Is God's Love Conditional?

 ³ Incline your ear, and come to me;

   listen, so that you may live.

Down through history there has been a persistent call to “listen.”

Now I invite you to think with me about how often we have been told of God’s unconditional love and acceptance.

This precious truth looms true in the Gospels.  It is a truth that came in Jesus skin; when God came to earth and changed the old system of dealing with his people.

The Old Testament seem to be a very different system — a different kind of relationship - between God and his people. It seems clear that the covenant asked for a two way relationship.

Obey God and all will be well with you.

Disobey God and it will not be so well.

Listen, seek and live as God wills.  Period!

I just had a proverbial light-bulb experience.  An Epiphany if you will.

And my life long struggle with the ultra conservative theology suddenly made sense.

Not sense — as in I agree — but sense in why they believe so strongly in a wrathful God. A God of punishment that keeps track of all our misstep in our living. 

In all of my studies, and believe me this issue has been a life long focus of study, conversation and frustration.  I have never been able to understand why anyone would see God as a God of wrath.

Then this morning I read Allen Hiltons thought:

“Second Isaiah imagines Israel’s defeat and exile as God’s abandonment and wrath at the nation’s disobedience (54:7). And if the past is mapped as a report card of Israel’s faithfulness, the future is also mapped out the terms of faithfulness as well……The prophet seems to be calling Israel to the same Deuteronomic schoolroom that pre-exilic Israel attended, in which God’s grade for Israel can be discerned by looking at circumstances.  Obey and you will be politically successful ; disobey and you are doomed.  And so even the splendid history imagined in Isaiah  55:12-13 is conditioned on divine mercy purchased with human faithfulness….

How can undying divine love be spoken on those historical and circumstantial terms?” (p391 Feasting on the Word year C, vol. 1)

In ancient times there was a condition to receiving God’s love.

That explains the ultra conservative theology; because that theology is based on the Old Testament God.

How sad that after all these centuries, and Jesus coming to adjust that way of thinking, people still see God as a mean school teacher of punishment for every small detail in their lives.

Ho, everyone who thirsts,
   come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
   come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
   without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
   and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
   and delight yourselves in rich food.
³ Incline your ear, and come to me;
   listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
   my steadfast, sure love for David.
⁴ See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
   a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵ See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
   and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
   for he has glorified you. 

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found,
   call upon him while he is near;
⁷ let the wicked forsake their way,
   and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

¹⁰ For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
   and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
   giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
   it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 

¹² For you shall go out in joy,
   and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
   shall burst into song,
   and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
   instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
   for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Is. 55)

Be Still And Know

 

It seems wherever I go these days I hear about our world situation.  The apparent realization that evil and power-control seems to be “winning.”

So this morning I invite you to think — wonder — with me about the very real challenge that faces all of us in this time of the-unfortunate.

The Psalm reading for this Sunday is Ps. 37.  A Psalm puts a challenge before those who strive to live life, in this world, God’s way.

By living the law of love and compassion. In a world where the “wicked” — bullies — find success and wealth to enjoy.

While those who choose to be faithful, to God’s value system. struggle with the idea that God is out of touch with the “real world;” and what it is "really all about" here on earth.

To this very real image of our world today, as well as centuries ago, the Psalmist advises:  “Do not fret.”

Centuries later Jesus advised:  “Do no worry” — “Do not be afraid.”

One commentator asked: “How do you convert the call to live in accord with God’s just view of the world when people witness the wicked prospering?” (Gary W. Charles)

Those who are enjoying life, and wealth, success and power???

How does that compute in your over all worldview?

Some how, in the presence of the "real worldview" God’s promises tend to blur.  Get deleted by the “realistic” way -- the norm -- of being.

God's view is ultimately unconvincing and unrealistic.

⁹ For the wicked shall be cut off,
   but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

In other words, those who are wick will eventually “get their due.’

True story:

I was sitting with a parishioner, one evening, who was experiencing such wickedness in his work place.

He was angry, as well as envious.  He was hurt, and yes maybe a little afraid. 

In my pastoral way I tried to talk to him about the ideas the Psalmist was saying in Psalm 37.

He sat for some moments.  Then he looked at me and said “I’d like to see him get his due right now.  Not later.”

I am almost positive that most people have felt the same way at one time or another. I certainly have; and my list is much to long to mention here.

