I wrote this post last year on this date. I’m reposting it today (with some edits) because I found it valuable. Maybe you will, too.
So I have these two verses on my mind today.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
1 John 3:10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
They struck me, one from a Bible study I’m doing with some fabulous ladies and one from my own personal study, because they are total opposites. Old Testament, New Testament. Whiny prophet, Beloved disciple. Written to Israel, written to Christians. They are from opposite ends of every spectrum. But they are remarkably similar, too. Like snapshots, taken from two different angles of the exact same God.
And I got to thinking…There are a lot of people, Christian and not, who are all about justice. The poor. Modern-day slavery. Racial inequalities. The real, nitty-gritty, hard-to-face and harder-to-fix problems that people all around us are dealing with. And they bang this drum loudly: remember the “widows and orphans and true religion,” people. You gotta “Love your neighbors.”
And then there are many Christians who are all about right and wrong. Right doctrine (which is super important). Right motives. Right behaviors (or not, since we Christians are SO good about pointing out ‘wrong’ behaviors, aren’t we?). These people major on the righteousness. Be holy. “Put away your old man,” they remind us and “put on the new man.”
And the thing is…God majors on righteousness. It’s really a big deal to him. And he ALSO majors on justice. He is the God of justice. He does them both. He wants them both. And according to these verses, He DELIGHTS in both.
Which totally caught me by surprise. He delights in them? They both thrill his heart? When God sees acts of justice and acts of righteousness, he has the exact same response? I think he does. And they bring God JOY.
We, on the other hand, get so bent out of shape over which one is the bigger deal. No joy, only in-fighting. Or nit-picking strategies while missing the real issues. And maybe the whole time we’re bickering, God is trying to get us to see the even-bigger picture. He wants them BOTH. They aren’t mutually exclusive. And (gasp!) they actually might work together (when He’s the one doing the work) and result in real, true, God-like love.
Let’s ask him to teach us to DELIGHT in ALL the things that delight Him, not just the one we are most drawn to. Let’s practice cheering on those whose call is in a different arena. Let’s see what happens when we get excited, really joyful, over the things that bring God joy. Because that would be an awesome, pretty-darn amazing thing, wouldn’t it?
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