10/23/11

4 Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest.
5 You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night,
and I will destroy your mother.6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; they changed their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and repay them for their deeds.
10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply;
because they have forsaken the LORD  to devote themselves to 11 whoredom.
Wine and new wine take away the understanding. (Hosea 4:4-10)

(Ozzy Osbourne disguised as a priest-
Just because someone has the vestments, a degree or even passes ordination tests does nto necessarily mean they are true believers or holy)

Thoughts: Priests and prophets are supposed to know better.  But the priests of Hosea's day were "greedy" for sin.  They wanted the people to sin, as if that were a freeing thing.  Sometime rebellion against God may seem like progress.  But rebellion against God isn't a new thing.  It may come into fashion as the latest thing, so that things like Sabbath keeping, marital fidelity, and sobriety seem old-fashioned and passe.  Priests are supposed to call the people back to God and holiness.  But some priests prefer to go with the people- the "popular" route of being fashionable. Hosea says that the priests are not teaching the Law so people forget.  Therefore the people are destroyed.  For the Law is life, health, and hope.  This was true in Hosea's day, but it can also be true in our day.  In the name of academics and knowing better, many ministers are forsaking the holiness of God for the popular way of sexual immorality, Sabbath breaking, and lack of sobriety.  It is time for people to come back to the way of life.  There is healing in holiness, for peace with God, neighbor, and self is God's will.  To obey is better than sacrifice/forgiveness, for it eliminates the need for forgiveness. True priests and ministers are called to preach holiness and also to live it.

Prayer: Lord, on this clergy appreciation month, we pray for clergy who have a hard time in such times as these.  Help your ministers and priests to speak the truth even when it hurts.

7/29/11 Murder affects creation

Devotional on the Ten Commandments with attention to the New Testament.
Sixth Commandment: You shall not murder.

 Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.
² There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed. ³ Because of this the land dries up,    and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away. (Hosea 4:1-3)

Romans 8:¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Romans 13:⁸ Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.  ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

(Picture of drought)

Thoughts: Hosea 4, Jeremiah 7 & 19 all speak of murder as one of the causes for the exile of the people of God from their promised land and peace.  It is as if God says, "If you do not choose to live in peace, you will not have peace in your life."  Hosea even implies that murder affects the whole land and weather.  Romans 8 in the New Testament also speaks of the whole creation groaning for the day when evil (including murder will cease).  The spiritual and moral act of murder affects the physical creation.  On the positive side, if we love (not sexual love- but sacrificial, serving love), it fulfills the whole law of God (Romans 13).  Real love does not seek to harm our neighbor.  There have been tomes written in our murderous society trying to describe the definition of murder.  Today's society debates whether abortion (or what kind is murder and what is humane), euthanasia (or what kind is murder and what is humane).  But the test described here is do we harm our neighbor?  Do we love our neighbor?  It is a good test for us as individuals.  The peaceable kingdom is a kingdom where love reigns and there is no room for murder.
     Certainly there are parts of Zambia and the Congo where hospitals, farms, infrastructure were destroyed by war as well as men, women, and children.  Killing affects creation.  Look at the "no man's land" in pictures of World War I or the aftermath of the nuclear destruction in Japan.  Killing is the opposite of loving our neighbor and the peaceable kingdom.

Prayer: May my heart grow in love for neighbor, Lord.