JANUARY 10, 2023

  "You stumble through your days

1. Got your head hung low
   Your skies' a shade of grey
   Like a zombie in a maze
   You're asleep inside
   But you can shake away
   
   'Cause you're just a dead man walking
   Thinking that's your only option
   But you can flip the switch and brighten up your darkest day
   Sun is up and the color's blinding
   Take the world and redefine it
   Leave behind your narrow mind
   You'll never be the same..."

GENESIS 25-26

 23From there he went up to Beersheba. 24That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

25Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

26Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”

28They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”

30Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.(26:23-30)

MATTHEW 9:1-17

9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^a For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

JOURNAL 

God's intervention in the life of the ordinary fills the pages of the Bible. The obedience of Isaac paid great dividends in the future interaction with Abimelek. Jesus goes and eats with sinners and tax collectors and calls Matthew as a disciple. Again this refutes the idea that blessings only come to those who are righteous or wealthy or hold high positions. 

The reality is the spirit of God is available to all. That spirit will guide man to ways which honor God and propel the kingdom. No matter where a man is in life, no matter what he has done or not done...God's grace and power and love are available to him. This is the good news...

Every human is unique and has the potential to do great good or great harm. All of us are armed with that potential. Just as many probably wrote off Matthew as a hopeless selfish man who never would be anything more than a pawn in the pocket of Rome. Yet here I am 2000 years later reading the Gospel with his name as the title of this book. 

I really think this is why the Greatest Showman was so inspiring to me...it has nothing to do with P.T. Barnum. It wasn't his actual life that was so important but rather the spirit of it,  which was about waking up to your own dreams. It was about celebrating individuality and our own unique life. That's God's gift to us, our own unique life. When that reality is truly embraced it can set our hearts on fire to be a part of bringing the kingdom of God to earth as God's children. Who knows where that leads or how that will transpire...but it does remind me of the potential that every human can play. 

14For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^f And by him we cry, “Abba,^g Father.” 

ROMANS 8:14-15