Sunday 31 July

1 Chronicles 9:1b-10:14

David said he’d rather be a door-keeper in the house of his God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked (Psalm 84).  I always imagined this was David’s secret longing to be a bouncer; his yearning to wear a black suit and an ear-piece and to glare menacingly at every individual who deigned to walk through his door.  It seemed a strange thing to desire but, then again, when the alternative is sharing canvas with deranged maniacs, anything could sound attractive.  But this passage shows that a door-keeper was not primarily a bouncer.  They did have responsibility for protection but being big and muscly was not their defining physical characteristic - it was bags under their eyes.  A door-keeper / gate-keeper would spend all night guarding the temple and its articles and then they would open the door for the people in the morning before keeping an eye on the articles and treasuries during the day.  Their timetable did not allow much sleep.  Their calling did not allow much sleep.  I love sleep and I imagine the wicked did too.  But David preferred to be sleep-deprived in obedience to Jesus than well-rested and doing whatever he wanted.  So I wonder, would I really rather be a door-keeper?  Do I really think Jesus is worth that much?

Romans 14:1-18

We come back to that old chestnut of identity.  Paul never does much without coming back to it.  So I suppose we shouldn’t either.  We belong to the Lord.  Christ died so we might belong to him.  This is like a double fist-pump to the solar plexus of my self-centered life.  The first fist thumps into my arrogance - how I often take too far the idea that we Christians belong to each other (as we saw a couple of days ago).  I often find myself thinking that I am the plumb-line by which others should live.  How pathetic is that?  Jesus is the plumb-line and he always will be.  We do have obligations to one another but that obligation is to point one another more and more towards Jesus, not to our own particular practice of our faith.  I wonder how often I give advice or direction that leaves another person grateful to me rather than grateful to their Lord, that leaves them thinking about me rather than thinking about Jesus?  The second fist soon follows.  This one assaults my insecurities.  I often find myself looking around at others - at how they live - and feeling threatened by what they do.  I get insecure.  I start to resent them and then start to resent myself.  But Jesus died and returned to life so that he might be my Lord.  He has given me my value.  He has already called out my worth.  And I don’t need to try to get affirmation from others or to be assured by them thinking or acting like me.  Jesus is the one I should be looking at.  He died and returned to life for me so that he could be foremost in my sight.  How many of my issues would suddenly fade into the background if I just dwelt on this thought - that Jesus died and returned to life so that he could be my Lord?  Living this way will bring righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Living this way is pleasing to God and, in a nice ironic finale, is also approved by men.

Proverbs 18:17-19:2

“The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.”  The danger of our “soundbite culture” - does another ever get a chance to come forward and question?