Tag Archives: God’s gifts

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How Different are God’s Thoughts?

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“How Different are God’s Thoughts?”

Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-9 (55:2) – March 23, 2025

            Sometimes, I get really, really busy. Involved. Even distracted. Doing a lot of things, sometimes attempting even more than I could possibly ever finish in one day. Sometimes, when I get really involved in things or activities, I don’t even think about God for whole stretches of time–for hours, sometimes even days at a time. Sometimes, I discover I don’t even look for the Lord. I don’t even concern myself with finding God. And every once in a while, I don’t even want to go looking for the Lord.

            I certainly admit it. I have been less than a perfect Christian. There have been numerous times when I’ve forgotten to pray, neglected to study the Bible, sidestepped communication with God. I definitely haven’t hit a bull’s eye in my personal Christian walk 100 percent of the time. I do freely admit it. I have a sneaking feeling that I’m not alone. If we were to admit it to ourselves (and even admit it to a few other people, too!), I suspect we would find a number of honest, repentant people, confessing where they have fallen short in their Christian lives.

            That’s bad news! What can we do about that??

            Looking at our scripture reading for today, I can find several things that may help us out when we consider a big problem like falling short in our lives before God.

            Let’s take a closer look at verses 6 and 7. “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon God while he is near;” Whoa! The Lord is closer than I thought! God’s right here, johnny-on-the-spot! I have a sneaking suspicion the Lord is right next to me, whenever I look for Him. And I have a feeling God will be right there, immediately, whenever I call.

            While I was writing this sermon, I was reminded of the times I played hide-and-seek with the neighborhood kids when I was young. I bet most of you have played hide-and-seek at one time or another, too. When I was seeking the other players, I knew the object of the game. Look for the other players. I understood what I was supposed to do.

            But, there’s a problem here in the scripture passage, in Isaiah 55:7. The prophet mentions the wicked, who pursue their own wicked ways. They are not following after the Lord. They are not even close to doing what the Lord wants them to do. These wicked people don’t even know what they’re missing. They don’t care about the object of the game. “Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts.” These wicked people, these unrighteous guys are even thinking bad thoughts, thoughts that are not pleasing to the Lord!

            Again, that’s bad news! What can we do about that??

            I’ve been talking about some pretty negative people, and some pretty negative actions, where some people actively go out of their way to be disobedient and disruptive. Some people are like that. The Bible often talks about those kinds of actions and that particular kind of people

            Now, I’ll go off in a slightly different direction—still away from the Lord, but just different. Sometimes, other people get the “busy-sickness.” You know the type. Running around like chickens with their heads cut off.. In a dad-blamed hurry, frantic, running, rushing and dashing around, sometimes even without any clear direction. Sometimes their thought-life (our thought-life?) can be the same way—scattered, rushed, not able to concentrate.

            What’s more, in this culture of consumer abundance, we can become preoccupied with our belongings, with our “stuff.” This sneaky kind of mind-set can sneak into our brains! What we possess and what we think we “need” can be a source of control.[1] Sometimes it can really be difficult for me – for you – for us to figure out what we truly need. Sadly, it’s often something that redirects our minds away from God, which is never good!   

            Again, that’s bad news! What can we do about that? What do you think the Lord might say to those people? What do think the Lord might say to us, to you and me?

            I see the answer right here, in verses 7 and 8. The prophet tells us straight out. “Let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Mercy! Pardon! To me, that sounds an awful lot like GRACE. The Lord wants us to return to Him! The Lord IS gracious! The Lord WILL abundantly pardon! I don’t know about you, but I think that is exciting news.

            I had a general idea of what “pardon” meant, but I wanted to find out the exact meaning. According to Webster’s dictionary, pardon means “to excuse or forgive an offense or penalty.” Wow!! That means even if I do something wrong, or think something I shouldn’t, in God’s eyes, God will abundantly pardon me–God will forgive me!! And God will abundantly forgive you, as well! That’s truly good news!

            Here in Isaiah 55, as we say thank you to God for that marvelous pardon and forgiveness, we also see God providing good gifts for us. The phrase we highlight from the Lord’s Prayer is “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” With as often as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, I suspect God would be really pleased if we took this part of the prayer seriously.

We know what many of the things that please God look like. We can even make a list! As we consider God’s good gifts, and God’s kingdom, there will be food for everyone, everyone feels loved and loves others, people find ways of settling problems other than war and fighting, and when people hurt each other, people forgive each other.

            We can praise God that – just as in verse 5 where God pours out on God’s people the blessings God promised to King David – the Lord will pour out those blessings on earth! Just as these blessings are true every day now in heaven, they will one day soon be true upon earth. Especially if we all work to make these blessings and love and caring for each other happen! [2]   

            God will be there for us when we need it! God will forgive, and have abundant grace and mercy and pardon for us, and we can count on that! We can have the assurance that as we come near to the Lord, the Lord will draw near to us! What a promise. What a God. Amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/a/18-a/FR-18-a.html

[2] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/01/year-c-third-sunday-in-lent-february-28.html

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Don’t Be Good . . . Be Wise!

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“Don’t Be Good . . . Be Wise!”