So I am thinking, at least in my heart, I choose to suck-it-up and trust that God’s ways are the best ways.  Whether I like it or not.

That God knows best; and is very aware of what is happening in the world that we have no idea about.

I pray that one day this messy-not-so-perfect-world will find a peaceful balance .  

A place of honest harmony. 

A place of God’s kindness and mercy..

So the challenge is this:

⁷ Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
   do not fret over those who prosper in their way,
   over those who carry out evil devices. 

⁸ Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.
   Do not fret—it leads only to evil.

What are the wonderings of your mind?

¹ Do not fret because of the wicked;
   do not be envious of wrongdoers,
² for they will soon fade like the grass,
   and wither like the green herb. 

³ Trust in the Lord, and do good;
   so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
   trust in him, and he will act.
⁶ He will make your vindication shine like the light,
   and the justice of your cause like the noonday. 

⁷ Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
   do not fret over those who prosper in their way,
   over those who carry out evil devices. 

⁸ Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.
   Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
⁹ For the wicked shall be cut off,
   but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. 

¹⁰ Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;
   though you look diligently for their place, they will not    be there.
¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the land,
   and delight in abundant prosperity. ….

³⁹ The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
   he is their refuge in the time of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and rescues them;
   he rescues them from the wicked, and saves them,
   because they take refuge in him. (Ps. 37)

8 They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.

 I am writing this blog in a day much like the world Jeremiah was speaking to.

A world, a people, in transition.

A world facing some major transitions.

Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians.  

It was a time for a new normal for a people of cherished traditions and manner of faith as security.

Today, in many way, we find ourselves in parallels positions. Our personal and national lives have been scrambled; and our normal is no more.

And like the Hebrew people, of those early centuries, we wonder where God is in all of the mess and confusion.  Confusion not only our personal live; but our political, economic, social and precious institutions as well.

Both Jeremiah and Jesus are encouraging people to adjust their habits and customs in positive and less defeated ways.

Like the trees, not rootless scrubs, whose roots would grow deep in the earths abundance of water drawn from the river.

Thus staying rooted in God’s promise of provisions and presence.

Unfortunately what we see and hear, in this very physical world, invalidates what Jesus and Jeremiah know as truth.

The message is clear.  Trust in the LORD.

⁷ Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
   whose trust is the Lord.

At the very end of Jeremiah’s speech he says something quite profound. Something not to be missed:

 
¹⁰ I the Lord test the mind
   and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
   according to the fruit of their doings.

No one want to miss the truth of Jeremiah’s words here.

The truth that ones heart -- not the mind -- is the place where faith is to enable those who trust.

The heart is the place of great strength; because is grows as deep as the roots of the tree that survives the droughts of life.

⁵ Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
   and make mere flesh their strength,
   whose hearts turn away from the Lord. 
⁶ They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
   and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
   in an uninhabited salt land. 

⁷ Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
   whose trust is the Lord. 
⁸ They shall be like a tree planted by water,
   sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
   and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
   and it does not cease to bear fruit. 

⁹ The heart is devious above all else;
   it is perverse—
   who can understand it? 
¹⁰ I the Lord test the mind
   and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
   according to the fruit of their doings.  (Jeremiah17)

"What Is Truth?"

Yesterday morning I woke up in a mental conversation about the term 'truth.'

I am not quite sure how that all was formulated, in my sleeping state, but it was an active wonder.  

What, and how, do folks see as truth?

And I remembered Jesus' discussion with Pilate: 

 ³⁷Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ ³⁸Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’(Jn. 18)

Jesus didn't answer Pilate's question.

However, Jesus does make some clear statements concerning the definition of the term: 

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ (Jn.8)

 ⁶Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. (Jn.14)

So I went to my trusty Theological Dictionary and looked up the word truth.

Here is what I found: "Truth is a reality that is firm, solid, binding, authentic, divine reality, revelation." (p. 37)

My mind thought:  Jesus is the revelation of truth.

Jesus is a living Epiphany -- manifestation -- of all that is truth.

Now that makes total sense to my small little mind.

This amazing truth is totally unprovable.

                        And most relevant to the human ego and intellect.

In the beginning was the Word, 

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

²He was in the beginning with God. 

³All things came into being through him, 

and without him not one thing came into being. 

What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 

⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (Jn 1)

Jesus is the light in the darkness of our world.  

His light displays the divine truth we all search for.

That my friends is the only truth that truly makes any sense in this life we experience everyday.