Post by Mark on Aug 31, 2009 6:05:05 GMT -8
One of the hardest concepts of Jewish thought to be grasped by the Western mind is the idea of community expressed so beautifully in Deuteronomy 26:14-15. "Because I have personally been obedient, You will bless the nation and people." In our cultural understanding, we attach onto this idea only on a personal level: because I have been obedient, You should bless me. Such is alien to the promises of Scripture. It is through the deeds of the individual that the nation receives her blessing. This all seems well and good… but what about me?
We like the idea of contributing to the good of the whole community, so long as we still get our personal rewards; but that isn’t exactly how it will always happen in the Divine economy. It is possible, and sometimes even likely, that we personally never see the positive fruits of our efforts of obedience for the good of the Kingdom of God. Paul explains this in 1st Corinthians 3:
Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, [ye are] God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
(1Co 3:5-10)
It’s a little less compelling for us to do the right thing "for the greater good". It seems a bit unfair that I will have to make personal sacrifices and endure hardships so that someone else who will probably never know my name can benefit the rewards of my labors. But, this is awfully selfish of me, looking and seeing the amazing sacrifices made by so many men and women who have come before me. We tend to see our lives as a unit: a individual blip in the grand scheme of God’s overall plan. Yet, it may be more powerful to understand my life as single drop of water- part of a rushing mighty river. Individually, I may or may not bear a huge significance in the grand scheme of reality. I may be involved in some powerful stuff- being the inevitable force to erode huge plates of stone into the depths, making the river broader and stronger. It may be that I am one to beat against the cracks, hundreds of years before it gives way. Does that make my life or experiences less significant?
Offering our Firstfruits to God rarely appears a consequential act in itself. Who knows what implications it has for days ahead. Should we neglect what may seem such trivial practices in our lives, it is frightening to imagine how we, by our despondency, prolongs the coming of our Messiah!
We like the idea of contributing to the good of the whole community, so long as we still get our personal rewards; but that isn’t exactly how it will always happen in the Divine economy. It is possible, and sometimes even likely, that we personally never see the positive fruits of our efforts of obedience for the good of the Kingdom of God. Paul explains this in 1st Corinthians 3:
Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, [ye are] God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
(1Co 3:5-10)
It’s a little less compelling for us to do the right thing "for the greater good". It seems a bit unfair that I will have to make personal sacrifices and endure hardships so that someone else who will probably never know my name can benefit the rewards of my labors. But, this is awfully selfish of me, looking and seeing the amazing sacrifices made by so many men and women who have come before me. We tend to see our lives as a unit: a individual blip in the grand scheme of God’s overall plan. Yet, it may be more powerful to understand my life as single drop of water- part of a rushing mighty river. Individually, I may or may not bear a huge significance in the grand scheme of reality. I may be involved in some powerful stuff- being the inevitable force to erode huge plates of stone into the depths, making the river broader and stronger. It may be that I am one to beat against the cracks, hundreds of years before it gives way. Does that make my life or experiences less significant?
Offering our Firstfruits to God rarely appears a consequential act in itself. Who knows what implications it has for days ahead. Should we neglect what may seem such trivial practices in our lives, it is frightening to imagine how we, by our despondency, prolongs the coming of our Messiah!
