This morning I am meditating on Isaiah 58, I especially love verse 11, but the verses around it are so revealing of our purposes as followers of Christ.
I read several versions, but for this passage I really enjoy the message version. Yesterday in a church service I was thinking about how sometimes as believers we see it as our role to point out all that is wrong in the world around us. That is actually so far from the truth we see in scripture.
Am I saying we should walk around with our heads in the clouds oblivious?
No.
There is a better option.
We as believers filled with the very Spirit of God are called to bring solutions.
Unfortunately we can easily slip into either judgment or apathy. This was never God’s plan for His children.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery [g]leading to fear again, but you have received [h]a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:14-15)
We are seated with Christ in heavenly places, yet still strategically positioned on this earth to bring solutions.
I have good news for us. It is not our job to be the Judge! We are released. We are free from that false sense of responsibility. We don’t have to judge our leaders, pastors, politicians, celebrities, neighbors, etc.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you–who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:12)
We do have some responsibility though. We are called to lift them up, pray that they encounter God, and have godly wisdom as they live their lives and influence the world around them.
I believe the more we start doing this, the more we will start to have influence over the influential. We will be the modern day Daniels and Josephs.
So today I pray that we shake off false responsibility to judge others, and become a people known for this..
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
(Isaiah 58)
“If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
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