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Monday, January 25, 2021
“But of you I will not make an end. I will chastise you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.” —Jeremiah 30:11
Like a lot of people, I’m in worse physical shape than I should be. I eat too much of the wrong stuff, and I don’t move as much as I need to. So I’m always on the search for a workout habit that will really stick. And that means that I’m pretty often trying new routines and exercises I haven’t done much of lately. And, at my age, that means that I inevitably end up quite sore or, more troublingly, a little bit injured. Which, in turn, makes me not want to stick to the routine, even if I know the soreness and injuries will resolve themselves quickly and the exercise routine would have important long-lasting benefits.
I do want to get healthier, but I don’t want to experience the consequences of being out of shape now.
Much of the prophetic writing in the Old Testament is basically God saying to Israel, “There are real consequences to how unhealthy you’ve gotten. I’m never giving up on you, but it’s going to hurt a lot getting from where you are right now to where you need to be.” The words spoken through Jeremiah in today’s text are an example of this. God is saying, “I’m not going to destroy you, but that doesn’t mean you will go unpunished.”
It’s hard for me to persevere through the sore muscles and joints to move toward health. And it’s hard for us to remember that God disciplines us because he cares about us. Sometimes we want to b transformed, but we don’t want the journey from here to there.
The good news is that God walks alongside us throughout that journey, even carrying us if need be. The promise never to give up on us—just as he’s never given up on his people Israel—means we have nothing, ultimately, to fear. God will bring us through the pain caused by our own lack of health and wholeness, all the way to real, full, eternal, abundant life.
Friday, January 22, 2021
Today’s reflection is written by Deacon Karen Katamay.
“It is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” —Philippians 2:13
The verses that proceed today’s verse from Philippians are a good lead-in to this verse, as they are about encouraging us to imitate Christ’s humility. Christ was God in human form, yet he did not laud it over people and expect to be waited on, but rather came to model God’s will for the world as a servant—helping, healing, forgiving, and showing love, compassion, and mercy. God worked through Jesus to do his will in the world. In a similar way, God works through us to do the same thing. Every time we show kindness, compassion, and caring, we are doing God’s will in the world. Every time we work from a place of love and love one another, God is working through us.
I will be one of the first to admit that this can be difficult sometimes, especially if the person you are being asked to love and care about has hurt you or someone close to you. In a case like this, you may need to ask for God’s help so he can enable you to love them. God is there to support us and work through us and enable us when we need it. We only need to ask! Amen.
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17
Wash, rinse, repeat. There are times in our life of faith that feel so predictable it is exhausting. There are periods of days/months/years where we are in a cycle of doing a certain thing we shouldn’t do or not doing that certain thing we know we should. It’s in times like these that being trapped in the bondage of sin really hits home. We feel trapped. It seems hopeless. Freedom seems impossible.
Yet it isn’t. When trapped in a sin loop it is easy to have tunnel vision and ignore (or forget) all the areas of our lives that have experienced freedom, the habits and attitudes that you have slowly but surely (or maybe even overnight) shed by experiencing the love and grace of God.
As followers of Jesus, the Spirit of the Lord is within us. That Spirit is working on us right now, remaking us, moment by moment refining us, breaking the chains of sin and encouraging us to embrace the freedom that has been extended to us. Today, remember those times when God has given you freedom before and ask God to help you trust as God leads you to freedom again.
Amen.
