silly hebrews
It has been a long time since I last blogged and am I am pretty sure I would have given up on it if it were not for my friend Mary who is a blogging animal, I will say three nice things if that sounds bad, and keeps after me to post something new.
So here are some thoughts that have been going on this last week or so…
I am taking a class for two weeks on the Old Testament and I am about half done with as of today. The class as a whole is pretty easy but one of the challenging things and it is proving quite challenging for my ADD is to read the entire Old Testament while taking the class. It means sitting down for at least 3-4 hours a day, which I do enjoy but I can only take in so much Hebrew poetry before I start speaking in parallelisms. That is funny only to me and most likely 1 other person who reads this page.
One of the things that have jumped out at me while I have been reading at this rapid pace is the ongoing theme of the amazing relationship that God offered to the Israelites. I mean he picked them out seemingly at random, or maybe because they were little and nothing and offered to have a close, personal relationship with them. He also made things pretty easy considering what other nations were doing to make their gods happy. They did not have to self mutilate or kill their own kids. Plus the idea of grace seems to pop up time and time and time again starting right away in Genesis. Yet despite all that and how God wanted to be with them they come across as the biggest idiots in all history. I mean they make idols about three minutes after Moses leaves them and the mountain is right there as a visual of God coming down. Or later they become Sodom, the place that is set up as an example of a people hitting moral bottom. They are offered so much and respond so little.
Then it hit me. As I was driving to class, which is way to early by the way, that I and I think many of us do the same exact thing. Different time and different place but we too are offered a close relationship with God. It is based on grace, just like the Israelites, and the offer looks pretty amazing on paper. We are told that God wants to work in us to make us like Christ. Cool. I mean there are days I would love to wake up and be another Billy Graham but why not be like Jesus instead, plus I hear Billy could not play soccer worth crap and I do like soccer.
And yet despite this I too turn away easily, quickly and repeatedly. From a bird’s eye view I can’t imagine that my life looks all that much better then the nation of Israel. It has its good times and plenty of bad times and through it all I must remind myself that God is control and his grace is sufficient. Otherwise I am pretty sure I am screwed.
So here are some thoughts that have been going on this last week or so…
I am taking a class for two weeks on the Old Testament and I am about half done with as of today. The class as a whole is pretty easy but one of the challenging things and it is proving quite challenging for my ADD is to read the entire Old Testament while taking the class. It means sitting down for at least 3-4 hours a day, which I do enjoy but I can only take in so much Hebrew poetry before I start speaking in parallelisms. That is funny only to me and most likely 1 other person who reads this page.
One of the things that have jumped out at me while I have been reading at this rapid pace is the ongoing theme of the amazing relationship that God offered to the Israelites. I mean he picked them out seemingly at random, or maybe because they were little and nothing and offered to have a close, personal relationship with them. He also made things pretty easy considering what other nations were doing to make their gods happy. They did not have to self mutilate or kill their own kids. Plus the idea of grace seems to pop up time and time and time again starting right away in Genesis. Yet despite all that and how God wanted to be with them they come across as the biggest idiots in all history. I mean they make idols about three minutes after Moses leaves them and the mountain is right there as a visual of God coming down. Or later they become Sodom, the place that is set up as an example of a people hitting moral bottom. They are offered so much and respond so little.
Then it hit me. As I was driving to class, which is way to early by the way, that I and I think many of us do the same exact thing. Different time and different place but we too are offered a close relationship with God. It is based on grace, just like the Israelites, and the offer looks pretty amazing on paper. We are told that God wants to work in us to make us like Christ. Cool. I mean there are days I would love to wake up and be another Billy Graham but why not be like Jesus instead, plus I hear Billy could not play soccer worth crap and I do like soccer.
And yet despite this I too turn away easily, quickly and repeatedly. From a bird’s eye view I can’t imagine that my life looks all that much better then the nation of Israel. It has its good times and plenty of bad times and through it all I must remind myself that God is control and his grace is sufficient. Otherwise I am pretty sure I am screwed.
posted by Jon at
4:51 PM
1 Comments:
Isn't that the tricky thing about the relationship between grace and humanity? At least for me, it's so easy to see it, know it's there, and then abuse it simply because of its very existence.
Perhaps I should read Romans more.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home