January 13, 2016

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” 12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:7, 12

Although reading is a sedentary act, the actual work of reading is an action – you are doing something when you are reading. In the above verses from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is continuing to teach in his Sermon on the Mount. And much of what Jesus is talking about is action – what we should be doing as a part of determining G-d’s will and intent for our lives. “Ask”, “Seek”, and “Knock” are things we are doing when we read the bible. As we read the lines of scriptures, we are seeking some understanding from the lessons Jesus is teaching his disciples and the crowds who are gathering around him. And as we seek some understanding, we will usually ask questions about what we have read. And in the process of asking the questions, we continue to seek, either through additional reading, or recommendations of other resources that may shed some light on the questions we are asking. The seeking then becomes the knocking as we find the doors of understanding are opened to us through the help of the Holy Spirit. You see, all of this action is not done in a vacuum – throughout the asking, seeking and knocking, the Holy Spirit is fully in the word as we read it, and as we pray and meditate upon it.

It is the Holy Spirit then who drives us (and also guides us) to living in ways that are impacted by what we read. And what we will find that is so prevalent in the teachings of Jesus is how to live in relationship with G-d and with each other. This is where the “Golden Rule” comes into play – verse 12 which reads, in part “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.” Notice the verse does not read “Expect others to do to you what you want them to do.” Too many people think the Golden Rule is about how others should treat them. The emphasis on the rule is “Do” – it is action. Which, in essence, is what you are doing by immersing yourself in G-d’s word – you are doing a necessary action that informs your “doing to others” – not learning what you expect others to do for you. G-d’s name is “I Am” – a verb – G-d was, is and is active today. Be a verb today, and “go” and “do”.

Pastor Dave