Today's Scripture Reading (June 29, 2023): Ezekiel 21
When I was
young, I played a lot of hide-and-seek games. Hide and seek, hide and seek in
the dark (a personal favorite best played outside in those moments between the
final setting of the sun and the complete darkness of night), or games like “Sardines,”
where one player hides, and the others seek. And when you find the person, you must
join them in hiding in the same place. Another
version was the classic hide-and-seek game, except that instead of being caught
by the one that was it and sent to jail, when you were caught, you became part
of the finders. As the game progresses, more and more are “it,” and fewer and
fewer are hiding.
This last
version is precisely what the church is supposed to look like. We are it, and
when the church is at its best, we find lost people and love them into the
Kingdom of God, and they become the seekers. It is an extension of the purpose
that God had placed on Israel when he said to Abraham, “and all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you.”
Israel had
made a series of wrong choices. Their opinion of themselves had faltered, and
they struggled with life just like we do. And the heart of God broke. At that
moment, God knew that something had to be done. If he could have taken all of
the pain of Israel on himself and released them from it, he would have, and one
day that was precisely what he would do, but that time had not yet come.
And
so, God picked up the polished and sharp sword and flashed it against his own
people. Just like a father disciplining a child, Israel had strayed from her
purpose for too long. There had to be a significant change, which would require
drastic methods on the part of God.
I
believe God weeps over his church, which seems to want to stray away from her
purpose too. Sometimes, I admit that I don’t think we understand God. God
created you; he created you unique and significant. The world wouldn’t be right
without you. You are beautiful and special. But we have lost that knowledge of
ourselves. We have started to see ourselves differently, and in a way we didn’t
like. We have also started to believe what is false, lies about our own selves and
our uniqueness and beauty, and lies about the world God created. And God sent prophets
and priests, and even Kings into our presence to show us who we were created to
be.
Finally,
he sent Jesus. A small group of disciples began to carry this message to a
world that needed it. And each time these disciples found someone, the found became
“it” in this game of spiritual hide and seek. At that moment, they reached out
to us, revealing God to us, and in response, we became searchers for those who
were still lost, the ones who still didn’t see the absolute beauty that God had
created in them.
Originally
Israel was it, but they became ingrown and left God to follow what was false.
And finally, God had to hold the sword over them and cut them off. All in the
hope that one day, a remnant would return to Canaan and follow God again,
blessing the world in the process.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 22
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