Today’s
Scripture Reading (December 23, 2018): Deuteronomy 30
Rob
Bell says that “Jesus is God's way of refusing to give up his dream for the
world.” Too often we seem to have this idea that God wants us to live our lives
with the brakes on; that somehow God is the killjoy to all of the fun that we
want to have, and that fun can only be present in our lives if we disregard
him. But that isn’t the truth. God has an understanding of this life that we
don’t possess. His hope for us is not that we will live our lives with the
brakes on, but rather that we will live our lives with abandon, experiencing
all that this life has to offer, but doing so without experiencing regret. I
have to admit that the times of my life that still bring regret are the times
when I disregarded him. God’s dream for us is more than we could ever imagine if we will just trust him with our future.
Circumcision
was a mark, placed on the body of a male, that reflected a commitment. Usually, it was the parent’s commitment to God,
or even to the Jewish way of life since
the mark was placed on the body of the child when he was only eight days old.
But it was just an outward mark or symbol. Nothing inside the child changed.
Circumcised men have, since the beginning of the practice, committed atrocities
in the world. They have often been the source of hurt for other people in the
world.
But
circumcision of the body was never the dream of God. Sometimes we mistakenly
believe that the circumcision of the heart was a dream that began after the
ministry of Jesus and with the teachings of Paul. But nothing could be farther
from the truth. Even in Moses closing address to Israel, Moses speaks of the
ultimate dream of God: the circumcision of the
heart.
Circumcision
of the body does nothing to change our behavior. But circumcision of the heart
allows us to live our lives loving God, and others, with abandon. His desire is
not necessarily to restore us physically, but rather to give us a spiritual
restoration that allows us to truly live a life
of service without regret. Ezekiel gives
us a marvelous image of the restoration of the body in the valley of dry bones,
but the spiritual restoration that Moses is speaking about gives us the ability
to truly be an agent of change the world by being the presence of God wherever
it is that we go.
And
that is really what Christmas is all about.
God presence in the world begins with a baby born in Bethlehem, continues
through the death and resurrection of that child on the cross, and is put into
practice when God’s Spirit is poured out on all of the people at Pentecost. And
this is the real cause for our celebration this Christmas Season.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Deuteronomy 31
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