But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them. – Joshua 13:33

Today's Scripture Reading (February 17, 2022): Joshua 13

Culturally we seem obsessed with our rights or what we think the world owes us. I think it is, at least partially, because we live in an age where the barriers are falling. I have been challenging those around me to consider the impossible, but the truth is that we don't seem to have a good understanding of what might be impossible. Everything is possible. So, we have developed a higher sense of expectation. When we get sick, we expect to be healed. When we are poor, we expect someone to come around us to care for us or fund our poverty. When there are oil spills, we expect a quick solution. And when we finally run out of oil, well, then we expect to have found some other source of energy to keep everything moving, warm, and comfortable. The thought that there might be a sickness that can't be cured, poverty too deep to be paid for, or a problem without a solution; that is what we believe is impossible. And yet, it is also exactly what Jesus taught.  "The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me." Some problems just can't be solved

Joshua repeatedly reminds us that the tribe of Levi received no inheritance. If that had happened in our contemporary world, I can almost hear the cry coming from the Levites. We understand that God is our inheritance, but God won't feed our hunger or keep us warm at night. We need our inheritance. More than that, as descendants of Jacob, we deserve and have a right to an inheritance among the tribes. We have the right to decide our own future! But the reality was that the Levites had no rights; they had to trust in both God and Israel.

Christianity is counter-cultural in that we also exist as a people who have no rights. We are the echo of the Levites of the Hebrew Bible. Without an inheritance, we have become the servants of the world so that we can show God's love to the world. Our push back is that because we are a people without rights, we are a people who then get walked over. And we have the right to defend ourselves and get what it is that we deserve. I'm not sure how we say that with a straight face considering that we serve the one that was executed because he professed a message of love to a world unwilling to listen. That is getting walked over!

As Christians, we seem to have this misplaced idea that governments should follow what we believe. We seem to make the journey from servants to leaders in the process. We have a right to have gay marriage and abortion abolished. We have a right to have someone care for our needs. But that is actually anti-Christian because we are a people who have no rights. What we do have is the responsibility, even in our worst moments, to love this world, understanding that our inheritance is Jesus Christ, the one who died loving this world. This is who we are; the ones who love through all kinds of situations and all sorts of persecutions.

This is our uncomfortable truth. I agree that all things are possible with God. There is absolutely nothing that he can't do. But his purpose is still to show his love to the world. The instrument he has chosen for that love is us. I am just not sure how we can love the world we have been sent to serve if we are always worried about our rights and inheritance.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Joshua 14