Ephesians 5:15-20 (5:15-16) – August 18, 2024

Can you picture this scenario? A tired mother, towing a whiny, unwilling child behind her in the grocery store, finally bursts out in an exasperated tone, “Will you please just be good?” How many times have you heard that cry? “Stop misbehaving!” or, “Please, be good, for once!” We may even have said it ourselves, to our children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews. Misbehavior is more than just a child’s issue. It’s bigger than that. It’s a larger issue . . . an issue of society in general, even a world issue.

The world situation today is not good. For confirmation, all anyone needs to do is look at a daily newspaper or listen to the nightly news. Misbehavior on a regional or national level. Wars and conflict overseas, violence in every large city in the United States, breakdown of society’s fabric in general, worldwide. I can quote the Apostle Paul from this passage in Ephesians 5 and say that these days are, indeed, evil.

This evil that Paul speaks of is not just generic, abstract evil. This evil is a specific kind of evil . . . in Greek, poneros—evil in active opposition to the good, pernicious. Insidious. Causing ruin. This is the situation that humanity is in without God. Left to our own devices, people will inevitably take the easier, softer way, cutting corners, with no moral compass.

If anyone here is familiar with the book The Lord of the Flies, this story is a prime example of how bad humanity can get. Briefly, the story concerns a group of British schoolboys who are wrecked on a tropical island without adult supervision, since the adults die in the plane wreck. It doesn’t take long before all kinds of evil behavior starts occurring as the boys engage in bullying, gang activity and before long, outright violence.

            Now, this book (later made into a movie) is a fictional account concerning schoolboys who do not have a moral compass. This kind of behavior is a worst case scenario, but it is happening more and more, as we see groups of people all over the world acting more and more amoral. Maybe we see it more and more because of better communications. And, with television and computers, news is beamed to the remotest corners of the world—news of these evil days.

“Though we cannot pretend that evil isn’t real (such a view would hardly be “wise”), this also cannot be the whole story of the world. We know that the world is God’s good creation, and that all days are God’s gifts” [1] – God’s gifts to God’s people!

            This is exactly the audience to whom Paul addresses this letter. The believers in Ephesus were Christians. They did believe in the claims of Jesus Christ. They were walking with God. One of the main themes of this letter is just that: keep walking with God. The Apostle Paul did not soften his words. He knew how difficult and challenging the Christian life can be.

            Paul’s strong words in Ephesians 5 are as much for us today as for believers centuries ago. “Take heed how you order your lives!” or, “Consider how you conduct yourselves!” The Christian life is not just a walk in the park, strewn with financial and material blessings, no matter what the tele-evangelists who promote a health, wealth and happiness gospel seem to say.

            Instead, and this is shown to us again and again in the Apostle Paul’s own life, the Christian life is not a spectator sport. No sitting in a comfy chair, eating bonbons. Life takes some doing. It takes rolling up our sleeves, and not being afraid to do something for God.

            Don’t get me wrong . . . I am NOT saying that we can work our way to heaven, because we CANNOT. No. We as human beings start off by our very nature separated from God, and cannot do anything about our own predicament. Yet, God’s wonderful grace sent God’s Son to redeem us from the evil things we have done, from the evil circumstances in which we find ourselves. And, when each of us believes in that gift of salvation and redemption, God helps us to be wise. God helps us to conduct ourselves in a manner pleasing to God!

            These days are evil, but with the Lord’s help, we can continue to walk in the way of God, not of evil. Yet, it is so easy to get off course. It’s like a ship on the ocean, steered by a rudder. Even if that rudder is off only a tiny amount, it doesn’t make a big difference at first. However, as the ship moves further and further across the ocean from New York City and continues on the wrong course uncorrected, instead of arriving in France, the ship might well end up in Africa! Aren’t we similar to that ship on the wrong course? Even though the course was only very slightly off in the beginning, as time went on and the journey continued, we might end up in a very different place from where we originally thought.

            This is one of the decision points of the letter to the Ephesians. We’re advised to live not as foolish people, but instead as wise people. I know very well how easy it is to become foolish. Sure enough, I do foolish things with great regularity. The Apostle Paul refers to this action as a continuing action.

Foolishness doesn’t just happen once or twice, and then stop. No, we need to keep close to God and keep coming to Him for help. God will help us understand how to be wise! God will help us to understand what God’s will is, too!

            This reminds me of my friend Mike, whose two children are about the ages of my two older daughters, in their late 30’s. Mike is a Presbyterian elder, a retired high school science teacher, and he gave me some words of wisdom some years ago regarding childrearing. He said because he wanted his children to exercise the excellent minds that God gave them, Mike would not tell his children to be good, but instead to be wise.

            Which is easier? Which is more difficult? Which takes more brain power? Being good, or being wise? Being wise takes some brain, some thoughtfulness, and some deliberation. Thank God that God loves us so much – God gave us excellent brains.

We can walk in a way pleasing to God, using the brains that God gave us to be God followers. “To be the awakened and wise people of God means that we can be good and honest stewards of time, so that opportunities to do justice, and to live boldly as God’s reconciled people during this time, are not missed.” [2]  And, the best part of all is that God will help us to be wise! God will give us wisdom, and will help us as we walk each day, one day at a time.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-20-2/commentary-on-ephesians-515-20-4

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-20-2/commentary-on-ephesians-515-20-4