At the End of the Day

The bottom line. When all is said and done. The fat lady sang. We’ve been talking, lately, about who deserves pay (eternal life?) and who doesn’t. But more importantly, recent lections have been about GRACE, the steadfast love displayed by God to ALL creatures! The lessons to be heard on the upcoming weekend continue to remind us that God is God–and that we aren’t.

The prophet EZEKIEL spoke for YHWH around the time of the Babylonian Captivity, BC 597. Verses we look at today, 18:25-32, remind Israel and us that sooner or later we’ll be held accountable for our “sin”: blasphemy, injustice, pride… BUT there’s always a chance to turn it around, to “get right with God”. Current missteps will pass away; what defines us is where we stand at the end of the day. “Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.” Can’t do it yourself? Read on…

Paul, in house arrest in Rome, continues to exhort the PHILIPPIANS to be imitators of Christ (2:1-13). That is, to reflect the humility of the one they look up to. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves….it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for [God’s] good pleasure.” This COULD be a sudden transformation; but usually is a gradual process. So don’t lose heart!

The parable of Jesus re