Daniel 5:17-6:28
Who’s the daddy? Who actually is the boss? Who really has the power? In exile it can be confusing. In a society like Daniel’s and like ours there are tectonic shifts happening in power structures. New kings come in and people claim all sorts of things about them. People always seem to want to crown latest one as the greatest one, the most recent one as the most decent one. I wish they would shut up. Because they start to lure the ear of those of us trying to be faithful. They tell us that the best bodies look like this and the best minds think like that and the way to riches is through the accumulation of funds. They suggest to us that we should live like them and they coerce us into following their ways. They push us to value their things the highest and, ultimately, they desire us to think that they are the best. Which is all very well... except they are wrong. And God will prove them so. God is the boss. God is the best. God shows us the best way to keep our bodies and the most fulfilling ways for our minds to think. God leads us into the true treasury of riches and God will keep us safe until the end. It might feel like the satraps are against us. It might even feel like we are staring some lions in the eyes. But we can stand firm. We can hold true. Because our God is the living God and he endures for ever. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth.
1 John 1:1-2:11
Thump. Thump. Thump It’s like huge Joe Frazier-size fists thumping into the punch bag. This beloved disciple is no lightweight; his words pummel the luke-warm. Confess your sin, walk like Jesus walked, love your brother - or your are still in the darkness. There is no place to hide from this assault. The duck and weave can only save you for so long. But these immense, titan-like fists also open wide in welcome. And the comfort they bring is strong beyond belief. They show us the deep, hope-imbuing core of the faith. They urge us on to the pulsating life-source of the Way; fellowship with the Father. We are not talking here about the slightly naff-sounding personal relationship with Jesus. We are not talking about a 5 minute check-in every day in order to keep a good working relationship with God. We are talking about fellowship. Naked, exposed, intense, bonafide fellowship with the Father. This is Him looking over every part of our being, every cell in our bodies and every fleeting thoughts in our minds. This is Him running his hands over every sweep of our emotions and every urge of our souls. This is us beholding Him and sitting with Him, chatting with Him and being silent with Him. This is us and Him. Together. And from this place everything else follows. And away from this place none of the other stuff can follow at all. Our faith, if it is to be true faith that punches with the weight of John, will find its home in the fellowship of the Father, and will lay its head on the bosom of the Son.
Psalm 136:1-12
These modern songs are so repetitive.
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