Thought for Today

Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 

Isaiah 1:17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. 

Luke 18:19 Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- 

“Q. 1. What is the chief end of man? A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” (The Shorter Catechism, circa 1643, from the PCUSA Book of Confessions, pg. 205)

Why are we here? I believe that is a question of particular challenge for all Christians. Why did God form “man from the dust of the ground?” Why did God then breath “into his nostrils the breath of life?” Why did “the man become a living being?” (from Genesis 2:7)

The question itself always brings to my mind a scene from one of the first episodes of the HBO series Band of Brothers. In that episode, the company is still in training. After a grueling march, the company commander calls out one trainee and asks him, “Why are you here, private ____?” Thankfully, that private did not answer by quoting Genesis 2:15, nor did he quote the Shorter Catechism. Had he done so, his punishment might have been even more than his having to repeat the grueling march.

Isaiah suggests that our aim is “to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Is that enough? And, if it is, who defines justice and who identifies the oppressed? I understand Jesus’ words above to imply something more than merely ‘doing good.’ When Jesus himself was asked by that lawyer, "Luke 10:25 ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ 27 He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’"

One of the words we frequently encounter in the Bible is righteousness. My word processor suggests as synonyms: justice; virtue; decency; morality; uprightness. The Greek word is “δικαιοσύνη . . . (1) righteousness, uprightness, generally denoting the characteristics of δίκαιος (righteous, just).” (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon)

Righteousness is a complex concept. I believe it includes all of those synonyms, everything implied by Isaiah above and is the concept underlying one of my favorite verses in the Bible, “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?”

Do you believe most folks are righteous? Do you believe you are righteous? Look at the world around us. Do we see righteousness ‘breaking out all over?’ Being righteous is not about owning the biggest McMansion. It is not about driving the right car, belonging to the right club, wearing the right brand. We are not here for the purpose of owning, for the purpose of being popular or of being liked by everyone.

Watching television suggests to me that we are here to own just the right product, to live just the right lifestyle, to take just the right medicine (usually for some disease or condition I have never heard of). Righteousness is not about ‘stuff.’ I cannot think of a single verse in the Bible about Jesus owning anything.

I believe we are here to know God. We are here to live lives reflecting the truth that we are living beings because our Creator God breathed into us the breath of God. We are here to live lives demonstrating that we understand John 3:16-17, that we have the faith mentioned in Ephesians 2:8. We are here to “walk humbly with God.” When the Bible uses that word ‘walk,’ it means ‘to walk through life.’ We are to live humbly with God.

Stay safe, let your faith shine out in your life, trust God,

Pastor Ray