Isaiah 53:6 - "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
So vacation talk is picking up steam as May has coming roaring in with warm temperatures, all of which makes me think of people at Disney World. It is really quite impossible for anyone there to watch where they're going. It's true that there are some, in fact, many, who clearly aren't paying attention to anything at all and, therefore, are just plain old wandering aimlessly. But even for those who are seemingly paying attention, there are just too many directions; in other words, people are flying at you from every conceivable direction, which makes it impossible to not get into someone's way.
In sum, if you want to get angry because somebody's not watching where they're going, then you could be angry all the time!
It's the same in today's Bible verse, if God wanted to be angry because somebody's not watching where they're going, then God would be angry all the time! After all, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way." (Isaiah 53:6)
But instead of being angry all the time, God chooses to do something about the problem, namely, "the Lord has laid on [Jesus] the iniquity of us all."
Praise God that God is not like a negative person who has a problem for every solution! Instead, God has a solution for every problem!!!
What this means is that God chooses to do something that makes a difference to the spirit of the world instead of promoting the spirit of irritation and anger amongst people who are constantly getting into each other's way.
And God created us through Christ and redeemed us by Christ to do the same.
For example, today, someone will not pay attention to where they're going, and they'll bump into you. You have two choices: 1) get all bent out of shape, or 2) say, "No prob!"
Or someone today will mindlessly wander directly into your path, literally or figuratively, and you could plow right over them. Or you could calmly slow down, give them a moment to come to their senses, and just smile at them as they move on. You might even pour yourself out and say to them, "God bless you!"
In sum, people in this world, generally speaking, wander like they're lost. And we can get angry about it, and therefore stay perpetually angry. Or we can be world changers, where, in the strength of Christ, we meet people with God's calm and mercy and grace, and, in so doing, offer some direction to a world that sorely needs it, so that, one person at a time, the whole world is transformed to find it's Way in Jesus Christ.
As the great preacher, Steve Brown, says, "Now you think about that!"
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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