"The Wine of God".....ahhh...YES PLEASE!
"The wine of God," as water is named by desert tribesmen in the Middle East. pg 77.
Man, I read that line and immediately was taken away in my mind. I pictured myself stumbling through the "desert" of the day, refusing the "magic elixir" of the world, but at the same time not stopping to sip-chug the wine of God. In my mind, I come to a point of daily exhaustion....... surrounded by nothing but dry sand, I see ahead in the distance a figure of a man and a well. I manage to make it there only to discover Jesus has been waiting for me. "He asks me for a drink......and John 4 is played out in my head. Jesus corrects my bad thinking through the truth of this paragraph:
A few other zingers from the chapters:
Pg 80 - "How God treated (Israel) in their need is the model for how they are to treat others!"
"And what does the Lord require of you but to to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly WITH your God!"
Pg 81 - Popularly understood righteousness is no more than adherence to an ethical norm. The person who keeps the law, follows the accepted standards of the community and has an admirable personal life will be respected and thereby satisfied by the community. But if righteousness describes a relationship granted as a gift of God that brings peace, then only God can satisfy the longing for that righteousness and the approval or disapproval of the community is irrelevant. We are not righteous to please our peers but to show gratitude to God and maintain our relationship with him.
Great stuff and so much applicable to the summer and our experience on the houseboats serving campers and each other. I pray that God would intensify the hunger and thirst in our souls for Him and Him alone.
Reid
Man, I read that line and immediately was taken away in my mind. I pictured myself stumbling through the "desert" of the day, refusing the "magic elixir" of the world, but at the same time not stopping to sip-chug the wine of God. In my mind, I come to a point of daily exhaustion....... surrounded by nothing but dry sand, I see ahead in the distance a figure of a man and a well. I manage to make it there only to discover Jesus has been waiting for me. "He asks me for a drink......and John 4 is played out in my head. Jesus corrects my bad thinking through the truth of this paragraph:
Hunger and thirst are powerful images used to describe the strong urge lodged in the hearts of the bless-ed for righteousness. Righteousness does not refer to an abstract ethical ideal, but to claims of a relationship!!!! That is why........ GOD, NOT COMMUNITY, SATISFIES THE YEARNING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS!! (Laughter and tears baby!)
A few other zingers from the chapters:
Pg 80 - "How God treated (Israel) in their need is the model for how they are to treat others!"
"And what does the Lord require of you but to to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly WITH your God!"
Pg 81 - Popularly understood righteousness is no more than adherence to an ethical norm. The person who keeps the law, follows the accepted standards of the community and has an admirable personal life will be respected and thereby satisfied by the community. But if righteousness describes a relationship granted as a gift of God that brings peace, then only God can satisfy the longing for that righteousness and the approval or disapproval of the community is irrelevant. We are not righteous to please our peers but to show gratitude to God and maintain our relationship with him.
Great stuff and so much applicable to the summer and our experience on the houseboats serving campers and each other. I pray that God would intensify the hunger and thirst in our souls for Him and Him alone.
Reid
I always appreciate the way you place yourself in the story, Reid! It reminds me not to treat Jesus as a character, but as the LIVING God, intimately speaking to each of us. You can't be satisfied by hungering and thirsting for a character, but by the PERSON of Christ.
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