A Thought

“I will concede your righteousness and your works, but they will not help you.  When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!  The wind will carry them off, a breath will take them away.  But whoever takes refuge in Me shall possess the land and inherit My holy mountain.”  Isaiah 57:12-13

The people of Israel are under the judgment of the Exile, that time when they were driven from the Promised Land for having turned their backs on the Lord and had chosen to live not like the chosen people of the Most High but rather like the people who surrounded them.  Eventually they were overtaken by the very thing they chose to embrace!

The Lord speaks to the people by acknowledging their “righteousness and their works”, but their focus of worship is not directed toward the Holy God.  And lest we forget, the “worship” is not only in a gathering like we know as Sunday morning church service; their worship is in their daily living and in the things they value above all else.  Maybe it is that they had lost their sense of priority in thinking that “doing” righteous works is the same as “being” a work of righteousness.  If we will not go out of our way for the Lord’s sake, we cannot say we “love” the Lord.

Let us remember that the “greatest commandment” is to direct our attention and focus toward the Holy Father first and foremost; that is, to “love Him” with everything we have and with everything we are.  Only then can we truly live in righteousness; only then can we truly worship “in spirit and in truth”.  And only then can we truly count on His blessing and His mercy – just as He spoke to His very chosen people.

Grace and peace,

Michael