FEBRUARY 2, 2017

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought, it figures...

― ALANIS MORISSETTE

EXODUS 29-30

10“Bring the bull to the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. 11Slaughter it in the Lord’s presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 12Take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar. 13Then take all the fat on the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. 14But burn the bull’s flesh and its hide and its intestines outside the camp. It is a sin offering.^b(29:10-14)

MATTHEW 22:1-22

8“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

JOURNAL 

Life is not fair...it never has been and it never will be. It is something I have struggled to accept all of my life. The brutality and unfairness of life is often something I have used religion and spirituality to avoid. My faith in Christ often has been motivated by my desire to protect myself from life's pain and uncertainty. Yet when you really read the Bible you realize that this is an empty hope. Good people suffer, Bad people get breaks.  Jesus never promises that the unfairness and inequality of life will be remedied by faith in him. He actually says the opposite and tells us to count the cost. ( Matthew 14 )

So then what is the benefit? Other than the promise of life after death...why follow Christ...What is the benefit? Simply and solely a relationship with the creator, that will give me the courage and strength to live a life of truth, service and love regardless of the consequences. 

This is the crossroads everyone must face in their faith. Do we follow Christ at the expense of all our earthly dreams...or do we give lipservice to the call and do our best to play both sides of the fence? Jesus says that to do the latter is repulsive...

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 

This word is difficult to face and it is heartbreaking in many ways...yet Jesus promises that it will be worth it...he promises that to live our lives in devotion to him is what he wants for us and why he willingly died to pave the path.

 36Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were put to death by stoning;^e they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

HEBREWS 11:36-40