What God Desires

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings."

Mercy and acknowledgement. That's what God wants. Show mercy to one another instead of looking out for ourselves all the time, we should put others first. Acknowledge that God exists and then act accordingly instead of acting as if we are the only ones that matter in the world.

Acknowledge God and show mercy to people. This is strangely (perfectly) similar to Jesus' statement of the greatest commandment(s) to Love God and to Love People. God is the same, he doesn't change. His desires don't change. He wants us to love him and act like it. He wants us to act like we love people and then do it.

Still, when we do turn to him we offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. We think we need to make grand gestures to make up for our shortcomings, to pay for what we've done wrong. We don't get the fact that God already did that. He paid for those sins, he leveled the playing field. We just accept and love. So simple to say, so hard to live.

Hitting Close to Home

So, this morning I wrote a few things about suffering. Not because I really felt like suffering, but because that was what spoke to me. A few hours later I'm faced not with my suffering, but with the suffering of a dear friend.

When we see Jesus on the cross we know that he suffered for our sins. He didn't deserve it, but we can see the reason behind the suffering. It was done for the good of all mankind.

Again, when we see Peter denying Jesus, being sifted like wheat, we can see the reason. It got him ready for his ministry, for the sermon at Pentecost and a life of never again denying his master.

But what about my brother suffering right now? I have no idea what the reason for this struggle is, and I may never know. It would be partially comforting (for me, at least) to know why God has placed this time in his life. What is he being prepared for? In what great way is God going to use this problem? We don't know and we may never know. We don't even know how big the problem is right now.

This is why Jesus prayed for Peter to have unfailing faith. It is when we don't know that we must believe. It is when things seem darkest that we must keep going. It is when our friends feel alone that we must show them they are not. It is when our brothers and sisters are on the precipice that growth happens, but that is where it is easiest to fall.

That's my prayer for my brother - that his faith will be unfailing.
And that's my job as his brother - to be ready to catch him if he fails.

Luke 22 - Eager

Jesus tells the disciples that he has eagerly desired to eat the Passover meal with them, because it was the last one that he would eat before he suffered.

It seems like there are 2 possible explanations for this:

1) Eating Passover meals with the disciples was such a terrible experience that Jesus couldn't wait to get them all over with.

2) Jesus was eager to suffer.

Assuming that 1 is not the case...

Jesus was eager to suffer. But, he wasn't eager to suffer. Just a few verses later we'll read about Jesus asking his father to take the suffering away from him. If he was eager, why would he try to get out of it? It looks like he wasn't eager to suffer.

"Yet not my will, but yours be done."

Jesus wasn't eager to suffer, but he was eager to see God's will be done - even if that meant suffering.

I'm eager to see God's will done too, but what if that means I have to suffer? What if the only way God's will will be done is if I suffer to bring it about? What if it causes me pain to do so? Am I still so eager?

We pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done" but do we ever consider what it might cost us to bring that about? Would we be so willing to to pray that prayer if we considered the cost?

My father, who's in heaven, your name is worthy of my devotion.

I pray for your kingdom to shape the earth in the same way that it does heaven.

Make me eager to do my part to help your will be done here on earth like heaven, no matter what it may cost me. Make me eager to obey and willing to suffer.

Like you.