Thought for Today
Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and "he was not found, because God had taken him." For it was attested before he was taken away that "he had pleased God."
The 800-pound gorilla in the room today is the power ball lottery. No one won last night and the prize is now $1.3 billion. For most of us, that number is unimaginable. For what it’s worth, we did not buy a ticket. I heard one newscaster yesterday note that your odds of winning are essentially the same irrespective of whether or not you buy a ticket. I have heard the lottery described as a tax on those who do not understand statistics.
Yet, years ago, when Texas legalized some forms of gambling, including the lottery, I often paid the $1 to buy a ticket. Daydreaming about how I would spend my winnings helped me survive many a boring meeting at work. I never had to test any of the ideas I developed. I’m not even sure that I broke even from a financial consideration. At least the intervening years have resolved the question of whether or not I would take the cash prize or the full payout.
Many of us have wondered how we might respond to some sort of financial windfall, some unexpected inheritance or prize. What if I had come up with the idea for Amazon instead of Jeff Bezos? How would I have responded to such success? What does it take to be successful in life? How much is enough? What does life expect from me?
All interesting questions. All questions most of us have asked of ourselves. All equally the wrong questions! As a Christian, I believe that the prophet Micah long ago answered the most important (but far too often not asked) question. God, the Creator of Creation, wants us “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with . . . God.” Success in life is not a question of the amassing of wealth or power. You may have heard the adage, “Money is just a way of keeping score.” Although there is some smattering of truth in that statement, that is not a metric by which God keeps score. If you read about Enoch, there is no mention of wealth. Enoch did not win the lottery; Enoch did not invent anything related to computers, Bluetooth or AI. “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.”
The author of Hebrews takes it a step further. “By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death . . .” Enoch lived with “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I believe that no one could walk with God any way except humbly; and, I believe that if any of us do walk humbly with God, we will “do justice, and love kindness.” How could we not? Notably, we don’t even have to buy a ticket to win the ‘lottery’ of salvation, of success in life. “what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
So, how do we do that? Islam has its Seven Pillars of “Walayah “guardianship”; Taharah “purity”; Salat “prayer”; Zakah “charity”; Sawm “fasting”; Haji “pilgrimage”; and Jihad “Struggle”. (en.wikipedia.org) Can we create such a simple list of requirements for our salvation? Is it possible to reduce our relationship with God to a checklist? We know the efficacy of 12-step programs. Can Christians, Jews or anyone else create a salvation checklist, a short list suitable for laminating and carrying in a pocket? A checklist we can refer to as we go about our daily lives?
I do not believe we can. I believe we need to emulate Enoch. I believe we need to follow the example and the words of Jesus, the Christ. In the Bible, one word translated as ‘walk,’ περιπατέω, means to walk about, or to live. Like Enoch, like Jesus, we need to live our lives humbly with God, every minute of every day. We need to exemplify in everything we think, say and do our faith, which is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
We don’t need checklists; we don’t need to buy a ticket, we ‘merely’ need to have faith.
Stay safe, have faith, trust God,
Pastor Ray