Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Mark 12:13-17

Mark 12:13-17 
The Message 

  I'm taking part in a study of Ezekiel right now, which is far from the most uplifting book in the Bible, but the first 7 chapters really push to ask what belongs to God.  How do we live in such a way that consistently honors God?  The people of Ezekiel's time had clearly turned from faithful worship of God.  They were literally building other altars to sacrifice to other gods.
  When I listen to Ezekiel, and I read this, I can't help but be overcome by the magnitude of God's claim on our lives, on the world.  If we are to give to God what is God's, then it all belongs to God, right?  It is God that made us, and we are his.  It is God that gives us life, that redeems us from death, that gives us every single good thing in our lives -- they all originate from God and point back to God.
  So to live as though parts of life do not belong to God is to shrink God down into a God we can control.  
  But how to live a life fully dedicated to God, living in the fullness of an awareness of God's abiding presence and God's consistent companionship?  
  That's a hard question.  But it's folly to avoid the question.  What now?  How do I, how do we, continue to ask that question, faithfully, every day?

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