but in your heart what do you say? God does miracle, yes! Does He do miracles for you? Do you encourage others to believe in miracles and now you need ...
Read more

NOVEMBER 21 "CLASS WARFARE IS AN UGLY THING"

     There’s no denying, James is not that fond of “rich people”.  If it was only this reference in Chapter 5, that would be bad enough, but James has taken jabs at the rich in other chapters as well. No doubt, James did not grow up with affluence of any kind. We know from the Gospels that Joseph and Mary (James’ parents) were poor. Historians believe that Joseph died at an early age, as he is not mentioned in the Gospels; except in the early stages of Jesus’ life. Now with Joseph dead, James & Jesus, probably had to work that much harder to make ends meet at home. Jesus himself takes a jab at rich people saying, “ it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of an needle than for a rich person to get into heaven ”.  I’m sure in the  Church  of  Jerusalem  where James was an elder, there were not many affluent people in that congregation. However we cannot deny that it was Joseph of Arimathea, an affluent man , a prominent member of th...
Read more

FEBRUARY 8 "ABANDONED IN MY TIME OF NEED"

   This may end up being one of the greater indictments against The Church of Jesus Christ at our judgement; that we abandoned our brothers and sisters in their most dire time of need. In our reading today, the Psalmist eludes to a time of great anguish in his life and because of this his strength is failing; he then goes on to say concerning his friends, "I am a dread to my friends....I am forgotten by them". Unfortunately, it is when we are not at our best that our brothers and sisters in Christ seem to get turned off by us and often abandon us when we need them the most! Why is that? Is it because of selfish reasons, after all, who doesn't want to hang around upbeat people full of joy and victory, but are there not times that we need to also grieve with those that are grieving?! Another reason is their weakness probably turns us off, "why are you even struggling with this ....what's wrong with you!!?" Thence, we're turned off and leave them to struggl...
Read more