Joel 1:1-2:17
Every face turns pale. The earth shakes. The sky trembles. They thought they were OK. They were cock-sure and smug-faced. There were complacent. Oh that terrible attitude that has been savaged all through the Old Testament but that just will not seep away. Complacency is one of the biggest enemies of the people of faith. It slants towards self-sufficiency, it swings in a bias towards self-regard. And it paves the way for grumbling and disillusionment and distrust and the worship of idols. So God annihilates it. He comes at it like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. Because he is gracious and compassionate, because of his pity he assaults the complacent. He drags them and pushes them and scares them into weeping. He urges and pleads and beseeches them to return to him. He tugs at our hearts and begs us to rend them. He wants us on our knees so he can lift us onto our feet. He wants tears on our faces so he can wipe them away. Because he knows that he is great. He knows that people perish apart from him. Are we complacent before this God? Are we regularly dressed in sackcloth? I want to be. I need to be. Help me return to you with all my heart O God. Help me return to your love.
Hebrews 3:1-19
He is talking to Jews. As the name of the letter shows, it was the Hebrews that he was addressing. And their temptation was great - they could so easily just drop this Jesus-bit out of their religious expression and it would make life so much easier. People were getting persecuted for the Jesus-bit. People were getting ostracised for the Jesus-bit. People weren’t getting let into the synagogue because of the Jesus-bit. So maybe it would just make sense to nudge the Jesus-bit somewhere to the back of the draw and instead focus on the faith-bit and the love-bit and the God of Abraham-bit. There is a similar temptation today. To talk about God as a person called Jesus, to go beyond the idea of a vague spiritual being, to suggest that miracles occur and that Jesus can be spoken to and heard. These things can all seem a bit hard. It might be easier to emphasise the other bits instead. But then we depart from the bible. Then we err from this call to fix our thoughts on Jesus. Then we lose sight of the greatest part of this whole thing. Jesus is the worthy one. Jesus deserves the greater honour. Jesus is the faithful one who is building us into his house. Jesus is the one in whom we share. We are Jesus-freaks. We are Jesusists and Jesus-obsessives and Jesus-dependents and Jesus-worshippers. That is our identity in this faith. Is it our practice? Is it my practice? Is Jesus my all in all? Does he get the bulk of my focus? Is he even at the forefront of my thoughts about church? O Jesus would you please fix more of my thoughts on you. Please would my days be punctuated with you. You are my hope. Let me not lose sight of that.
Psalm 119:137-144
“Your promises have been thoroughly tested”.
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