(As a follow up exercise to a talk I gave at Meadowbrook on October 12, this is Part 3 of 7 meditations.)
The Apostle Paul admonished Christ-followers to focus on or meditate upon whatever is just. The ancient word in the Greek language can also mean righteous or upright. The idea is that one focuses upon that which is in alignment with God. The desired outcome of that meditation is that our lives would be in alignment with God.
After several generations had come and gone following the days of Adam and Eve, the people of this world had become so thoroughly unjust and out of alignment with God that the Lord decided that He must send a great flood as judgment. God spared one man and his family upon the ark because, “Noah was a just man (Genesis 6:9).”
Centuries later God called a prophet named Amos to proclaim to Israel that they were out of alignment with Him. The Israelites were in danger of being judged by God. The Lord brought this message to Amos by way of a vision.
Amos saw the Lord standing by a wall that had been built with a plumb line. The Lord was using a plumb line to see if the wall was upright or straight. God asked Amos, “What do you see?” Then Amos saw the Lord lowering a plumb line in the midst of Israel and their lives were crooked and unjust (Amos 7).
Is your life crooked or straight, just or unjust? The life of Christ is the plumb line that is lowered next to us to determine our alignment.
Note that the Bible is filled with stories of optical illusions of men and women who did religious acts and said religious things and pretended to be just. But God’s vision is perfect and He could see the misalignment.
The Bible makes it clear that everyone is born out of alignment (Romans 3:23) and because of that our crooked lives will not remain (Romans 6:23).
But the Bible says that “Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).” Jesus can miraculously make a crooked life straight.
Are your thoughts like God’s thoughts?
Is your attitude toward people like God’s attitude?
Is your heart compassionate toward those who are hurt, broken or lost?
Does it matter to you that the Just One is insulted with so much injustice in our world?
One day Isaiah went to the temple to worship and there Isaiah experienced the presence of a holy God. Isaiah was so awed by God’s righteousness he immediately saw his own unrighteousness and felt undone and unclean. But God graciously touched Isaiah and forgave him of sin (Isaiah 6).
May you experience God’s presence through meditation, be awed, be repentant and be touched by the Lord.
The Apostle Paul admonished Christ-followers to focus on or meditate upon whatever is just. The ancient word in the Greek language can also mean righteous or upright. The idea is that one focuses upon that which is in alignment with God. The desired outcome of that meditation is that our lives would be in alignment with God.
After several generations had come and gone following the days of Adam and Eve, the people of this world had become so thoroughly unjust and out of alignment with God that the Lord decided that He must send a great flood as judgment. God spared one man and his family upon the ark because, “Noah was a just man (Genesis 6:9).”
Centuries later God called a prophet named Amos to proclaim to Israel that they were out of alignment with Him. The Israelites were in danger of being judged by God. The Lord brought this message to Amos by way of a vision.
Amos saw the Lord standing by a wall that had been built with a plumb line. The Lord was using a plumb line to see if the wall was upright or straight. God asked Amos, “What do you see?” Then Amos saw the Lord lowering a plumb line in the midst of Israel and their lives were crooked and unjust (Amos 7).
Is your life crooked or straight, just or unjust? The life of Christ is the plumb line that is lowered next to us to determine our alignment.
Note that the Bible is filled with stories of optical illusions of men and women who did religious acts and said religious things and pretended to be just. But God’s vision is perfect and He could see the misalignment.
The Bible makes it clear that everyone is born out of alignment (Romans 3:23) and because of that our crooked lives will not remain (Romans 6:23).
But the Bible says that “Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).” Jesus can miraculously make a crooked life straight.
Are your thoughts like God’s thoughts?
Is your attitude toward people like God’s attitude?
Is your heart compassionate toward those who are hurt, broken or lost?
Does it matter to you that the Just One is insulted with so much injustice in our world?
One day Isaiah went to the temple to worship and there Isaiah experienced the presence of a holy God. Isaiah was so awed by God’s righteousness he immediately saw his own unrighteousness and felt undone and unclean. But God graciously touched Isaiah and forgave him of sin (Isaiah 6).
May you experience God’s presence through meditation, be awed, be repentant and be touched by the Lord.
1 comment:
My first visit to the chiropracter and he commented on my misaligned back and poor posture. He shook his head and said, "And how long have you been like this?" It struck me with how much I have gotten used to a life with misalignment and unnecessary pain. That which apparently could have been easily prevented with small changes in my lifestyle. On that same note, I hope to never settle for or get used to a misaligned spiritual life.
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