Our time

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, NKJV).

In this scripture moment, Jesus answered the lawyer with a summation as a present day lawyer might in a courtroom. This verse and Jesus’ response reference what is known as the Shema from Deuteronomy. Jewish faithful recite the Shema every morning and evening. In Hebrew, one would begin the Shema by saying, “Shema Israel, Adonai elehenu, Adonai echad” or “Hear O Israel, The LORD our God, the LORD is one,” and the verse would continue. This beginning, this preamble, tells us much about God’s desire for us to come to Him.

But enough of setting the table, let us get to dinner.

So many times, in so many ways, either through God speaking in scripture or speaking through our trials and experiences, in our quiet moments of reflection, He keeps repeating His desire for us to give Him not just part of us but all of us. In its essence, the Shema begins with a reminder not to have any other gods in our life because God is one, the only one, alone He is God. There are no others.

But we have many gods, don’t we? All those passions for -ism’s the modern world would have us believe are what is necessary, those beliefs to which we cling and yet to dispel, yet to be supplanted by truth, are but gods by which we have been duped. Consider, also, the wants we have been so convinced are needs, the self-aggrandizement, even the self-pity. All these rationalizations are gods in a crowded room. Let us hear, then. God does not say make space in this room for Me. He says, “Clear the room!” “Hear,” God says. Hearing in scripture goes beyond phonics. The word means to act, to move, to change, even obey (devote).

Still, we go on.

Not hearing, we go on by rote, by routine, by habit, by allowing someone else to do faith for us, the road well-traveled by us all. We are intimate with the failings, with every non-thinking, avoiding response.

Thankfully, God alone who waited, waits, and will keep waiting, remains merciful because He is mercy, loves because He is love. It has been a long time since the beginning.

Clearing the room, your room, my room ever remains the grieving task. After all, these gods became our friends through our own convincing. We weave our tapestry and wrap ourselves in it.

Better than our own, God’s word is a cloth made from the threads of His truth. Of such, we are called to be woven into, even strive to be a part of the weaving. God desires this. When we desire it, getting rid of all those gods becomes easier. Letting go lifts the weight, restores us in right relationship, master weaver to the woven.

Each soul lives through time, in time, indeed, has his time when truth comes. God waits for this.

“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear” (Matthew 11:15, NKJV).