Genesis 12:1-4
Psalm 33
2 Timothy 1:8-10
Matthew 17:1-9
LISTEN
I love this passage and wanted to come up with all kinds of profound things to share, but the message I’m getting is simply to LISTEN to Jesus. Peter, my beloved, impulsive and big-mouth Peter, blurts out some crazy thing about what he can DO for the Lord. But God shuts him up with an overwhelming sense of presence. And all three fall prostrate, flat on their faces. It seems that I listen best when I fall flat on my face. When I hit rock bottom and [duh] finally get it that there’s only one God, and it’s not I, then I’m far more eager to listen and take suggestions. God doesn’t want me to DO anything. God wants me to listen. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that I can do that will “earn” God’s love or make me “worthy” of God’s presence in my life. I just need to listen, and when it’s time that God speaks and expects my response, then, yes, I’ll need to do whatever it is. But I’ll never be able to hear that if I don’t start now to tune in and stay quiet. God’s message to me today is simple…Shut up and listen!
Genesis 2:7-9;3:1-7
Psalm 51
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
If You are the Son of God…
How many times I’ve read and heard interpretations on the temptations of Jesus! This time, a couple of things struck me. First, was that I had always focused on the temptations and not on Jesus’ responses, responses that came from his heart, a heart wrapped in prayer. Evil tried to poke holes in his spirituality but couldn’t. I know when I’m experiencing temptation, all the reasons why I “shouldn’t” do whatever don’t cut it. Only some deep conviction, some non-negotiable can pull me through it. The other thing that struck me was that he kept saying, “If you are the Son of God…”, as if trying to get Jesus to prove it. Later, on the cross, this temptation comes again, “If you are the Son of God, come down off that cross,” or again, “…save yourself and us!” Wow! Even thinking of saving others can be a temptation if it’s not what God wants me to do. I imagine then, that the only way to stand strong, or even get back up again when I’ve fallen, is to focus just on what God’s plan is for me today. It’s that simple…and that difficult.
Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13
Psalm 146
1Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 5:1-12
Seek Humility
This speaks to me loud and clear this week! All the readings seem to focus on humility, but the word “seek” rang all kinds of bells for me. Some of the passages that get me moving in the right direction start with the word “seek”. Just yesterday, we had ”and suddenly, there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek.” Or the Easter classic, “Woman, whom do you seek?” These are lines that cause me not to just ponder but get off my duff and do something. So, it looks like God’s message to me today is to seek humility, actively and with earnest. To yearn for, welcome and embrace the truth is the best way for me. I don’t know the truth, but God does. So I want to be open to what God wants me to know and let go of the rest.
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