in isaiah 1, God addresses Judah who has forsaken the Lord and angered Him, who are rebelling even though they have received God's grace, to be His 'children' (v.2).
it's just so interesting how God said to them,
wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause. (isaiah 1:16-17)
God says to be 'clean', they need to learn to do good + seek justice for the oppressed, which was something Judah was not doing! they were offering sacrifices, fulfilling the rites of the law, but had not seen the heart of the moral law: to love God and love others (v.11-15)! not only did they forsake God, their hands were "full of blood" (v.15) as they had not shown love to the disadvantaged and the lack of these actions reflected the state of their hearts.
funny how we ourselves also love to be so concerned with practices that we forget the point of it all, what's at the heart of doing these practices? have we started seeking to do actions rather than loving God? seeking the gift but not the Giver? because doing them doesn't make us right with God!
we seem to always forsake God like "harlots" (v.21), finding refuge in the world and in christian-looking practices even though we are God's children, and should be showing gratitude and obedience (v.2-3)!
are we willing to go back to what God intended for us to be, "the city of righteousness, the faithful city" (v.26)? after all that was His intent: not only for us to be a community that loves, but through that to proclaim His grace and righteousness to all! are we willing to live the way God had intended, after all His commandments are 'not grievous', but rather they are what was supposed to be!
this passage really reminded me about what i had learnt recently about being part of a Christian community that has the 'critical mass' to shine as lights in this dark world, how as a faithful and righteous city, we can show the world how life was meant to be lived: in love for God and those around us. (:
feel free to comment + add on other perspectives guys! (:
haha.i don't know if i agree about the 'critical mass' bit, but definitely the goal of the church is to show the love of God and shine for those who walk in darkness. but don't forget that even the physical church sometimes needs to see that light from individual testimonies too. how easy it is to fool ourselves into thinking we can do no wrong simply because we believe. Faith means so much more than that!
ReplyDeleteanyway, thanks aunty for reviving this! ;)
hmm maybe i should clarify on the 'critical mass' thing... more like having a presence in the world, making an impact in the world as God's people. not just as individuals, but as a collective body. :) like if there was just one light, it could affect darkness, but if there are lights in different places, they affect darkness more visibly & confirm each other. but it's true the physical church needs to see light as well... guess i was thinking more abt the universal church (eg. vcf), haha. thanks nikki for sharing! :)
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