But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. – Psalm 81:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 4, 2019): Psalm 81 & 82

We have been deceived. And the deception was not authored by Hollywood or the entertainment industry. This deception we willingly engaged in of our own volition. We were the ones who bought the books, or paid to see the speaker. And if it wasn’t us, then it was the preachers and teacher to whom we gave our attention. Brian Mclaren describes the deception this way in his book “A Generous Orthodoxy.”

A key factor in the science of successful religious broadcast fund-raising is fear. So listeners/viewers are told of vast left-wing conspiracies to “destroy the family” or “stamp out religious freedom.” They are then begged to help fight against “the homosexual agenda” or “secular humanism’ or “postmodernism” or “terrorism” or some other real or imagined bugaboo – by sending in their sizable tax-deductible donations, for which they will receive an exciting premium (a genuine mustard seed in a cube of clear plastic, for example).

It all made so much sense when we read the words, and yet it carried us further and further away from the truth. Until the deception finally hid the voice of God safely away from our listening ears. We became a people of rules and regulations, and there are many of them. We don’t drink, don’t smoke and don’t go with girls (or boys) that do and so we think we are Christian. But in the midst of all of our rules, we lost God. We do not listen to him, and neither are we willing to follow him. But we are good people of the rules just the same. And maybe God will acknowledge our meticulous rule keeping.

Maybe the homosexuality debate is an excellent example of this deception. Is there a debate to be had over the subject? Yes, most definitely. And it is a good debate, one that we need to have in our culture. But homosexuality is mentioned a grand total of seven times in the entire Bible. And Jesus is totally silent on the issue. By the way we carry on, people who have not read the Bible probably think that it is the central theme of the book. But it isn’t; it is not even close. The main theme of the Bible is not even following the rules; it is being obedient to the voice of God. But to be obedient to his voice, first, we have to hear it.

What does it mean to be obedient to God? Well, the starting place is love. Go and love the world, as God loves it. If you can hear the voice of God, the obedience that he demands is that we would love the stranger, fight for justice for those suffering from injustice, and be protectors of the weak.

And, once we have mastered these things, maybe we can move on to others, but at least for me, I have a feeling it will take the rest of my life to master just these three things. And unless we are willing to love the unlovable, to fight for justice, and protect those who are weaker than we are, then we have not heard the voice of God, nor we have submitted to him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 83

To my American Friends, Happy Independence Day.