Devotional 3-27-12
Fickled Crowd? Fickled You and MeJohn
12:12-16
I enjoy the political ritual of electing our president which we
ago through ever four years. I enjoy reading articles about the primaries and
the editorials about the various candidates. I enjoy watching the 24 hour news
channels to get their “unbiased” reporting. I cannot believe anyone can be so
good or bad as all these words extol. Then the poor guy (so far) gets
elected.
Do you remember four years ago when Obama was elected? There was dancing in the streets. Soldier Field in Chicago was filled to capacity with jubilant folks. There was Oprah crying as she stood in the crowd. Strangers were hugging on strangers. Cheers abounded. Smiles stretched from ear to ear were the mask for the evening. The smell of victory was pungent in the air. Speeches punctuated the festivities with words of self congratulation. Then the poor guy takes office. Then no one was happy whether liberal, moderate, or conservative.
When I was young, I loved Palm Sunday. The palm branches were such fun. Easter was just around the corner with the Easter Bunny on her way. I was not quite sure what happened during the week to make everyone so unhappy with Jesus that they let the “bad” people get him. It was even stranger that those “bad” people were “church” leaders. It was a bit confusing but hey the story ends on a good note and everyone seems happy.
Obama was reminded of something that Jesus knew a long time ago. Something I learned when I became an adult and now understood. I am sure that you know too. We are a fickled people. I am not sure why God created us this way. Is it sin? Is it humanness? Is it our animalistic qualities of survival needs? All I know is that when we are left to our own designs we prove every time that we are a fickled people.
So Palm Sunday and Holy Week are grand reminders of our fickleness. We are a fickled people. What is popular one minute is unpopular the next. What grabs our attention today is gone tomorrow. What is hot gets cold, in goes out, cool becomes uncool.
Jesus did not go to Jerusalem to be cool, to grow a church, to have the largest number of followers, to sell the most books, to make sure that worship was done properly, or to make a million. He went to die. Jesus went to be obedient to God. There is always a cost to being obedient. For some it is large such as their life. For others it may be small such as offering prayers, giving time, sharing talents and tithing.
What is the cost to you for being obedient? Is there one?
Rev. David Johnson
Do you remember four years ago when Obama was elected? There was dancing in the streets. Soldier Field in Chicago was filled to capacity with jubilant folks. There was Oprah crying as she stood in the crowd. Strangers were hugging on strangers. Cheers abounded. Smiles stretched from ear to ear were the mask for the evening. The smell of victory was pungent in the air. Speeches punctuated the festivities with words of self congratulation. Then the poor guy takes office. Then no one was happy whether liberal, moderate, or conservative.
When I was young, I loved Palm Sunday. The palm branches were such fun. Easter was just around the corner with the Easter Bunny on her way. I was not quite sure what happened during the week to make everyone so unhappy with Jesus that they let the “bad” people get him. It was even stranger that those “bad” people were “church” leaders. It was a bit confusing but hey the story ends on a good note and everyone seems happy.
Obama was reminded of something that Jesus knew a long time ago. Something I learned when I became an adult and now understood. I am sure that you know too. We are a fickled people. I am not sure why God created us this way. Is it sin? Is it humanness? Is it our animalistic qualities of survival needs? All I know is that when we are left to our own designs we prove every time that we are a fickled people.
So Palm Sunday and Holy Week are grand reminders of our fickleness. We are a fickled people. What is popular one minute is unpopular the next. What grabs our attention today is gone tomorrow. What is hot gets cold, in goes out, cool becomes uncool.
Jesus did not go to Jerusalem to be cool, to grow a church, to have the largest number of followers, to sell the most books, to make sure that worship was done properly, or to make a million. He went to die. Jesus went to be obedient to God. There is always a cost to being obedient. For some it is large such as their life. For others it may be small such as offering prayers, giving time, sharing talents and tithing.
What is the cost to you for being obedient? Is there one?
Rev. David Johnson
Labels: Johnson D
posted by Kim @ 2:00 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hello there...just dropping in to say a few words. I was bored and decided to do some blog hopping before bed. Glad I decided to because I REALLY needed to read this tonight. This post was meant for me see. I have been complaining how "fickle" people can be. This has been going on since the beginning of time and will continue on until our Lord returns(wish it was last week) Yes I'm one of the crazies who wishes he would quit messing around up there and come on and free us. I truly think this is an experiment gone wrong in the worst way! No, I'm not depressed, just a deep thinker.
There will be no peace on this earth. Humans have proven they are not capable of that.
Great post! Gonna go back and catch up on some of your older posts. Hope you don't mind. Take care!
Angie,
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