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Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Real Trust



Sunday Readings Isaiah 1:1, 10-20; Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40
Isaiah, unlike most of us, actually saw God and heard God. Don't envy him though, being a prophet was a difficult job which usually end in failure. YHWH had chosen His people by grace. He made a covenant with them. Isaiah feels God's response to Israel breaking that covenant. Isaiah says: "shama/listen to the torah/instruction of the Lord". He feels YHWH's heart break as He calls Israel "Sodom and Gomorrah"---the worst! 
YHWH asks for trusting, obedient love. He is not fooled by the empty show of religious practices. Love God, love your neighbor. Take care of the poor and needy. Be moral. Be just. Be holy. Trust! YHWH God will wash the sin away.
Biblical faith in response to God's grace encompasses everything: the mind and heart, the will and desires, the spirit core and the body. It is the response of the whole person to God. Hebrews provides some angles. Faith lives today in absolute confidence because God promised. It is not dependent on what we see; it looks to our Father.  The faith of Abraham was obedient faith, what else can it be? God promised, Abraham trusted, but had he not acted the promise would never have been received. Faith means to live as a Kingdom citizen now, even before the Kingdom is established, because that is how the grace is received. We are invited to trust. We are called to faith. 
Jesus is very concrete. He is saying, "Trust God, stop relying on your money and help the poor!" Yikes! How far has our middle class values pulled us from such a way of being in the world? Yet what is the cost of our life style? What treasure owns our hearts? Could it be there is more to life than what we have pursued?
 Do we imagine that if Jesus walked in here now He would tell us something different from Luke 12? Are we the well-prepared servant who has done all that was expected? Would we be blessed for our faith and faithfulness? Are we ready?

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