Today’s
Scripture Reading (March 15, 2012): Job 4
I have grown up in the church. I have a number of great memories of
events and relationships that have taken place inside the walls of the church.
I have some friends that have had some negative experiences in the past about
the church, and much of what they do now inside the walls of the church is a
reaction against the negative events that they carry with them from their past.
But that is not my story. I haven’t always liked the church, but I do have a
lot of good memories, memories that I would not trade for anything, that have
to do with the church.
But I also grew up in the Holiness tradition. Holiness movements have
long been misunderstood as the belief that we can live perfect lives in our performance.
And while that is a misstatement of the beliefs of the Holiness movement (I
think a better way of phrasing it is that it is the belief that we can grow
toward perfection in love - it is not that we never sin or never make a mistake
as we live our lives, but rather that our motivations are gradually changed,
through the work of the Holy Spirit, so that the reason that lies behind our
behavior is more and more based on love), I understand the reason behind the
misstatement. It is so easy for us to look perfect – we clean up well. It is
easy to become rule keepers and believe that our keeping of the rules is what
makes us holy. But that isn’t reality. We are only made holy by the action of
God.
It is the question that Job’s friends begin with when the silence ends.
Can we really talk about what you are going through? Because it sounds to us
like you have never made a mistake – you have never found yourself in sin. Can
we talk about this?
It is so easy, in our defence, for us to sound like we have never done
anything to deserve the negatives that seem to come with life. But I think the
truth, and maybe the truth that Job misses until the end of his story, is that
it more likely that it is the positives in this life that are undeserved by us.
Job was a good man, but he was not a perfect man. He had been blessed by God
beyond what he deserved. And so are we.
The truth is that our blessings are seldom deserved. And the bad things
that happen in life are often deserved, and it is easy to draw the line between
our hardships and our own behavior. But, in spite of this, God’s purpose is still
to bless.
Job was blessed, not because he was perfect – not because Job was more
righteous than God – but because God had desired to give him the blessing. And
so are we. No matter what your circumstance today, know that even though you
deserve the trial, God still wants to find a way to bless you.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Job 5
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