Sometimes the best place to go for hope for the future is to
look back to the past. Habakkuk recalls
what has gone before, when God delivered His people from the nations. With Him, the best picture of what He will do
is often what He has done. Our worship
is centered on this principle. We read
the Word to recall His mighty acts and His will from long past in the belief
that He is unchanging and unchangeable. What was holy then is now and will be
forever. What was true then is now and
will be forever. Also, His promises are
from everlasting and we need to count on those promises. We celebrate the Eucharistic feast by
remembering the Last Supper when Jesus instituted this meal as a sacrament of
His body and blood, using that very language.
We don't just remember the meal, however, it tells of the cross and the
resurrection as well. If it were only a
meal it is a nice symbolic way of remembering someone. If it represents the body broken and the
blood shed on the cross as atonement for our sins, it is another thing
altogether but because of the resurrection it is also life-giving as He said in
John 6, "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him up on the last day." The resurrection gives us assurance that what
He said is true. Habakkuk, likewise, can
take hope for the future because of what God has done to prove He is able to do
what He has promised, no matter what it may look like at any given moment in
time.
"Increase our faith." Just before this He has commanded them to be
careful concerning causing another to be tempted and to rebuke sin in a brother
but to be prepared to forgive on repentance as often as necessary. It does require faith to live in this world
with the assurance that sin isn't final and to forgive. My ability to forgive you has some basis in
my faith that I am forgiven by God, it means I don't have to come up with an
excuse for my actions, I can accept them for what they are, sin. We are called to live cross-shaped lives,
arms outstretched in forgiveness for others, in order that reconciliation is
always possible. Jesus' response is
essentially to say you have all the faith you need, only use it, do your duty,
and you will grow in faith. When do you
have enough information to take a step in faith?
It is not only our words spoken over people in cursing or
gossip that are at issue here. James
begins with an admonition for teachers, that not many should teach. Every time I preach or teach I have to pray
that the Lord would guard my lips from speaking falsely about Him. One of my mentors taught me that everything you do (or say)
teaches. That means that every word,
every action, every attitude I have teaches if I am a Christian. When people know I am a Christian,
particularly that I am a pastor, whatever I do should, at some level, tell them
about what that means. It reveals what
kind of God I serve. Do I fear? If so, is God not trustworthy? If I speak ill
of others, is God like that too? If He
is holy, we should likewise be holy.
What does your life today reveal about the God you believe in?
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