Devotion - Monday, November 26

I am grateful to our friends at Peace Congregational Church who brought Lilian Daniel into our community.  Pastor in Glen Elyn, IL, Lillian was a contributor to the "Animate" curriculum we use on Sunday morning.

She used as her text a reading from James and a reading from Romans - both of which raised the issue of criticism and coveting. 

"We live in a culture of critique," she said.  We have learned the erroneous lesson that the strongest person in the room is the one who can tear down everyone else in the room. 

On coveting, she reminded us that the abundance of God debunks the myth of a limited sum gain.  Jesus' feeds the 5,000 with a few morsels of fish and bread.  In God's Kingdom there is plenty to go around - so long as we share.

"What would it be like if we responded with gratitude?"  How might the world be different (be more like God intends) if we interjected into cycles of criticism the attributes of the other?  When we covet, often it isn't simply that we want something - we want to take that something away from someone else.

This is the most appropriate time of the year for us to have these kinds of conversations.  All around us there are enticements to abandon God's call to look for the lowly and to embrace our own greed.  We are being asked, "What would you like for Christmas?" by family and friends.  "What I want is for God's will to be done." 

God's will will be done, but in our prayer we pray that it might also be done in our lives. 

Let us pray that God's will strengthen us in our resolve to overcome a culture of critique and a culture of covetous.  In their place might we come to  live in a culture of gratitude and gratefulness.