Devotional 3-23-12

Dusty Freedom

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:10-12)

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people…they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:33, 34b)
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in the world will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. (John 12:24-26)

The Scripture readings for this week reveal:

• David’s sorrow for his sinful activity and a plea for the forgiveness and restoration only God could supply. He asked for a clean heart and the restoration of God’s presence and spirit. Only in this renewal could David know forgiveness, joy, and the strength needed to sustain a willing spirit.
• Jeremiah’s message from God giving hope to Israel, the promise of a new covenant through which God promised forgiveness and restoration, an internal assurance - a new way of being the people of God.
• Jesus demonstrating the true image of God; a new vision of identity which would transform behaviors, perspectives and desires.

Being in the Kingdom of God gives us forgiveness, joy and restoration. Being in the Kingdom of God gives us a new identity and a new approach to life, to love and to service, as the New Covenant is written on our hearts. Being in the Kingdom of God offers us the freedom to lose the life of earthly expectations and values, desiring instead to follow Jesus.

Living in the Kingdom of God, however, is more than following Jesus. Living in the Kingdom of God cannot be a personal, isolated religious pilgrimage; a private solitary journey. Living in the Kingdom of God is experiencing servanthood, carrying out the new vision, living and loving genuinely in community.

One Sunday, our Middle/High School Sunday School Class watched Rob Bell’s video entitled “DUST.” We learned that rabbinic “apprentices” were expected to learn from and imitate the life of the rabbi; to follow the rabbi so closely that they would find themselves literally covered by the dust from his footsteps.

When we embrace the inner assurance and reality of life lived in the Kingdom of God, we experience the joyous freedom to get dirty – to plant the seeds of the Kingdom – to serve and follow Jesus, wherever His journey leads us, knowing we will be honored by the Father.

Loving God, we thank you for the freedom to choose to follow Jesus – to follow so closely that we wear the dust of His footsteps. May our journey with Jesus offer daily opportunities to demonstrate our love and desire to serve as Jesus did so many years ago. Amen

Linda Summers