Friday, October 23, 2009

Numbers Chapters 28-30

Chapters 28 and 29 - All those sacrifices...all that religion, and human beings still cannot save themselves. No matter how many sacrifices the people of God made, they were insufficient to cover the sinful rebellion that reared its ugly head in their lives every day. Our corruption was so complete that the only possible hope of salvation was the ultimate sacrifice - God offering Himself. Thank you Father.

30:2 - Honesty and integrity are hugely important to God. God is always faithful to His word and He expects His followers to be faithful as well. I was reading a book last night that talked about how pre-modern thinkers put their trust in religious authority and knew there was truth...modern thinkers put their trust in scientific authority and knew there was truth...post-modern thinkers (people born in the past 30 or 40 years) don't believe in any for of absolute truth and this has led to the destruction of honesty. If there is no truth, why should it matter if people hold to their word or tell outright lies? Post-modern Christians must be careful not to buy in with the beliefs that there is no absolute truth, because as followers of the Most High God we are plugged into fact. View your integrity and faithfulness as a reflection of your awesome God and be men and women of your word.

30:5 - This passage about the women who could be overruled by their fathers reminded me a little of the plight of Christian teens who live in non-Christian households. I have met kids who are mocked at home for their faith...I have met kids who are kept from going to church by their parents...I have met kids who are encouraged to go against what they know is right to follow the norms of our culture. I take great comfort in the merciful heart of God that I see in this passage...God understands when students like these cannot be plugged into a Christian community like they want to and He expects children to honor Him by honoring their parents - even if their parents are unbelievers. What better way to show the love of God to non-Christian parents, then for their kids to live God-honoring lives?

* Of course honoring God always comes first, so He doesn't expect you to follow your parents into any sinful behaviors.

2 comments:

Matt said...

I see a lot of what you said about post-modern thinkers in my generation. Except much of my generation has just completely turned away from believing anything at all. They go further than just not believing in no absolute truth, they just live in the present and do what they want to do right then and there. It's like they are straight up denying that there is a past or a future and just existing without any life. It's as if someone were to ask them "why do you believe we are here?" and they answer "no".

Brand al Thor said...

Thanks for the insight Matt.