Bible Passage: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27 NIV)
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 1:11-20
I love hearing the orchestra tune at a classical concert.
I’m always captivated and a little moved as several dozen instruments make adjustments until the room reverberates with their union.
I’m convicted as I consider that the instruments in front of me, collectively valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, need constant retuning.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like an orchestra. God is more like a conductor and composer, inviting us to play in His orchestra, rather than an office administrator who left us a to-do list and office policy.
The nature of tuning a string instrument is that the string is pulled tight between two fixed points (and adjusted) until it makes the right sound.
Men of righteousness are men who live in tune. To grow as men of righteousness, we must learn to live in the tension between different points. The next few days will look at a few of these tensions that need to be dialed in so we can be part of the symphony of the Kingdom of God.
The first tension is between loving God and loving others.
The Old Testament is full of prophetic warnings to God’s people. Most fall into the category of failures to love God (idolatry) or failures to love others (injustice).
Consider Jeremiah’s accusation that his people have made gods “as numerous as your cities” that will not “rise up in your time of trouble and save you” (Jeremiah 2:28). This is failure to love God.
Consider Amos’ famous accusation that Israel “sell(s) the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor…” (Amos 2:6-7). This is a failure to love others.
Consider the story of the Samaritan who helped his enemy and of Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:25-42). Back-to-back, these stories tell of the tension between loving God and loving others.
Righteous men will help whoever needs help, no matter the inconvenience or cost (Good Samaritan).
Righteous men will throw aside social responsibilities and cultural expectations to sit at the feet of Jesus (Mary).
Are you pursuing a transformed life of prayer and worship? Do you enjoy God?
Are you pursuing a life of sharing, sacrificing, building, healing, and fixing… a life of radical love of others?
The Kingdom of Heaven is like an orchestra that brings its tension into tune.
Prayer: Lord, I often find myself less interested in loving You or loving others than I’d like to admit. “Tune my heart to sing” your grace. Anchor me firmly to loving You and loving others. Adjust the knobs, no matter how it hurts, until my life resounds with the sound of Your glory and Gospel. Amen.
Reflection: Which does your church talk about more (loving God or loving others)? Which do you find yourself more interested in? How might you hold these two virtues in tension?
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