A New Day!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Today's Passage: Hebrews 10:1-16
Memory Verse: Hebrews 10:19

What a great time to be alive! I mean, this generation is made for us. Can you imagine having to live the way the previous generations had to? Having to go in the backyard for the bathroom or to get water, or warm your food without a microwave are just some of the things that would drive us nuts. Oh, and don't forget that whole no cell phones thing. Whew! Anyway, the people who lived in the generation before us have our respect. We don't know how they did it, but they got through it.

Let's go way back and talk about Christian life. Before Christ came to Earth, Christian life consisted of people trying to follow a "cazillion" (yes, I made that up) rules. Don't do this. Don't do that. Do this on this particular day, or, don't do that on that day. Just thinking about it is confusing. Now, I'm sure God had a reason for all that. Throughout the Old Testament, you can see the Children of Israel struggling with that "o" word: Obedience. So I'm sure He had to use certain things to separate them from other nations, and solidify their obedience to Him. That being said, the saints of that day would probably trade places with us in a heartbeat. Why? Let's compare.

First of all, offerings had to be brought at exactly the same time. This had to be done with extreme consistency. There was no room for "oops, I forgot my checkbook", or "I'm a little short this week". Also, praise and worship would be the bloodiest event ever. Think about it. Folks would have to bring their own lamb or cow and kill it on the altar (sorry church cleaning team). The animal would have to be sliced just right so the blood can flow on the altar correctly. In contrast, folks get to sing beautiful songs of worship, pouring their hearts out to the Lord in earnest (which is a smidge less bloody). Also, we get to wait until after payday to tithe. The good news is God knew all those religious motions couldn't atone for sin. When people just go through motions, where's the opportunity for relationship? So, He sent Jesus. Jesus became the last bloody sacrifice ever having to be made. He took us from religion to relationship by opening the door for us to come to the Father for ourselves. Not only that, we have the internet. And with Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter at our disposal, we can do from our living rooms what the disciples had to travel thousands of miles to do. Also, we can e-mail examples of Jesus' love, or text someone a prayer.

In conclusion, living in this "easy-access" generation should eliminate all excuses. If the Christians in the Bible can carry out God's message and purpose, we certainly should be able to. Of all the things left in yesteryear, there's one we should have brought to the present with us. That's passion. We need to get back to the passion and faith of old. I shouldn't even say "of old", because God never told us to have less passion or faith. In fact, if we had grown across the generations as we should have, this generation would have nothing to do but prepare for Jesus' arrival, instead of learning to love, give, and all the other things taught in earlier days. So, let's get to work. Let's use all the wonderful resources and tools of this generation to fulfill the call. After all, we have everything we need....and then some.

Prayer: God we thank You for making this generation so easy to live in. We pray for strength to maximize all the opportunity it gives. Give us the passion it takes to follow You. Then, give us the grace to identify with You. We desire to provide a platform for generations to come, as a platform was provided for us. And no matter the generation, all the glory will be given to You, in Jesus' name. Amen