Thought for Today
Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-- and also afterward-- when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.
Genesis 12:2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
Matthew 5:19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 12:29 Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered.
How do you measure strength? What constitutes greatness? How are we to determine who is heroic? Is there some mutually agreed upon set of standards? A metric system for measuring such subjective qualities?
I suspect this is on my mind this morning because of the events in the Middle East and now spreading toward Europe. It is also, in part, triggered by noticing that our president was wearing a baseball cap when he announced our incursion into Iran; and, on that cap was the acronym for his followers, MAGA, Make America Great Again.
It is probably a good thing for nations and individuals to occasionally ask themselves, “Am I strong?” “Am I great?” If we do so, however, we should first establish our metrics of measurement and evaluation.
The most common metric for strength is physical strength. Before and during the NFL draft, it is common to hear how many pounds each player in the draft can bench press. “The bench press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench.” (Copilot search) I’ve not tried that since I was a teenager and, I’ll not embarrass myself by revealing how many pounds I could bench press then, nor will I even think about how many I could press today. I am fairly certain that I could at least lift my arms up vertically today while lying horizontally on a bench. Does any of that disqualify me for consideration as a strong person? It does disqualify me from being considered as an offensive lineman for the Patriots.
As a Christian, am I called to have physical strength? I cannot recall Jesus encouraging us to lift physical weights. Neither do I recall anything in the Mosaic Law, the 10 Commandments or the prophetic writings of the Old Testament suggesting that I develop my physical strength. The Greek word we translate as great is “μέγας, μεγάλη, μέγα with a basic meaning great, translated to fit the context.” (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon) That is an adjective. Sometimes it is obviously used to modify physical strength or strength of arms, i.e., “1 Samuel 18:30 Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle; and as often as they came out, David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his fame became very great.”
I believe God’s words to Israel in that verse above about becoming a great nation must be understood in terms of more than mere physical strength or military strength. I believe the greatness God offers is also revealing in “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?”
It is possibly not the best time to stress moral strength and moral greatness in the middle of armed conflict. However, as a Christian and especially as a minister, I can think of no better time to remind ourselves and our nation that we are called by our Creator God to be more than physically strong or militarily strong.
Christians look toward the realization of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus Christ, the Son of our Creator God, told us plainly the requirement to “be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” If we want to make America great again, we must strive to obey God’s commandments. We must guide our thoughts, our words and our actions toward doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with our God. There are times when physical strength and military strength are required. During those times, and during all other times, moral strength is still required. At all times, we must remember the commandments of which Jesus spoke and live so that we are among “whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Stay safe, today and always, love kindness, do justice, live humbly, trust God,
Pastor Ray