Ordinary Time: Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Old Testament Lesson

Nahum 1:1-13

We see in Nahum the same duality we see in other Prophets. God is strong, God is righteous, God will bring forth justice upon the other and those that do evil and oppress others, those that worship false idols, those that do no follow the Lord will receive justice.

That's a pretty common thought in the prophets. But, something stood out to me in this passages. In the middle of the text, it says this, "The Lord is good." Sometimes what is the good thing means that we must stand up against what is wrong. Righteous is means taking that stand against injustice, against what is wrong, against what is tearing people apart.

The Lord was bringing justice to the world through the prophets. In the same way, He can use each of us to bring some justice to our world by doing what is right and good today. Today, may we be instruments of God's grace.

New Testament Lesson

1 Peter 1:13-25

Part of being used by God is living in such a way that we can hear His voice. Today, Peter tell us to discipline ourselves. Take time each day to do the things that we need to do to fully know God. Take time for the discipline of prayer. Take time for the discipline of reading the Word. Take time for the discipline of service to others. These are things that we must do.

Not because God will be mad if we don't. But, it is in doing these things that we can find His grace, we can hear His voice, and we can know what He has called us to do.

Gospel Lesson

Matthew 19:13-22

We see two people come before Jesus. We see the children, who left behind everything they were doing to come to Jesus. And we see the rich young ruler, who would not. One of the things that is so amazing about children is their focus. When they want something, they focus only on that. When my daughter wants to watch Dora the Explorer in the morning, that is all that she is worried about.

How many of us have the same childlike focus on Jesus? The rich young ruler did not. Other things had his attention more than Jesus. How about us? What other things pull our attention away from Jesus?