"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" - Isaiah 6:3My heart has been uneasy lately. I am not sure why, perhaps it is getting to the midway point of my first true year in middle school ministry, so I am processing things I have done, what could be done better, what must change, mistakes I have made, mistakes I am making. Amidst all this I am trying my best to stay focused on God. Trying to stay focused on God for who He is, amidst how I see God responded to in light of what I will call the "modern American church."
I have realized that our culture has shifted greatly from the culture of the Israelites and the New Testament early church. And I realize in this transition we may have lost something. We are preparing this week to begin a series on Christmas, although it does not have the traditional "nativity story" start. It begins back with Moses, with Yahweh, at the command to build the tabernacle. Some reading this have no idea what the tabernacle was. Read Exodus, there are like 11 chapters there about it. Essentially, it was the place where God dwelled among the Israelites, a place set apart just for God. It was the Holy place. The word holy is the Hebrew Qadesh meaning: to be set apart for a special purpose. To the Israelites, the understood God in light of his holiness. He was feared, because he was holy. He was perfect in his goodness, in his attributes, and he was feared because they realized how far from him they were. The place God dwelled could only be entered once a year by the high priest, and even then was the fear of the priest being struck down by God, because God is holy. And we are not.
In the light of todays present society, we lose sight of what it means for God to be holy. Too often we take for granted what it really means for God, in his holiness, to send his Son to die for us. For God to dwell, to tabernacle in us through the Holy Spirit. Do we take time to realize a holy God paid the price to buy us back, amidst all the times we have turned from him?
Israel based their lives around God. True, they were not perfect. But the tabernacle was with them, they were led through the wilderness. Did they have their times of doubt? Absolutely. Their times of failure and distrust? Absolutely.
Today, however, I get the sense we based God around our lives. We take for granted His holiness, focusing on the fact we have his grace. If I can read this morning, I will. If I can make it to church, I will. Oh, I'm just too tired. If the High Priest was too tired to make the sacrifices, it could mean his end, the people's end when he entered the Holy of Holies. Today, we are so focused on self. We have created a culture dependent upon us. Until something goes wrong, and then still we become upset with God for not making things work our way. The Israelites had this too, anger at God for leading them into the wilderness to starve, anger at God for leading them to the promised land which was filled with giants. For us, we like making it on our own without God, and we grow frustrated when we don't see Him do things our way.
I am in no way an advocate for saying one must attend church every Sunday because that is a true Christian. But if we honestly search our hearts, when God searches our hearts, what is our life built upon? Is it revolving around a holy God, who in His perfect goodness reached down to us, came down to us, paid the price for our sins, was the ultimate High Priest, so we may be in relationship with Him again? Or is it based upon the fact God is simply God, a good choice, someone we sometimes follow, when it is convenient to us. Because life is busy. Yeah, God, life is busy, you know this. I mean, I have to work to support my family. My kids need to play sports because this may be the only time they can, they're only kids once. And we really need to do this, and that, and this. Yeah, we'll read our bible here for an hour each night. But when we create God to be a time-slot in our lives, we lose sight of his holiness, who he is.
Let our lives be focused on Him, and all we do come from His love, His goodness. When I work, I work because of the work he has done in me. When I am with friends, I am a light to them. When I am with family, I love them as He has loved me. When I play sports, I play for the Lord, giving Him glory and thanks. God is not a "time-slot" in our day, in our lives. He must be center stage, for He is perfect in goodness, He is holy.
disclaimer: these are just some random thoughts stirring in my head, spit out here. I don't pretend to be an expert, to have it all right.
- Brummy
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