May the mumbling commence!
It is the Christmas season. So, what is God’s greatest desire from us? Read a part of the Lord’s Christmas list from Psalm fifty:
"If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God thanksgiving,
And pay your vows to the Most High.
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." (Verses 12-15)
God does not need us as a waiter to fill his needs of hunger or thirst. God does not desire token sacrifice of bulls or rams or goats or doves. God does not desire our pocket change or a small percentage of our disposable income.
What does God want? God wants us to wait on Him – to call upon the Lord in our day of trouble. Call to God and be delivered. God wants us to offer genuine thanksgiving. God wants us to make meaningful sacrifices in our lives to transform our lives into a shape that will be closer to the Creator’s original intention. This, in part, is what paying our vows to the Most High means.
God does not desire token sacrifice that hardly covers our sins. God wants obedience and sacrifice that will change us from the inside out.
So, let us thank God this day for what He has done for us through the birth, life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Let us vow to embrace a deep inner transformation that will mean sacrifice to become the child of God we are meant to be.
When we stumble (and we will), let us call upon the Almighty One in our day of trouble. Let us look for the deliverance of the Lord. Let us embrace that deliverance in whatever shape it may take. And let us glorify the Lord before all people.
If we strive to do these things, we will please God this Christmas season and beyond. Yes, let us try not to abuse the mercy and grace of our Lord through token sacrifice after habitual sins. Read from Proverbs fifteen:
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But He loves him who follows righteousness. (Verses 8-9)
Help us, O Holy Spirit, to prayer ourselves into uprightness of heart and mind, for we want to delight our Lord. Help us, O Holy Spirit, to discover the path of righteousness that leads to love of our Lord. These pursuits will lead us to life everlasting with our Lord. And there is no better place to be!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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