November 25th - Reflection

James 4:1 10 (NRSV)
A plea for God's grace and human humility

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, "God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,
"God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble."


Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Reflection
Draw near to God...but how? Listen to the call of God. The first step in your salvation comes from God. God calls each one of us to salvation. As we hear the call, we step towards God. But the first step towards salvation came from God's call to us.

Just as the priests in the Old Testament came to the tabernacle to offer sacrifice to God, God gave instructions on the sacrifice. God took the first step then with the call of the priest. So in response to the call of God, the priest would draw near to God. The priest would draw near to God with a sacrifice that was not of his own, but a sacrifice set apart, that came from God in the first place.

So today, God has provided the sacrifice that came from him in the first place. God sent his Son, Jesus, as the sacrifice for your sin and for mine. Through this sacrifice and this first step to salvation from God, we respond to this loving act of grace and draw near to God.
And as we draw near to God in response to love and grace, God draws near to us. A relationship of love is formed. The spirit that God has made that dwells within us becomes one with God. We fall in love with God and God gives all his love to us. Through Jesus, we become one with God and a new life begins.

Hear the call and see the gift and offer the sacrifice God freely gives. Draw near to God as God draws near to you in salvation. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, I'm listening and hearing---I'm drawing near to you! I'm finding you are already near to me! --- Amen