Jeremiah 5:1-9
Psalms 69, 73
Romans 2:25-3:18
John 5:30-47
Today’s
readings sound like a dialogue between humans and God deciding that if humans
and their faith are imperfect and if God is the only one who is perfect why
bother trying? I should not be surprised
when I find passages in the Bible that sound like they could come out of
today’s news! Here are a few examples
and what I found encouraging for a 2013 Houston community.
Jeremiah’s
passage found no wise humans among the common people or their leaders (this
definitely could have been written in this century), while in the Psalms the
writer is calling out to God to deliver him while he is an outcast and hopes
his faith will be rewarded. Hope
prevails in the Psalm of Asaph goes on being faithful in Psalm 73:
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Going
on in the New Testament, both in Romans and John, they question human’s faithfulness,
or lack of it.
Romans 2:25-3:18
3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their
unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and
every human being a liar. As it is written:
Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we
say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!
The
final question asked in John gives me thought for this Lent:
John 5:30-47
44 How can you believe since you accept glory from
one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
This
Lent, I will continue to be faithful even though I know I am imperfect and to
seek glory that comes only from God through Jesus. One thing I can be sure, is that I know I won’t
be alone or the last one!
Eleanor Sheldon