Today's Scripture Reading (April 23, 2024): Romans 8
A friend of
mine was on a plane making a cross-country flight. The distance meant that they
would be on the aircraft for a while. As they boarded the plane, they noticed
that across the aisle and a couple of rows in front of them sat a mom and dad
with a couple of kids. The aircraft took off after the normal preflight
activities were completed, and the kids went wild. Mom and Dad were doing their
best to settle the kids down, but the kids were having none of it. On a plane,
you are in close quarters, and as a parent, there is a natural fear about what
everyone else is thinking about your parenting skills. Sometimes, you wish you
could step outside for just a minute, but you realize that is impossible. Or maybe
it is that moment when you want to tell the child to go out and sit on the wing
until they can learn to behave better, but the wind is strong, and they would probably
fall off. Or worse, the child might think that sitting on the wing sounds like
a fun idea.
On this
flight, a gentleman is sitting across from them. And he has a book out that he
is trying to read, but you can tell that the noise from the kids is breaking his
concentration. Finally, he puts his book down, looks at the kids, and says to
the parents, "So, you have two kids?" Dad looks back and says yes, we
have two kids. The man smiles, "You are so blessed! My wife and I wish we
had two kids." Dad looks over compassionately at this man and asks, "You
and your wife weren't able to have kids?" The man smiles and says, "No,
we have five; we just wish we only had two."
There is a
time when parents sit with eager expectations over what their children will do
in life, but sometimes that eventuality seems too far away; the potential never
seems close enough to be realized.
I often think
that the church takes pride in the fact that we are at odds with our culture.
But that is not the biblical image. Listen to this description of the church in
Acts;
They devoted
themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and to prayer. Everyone
was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together
and had everything in common. They
sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet
together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together
with glad and sincere hearts, praising
God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their
number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
In
the early life of Jesus, we find this statement; "And Jesus
grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52). Timothy repeatedly says that the
people of the church need to be worthy of respect. Here, Paul gives us the idea
that Creation is waiting for the Children of God, the church, to measure up to
what it was intended to be. Scholars disagree over the word that we have
translated as "creation." For some, this word means all of the
created world, but others argue that the word really should be translated as humankind.
Creation is waiting, begging for the church to be the church, for the church to
embrace the teachings of Jesus and try their best to live them out in the
world. Creation hopes we will love the way that Jesus loved and that we will
make sure that the important things are what we are giving our attention to. But
we are so easily distracted and get caught up in arguments that are beneath us.
We need to walk away from some of the things we are messed up in to get to the
task of redeeming the world, or what Paul calls creation. We need to recognize
that all we are is stewards, and everything that we have belongs not to us but
to God. He has given it to us to manage.
I must admit
that I sometimes don't blame the world for not being patient with us. It shames
me that the Christian Church has become known as warmongers instead of
peacemakers, that we have been defined by the things that we stand against
rather than that we stand with Jesus in a deep love of this world. That there
is no one of any race or creed, in any state of sin, of any gender that God
does not love. No one is outside of God's providence, and there is no one for
whom Jesus did not die.
But, if we
are honest, this is not the message the world has often received from us. We
are kids misbehaving on a plane. And the world looks on, wondering how we have
been brought up. Paul writes that the world, whether it is all creation or just
humankind, is waiting for us to get it right, anticipating the moment when the
children of God will finally be revealed.
Tomorrow's Scripture
Reading: Romans 9
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