Thought for Today

Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Luke 10:25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" 27 He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 28 And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

If it is all so simple, why does it seem to be so difficult to accomplish? Look at the world in which we live. How much progress toward doing justice, loving kindness or loving each other have we (humanity) made since Cain smashed his brother Abel with a rock? How much evidence do we present of our love of God or each other in our wars, in our violence against each other and against nature, in our pollution and destruction of God’s Creation or even in our attitudes toward each other.

Here in Massachusetts, this morning we are hearing of the results of yesterday’s party primary elections. Throughout our nation we are facing the onset of the mid-term elections. From now until November, we will face an onslaught, a seemingly constant barrage of political advertisements. Listen and watch carefully. Irrespective of party affiliation or any personal bias, honestly ask yourself whether or not you can discern any evidence of justice, kindness, humility or love in anything you see or hear.

I very strongly support and believe in separation of church and state. I do not want government at any level attempting to control or regulate what I believe, how I worship or how anyone else worships. I also very strongly  wish, however, that I could discern any element of justice, kindness, humility or love motivating anything I see or hear in the political machinations of government at any level. I honestly wonder how long any candidate or office holder could survive at any level of government were that person to evince such radical motivations as justice, kindness, humility and/or love.

“Scripture guides us to a deeper relationship with God, revealing God’s love, compassion, judgment, and forgiveness.” (These Days, September 2, 2026) As a Christian, I could not agree more. As a Christian, however, I have read the Bible enough to recognize the honest truth in the psalmist’s words above. That verse speaks to ‘statutes,’ in Greek, “δικαίωμα, ατος, τό (1) of God's requirements ordinance, regulation, commandment” (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon)

One of the primary items of contention among Jesus and the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees was the issue of righteousness, “Biblically the term embraces a number of dimensions relating to God’s actions in establishing and maintaining right relationships. Ethically it is a state of moral purity or doing that which is right.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 242) The scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees looked to perfect obedience of the Law as expressed in the Torah.

In the Lukan passage above, Jesus refocuses the issues of righteousness and salvation from perfect obedience of the Law to the gospel message of love. Living, temporally and eternally, is a matter of loving God and of loving each other.

The apostle Paul phrases it a bit differently in Ephesians, “2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—” For Christians, our salvation, achieved through our righteousness, which is based on our faith in Jesus as the Christ, allows us to recognize and accept God’s freely given gift. I believe that God offers that gift to all, but, Christians recognize and accept God’s gift because we have had a personal encounter with Jesus, God’s Son.

I do not believe that laws, statutes, ordinances, regulations or commandments, be  they civil or scriptural, can bring about lives reflecting justice, kindness, humility or love. Irrespective of any promises of any candidate or office holder, the Kingdom of God, the environment in which God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven, can never be brought about through laws, statutes, ordinances, regulations or commandments, be  they civil or scriptural. The Kingdom of God will only be fully realized when we love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbors as yourselves.

Love fully, love extravagantly, trust God,

Pastor Ray