Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Isaiah 58:1-8
“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins! … “You are fasting to please yourselves … Instead, remove the chains that bind people. Share your food, give shelter, give clothes, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal.”
Sin separates me from myself, from others, and from God. When I allow myself to stay apart-ed from myself, from others or from God, I can be sure of one thing: I am sinning somehow. It may not be obvious. It may not be on my favorite list of sins. But I’m sinning.
What else is true? When I remove the chains with which I have bound others, God is looking on with joy. He en-joys me. And like the sun rising in the morning sky, I am in an instant released from my own chains. I breathe in forgiveness like the fresh air. And all that sharing God asks from me, that seemed so difficult yesterday?
Today I can do nothing else.
God’s creative genius shows me path after path through a difficult life. The days of creation described in Genesis are just the beginning of God’s work in the universe he has created, in the people he loves, in … me.
God asks so little. Avoid self-righteousness, David. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought. Don’t judge and chain others in any way. Release, and you will be released.
Let me love you. Let me love others through you. I am love, let Me Be.
The food you give me, Lord, feeds me. The drink you give me fills me up. It is your food and drink, your wine and bread, your body and blood through which I know your love.
http://christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=989
