Daniel 2:24-3:12
What I really want to know about this passage, what really bothers me is whether Nebuchadnezzar’s decree required you to bow when you heard the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music all playing together or whether the sound of just one of them would be sufficient to make you need to kneel. Either way, he must have had pretty high expectations about the musical proficiency of his people. If it was the latter I, for one, would have been completely clueless as to whether I was hearing a horn (and so require me to kneel) or just a trumpet (and so I would have been OK to carry on). And if it was the former, well it would have really ruined listening to any music at all because as soon as you heard the zither (which I have no idea what it sounds like but hope it is a bit like a kazoo) you would have been on tentahooks waiting to tick the rest of the instruments off your list and then fall on your face. It would have been a bit like musical bingo! But I would not have played. Because who wants to fall face down before a man whose days are numbered? Who wants to worship the king of a kingdom that is going to be crushed. My worship is precious. My kneeling actually means something. And I want to save it for something that will endure. I only want to bow before the One who will never be destroyed.
2 Peter 1:1-21
As with every excellent meal, there is a good portion of seconds. And this second portion from Peter has two overwhelming flavours; one is a strong aroma of the past and the other is a powerful hint of the future. First, the past - by the death and resurrection of Jesus we have received everything we need for life and godliness. That is actually quite a shocking statement. We have already been given all we need to ace this test. But this is not a push to self-reliance. Rather, like the Lifelines in ‘Who Wants to Be A Millionaire’ we have been given things that enable us to draw on the help of another. We have been given the great and precious promises. We just need to call them in. We just need to live in the truth that they are real. We just need to drink deep of the presence of Jesus. We have all we need - it’s time to get confident in that. And then secondly, the hint of the future - the rich welcome into the eternal kingdom. All we do here will not pass away. Our actions here are not swiftly forgotten. Every action of brotherly kindness, every word of love sows into the coming kingdom. Not in some wishy-washy, floaty-like-a-fairy kind of way but in the way that these actions put people into that kingdom who would not have been there otherwise. And so if we live this way - if we show love and speak the truth and persevere and make every effort, then walking into the kingdom will be like walking into our own award ceremony. Person upon person will walk up to us and thank us for what we did for them in this life. People will say “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you”. And people will embrace us warmly like the recipients of undeserved riches. That is what our future can be like if we press on in this faith. And that is a future I want.
Psalm 135:1-12
“Sing praise to the Lord, for that is pleasant”. Has he actually heard me sing??
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