What Matters

The poor we don't need

'There will always be poor people in the land.  Therefore I command you to be openhanded towards your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.'  (Duet 15:11)

The second half of Deuteronomy 14 and chapter 15 reveal God's radical economic plan for the Israelite nation as they are about to take posession of the land.  Tithes to be used in temple worship (14:22-24), tithes used to support the alien, orphan and widow (14:28-29), the cancelling of debts every seven years (15:11), openhandedness towards the poor (15:11) and jubilee for slaves (15:12).  All these commands seem to be underpinned by God's desire for the Israelites to be devoted in worship, and equal in status before Him. 'There should be no poor among you', is God's observation, for 'in the land the Lord is giving you to posess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you...'  This will happen as the people follow the Lord's economic and social bluprint.  Dare They?  Indeed, dare we?

Prayer

Lord, your heart beats for the poor.  So much so that your economics fly in the face of our conventional wisdom which sees the powerful prosper at the expense of the powerless.  Forgive us.  Lead us.  Lead me into your radical heart, your radical action for the poor.

A God who is near

'What other nation is so great as to have their god's near them the way the LORD out God is near us whenever we pray to him?' (Deuteronomy 3:7)

For forty years wandering in the desert God's presence with the Israelites was tangible.  It was seen, felt and heard, even smelled.  The pillars of cloud and fire, the Tent of Meeting, the miraculous signs - all these things testified to a God who was not distant, but to a God who was near.  With his rhetorical questions, Moses reminds the people what an amazing thing it is to be chosen, to be set apart for such an intimate relationship as this.

To have a God who is near when we pray - this is an awesome, wondrous thing.  The God of Moses is the same God who came as near to us as it is possible to do so when in the person of Jesus, God walked, lived, died and eventually rose from the dead amongst us.  God demonstrated his limitless capacity to do whatever it takes to draw near to us.  Will I, will we draw near to him?

Prayer

Lord, may I, in response to your grace that draws near to me in Jesus, draw near to you in all I say and do.

Giving Generously

'I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more in the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on.' (Mark 12:43-44)

People brought their offerings to the temple in full public view.  Much pomp and ceremony would have surrounded the rich as they brought their gifts.  You can just imagine the 'oohing' and 'ahing' of the crowd as large contributions were made.  But Jesus saw something the crowd didn't.  He saw the widow come forward and make her pitifully small contribution.  Jesus knew the contribution had cost much more than the others - it had been given out of extreme poverty, not out of comfortable wealth.

Jesus is much more interested in what we give out of, not what we give.  Do we give out of a heart responding to grace, or a heart hardened by duty?  Do we give out of a spirit of generosity, or a spirit of fear?

Prayer

Lord, I pray that you grace me with the widow's heart - a heart that responds to you out of grace and generosity.

A Way into Life

March 1, 2006

'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it.' (Mark 8:34-35)

Being so committed to a message one is prepared to lose life for it is radical.  An amazing number  have stepped up to that level of commitment willingly.  Ghandi, Martin Luther-King, Bonhoeffer - and countless Christian martyrs through the centuries who have been prepared to stand for something rather than fall for anything.  Nothing less than yielding our life for Jesus and his message (f non-violence amongst other things...) is enough.  It is a black and white decision, a hot or cold faith.  No shades of grey - no luke-warmness.  Losing life to save it - ours and others - this is our calling.

Prayer

Lord, you call me to yield everything. Past, present and future.  Everything.  I choose to do so.  I choose death - to self.  I choose life in Christ.  I choose the Way of the Cross.  I choose you - only because you have chosen me.