“Fear God and keep his commandments, for
this is the whole duty of man.” The book
ends with an admonition to enjoy youth while it lasts, old age is no
picnic. Indeed, the naivete of youth is
a wondrous thing in retrospect. Dreams
have not been dashed, reality has not destroyed the hopes of youth. Life is hard, things happen that cannot be
reconciled with the way things ought to be and yet we need not become cynical
about life, we can continue to be idealists in the face of sinful reality. We believe that He is indeed making all
things new.
Peter is the first to confess aloud that Jesus is the Son of
God, the Messiah and yet he believes that he knows a bit better than Jesus
concerning some things. Jesus tells them
of things that will be but Peter decides Jesus is misguided here and sets about
the task of correcting His theological understanding. Jesus’ response is to sharply rebuke him,
referring to Peter as satan. It was
indeed a similar temptation to the one offered at the beginning of Jesus’
ministry, glory without pain, a kingdom without a cross, and Jesus sees it for
what it was, satan using one close to Jesus to propose this path once
again. We too must understand our lives
and our mission as one of taking up a cross and following Him, from the start
of His ministry to the end, Jesus promised it wouldn’t be easy, there would be
persecution and difficulty. He says also
that when He comes with the angels He will repay each person for “what he has
done.” Does that mean salvation is works
based? What about grace? James is right, what we do reveals what we
truly believe. Works don’t save us but
they do reveal our hearts. Our lives
should testify to what we believe and if they don’t, can we say that we
believe?
Paul says we are to bear one another’s burdens but each is
to bear his own load. A load was defined
as what one person could carry on his/her own while a burden was excess
baggage. We need to learn the difference
between the two. Too often in the church
and in society we allow people to dump their loads on one another, thereby
creating burdens for others. Paul also
ties life to belief, what we sow refers to how we live. We are to do good to all, especially those
who are of the household of faith. In
this way, we live into Jesus’ words that those who do the will of God are the
ones He will call mother, sister, brother.
As we do good especially to our family, so we do for those closest to us
and that then overflows to loving the world.
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