From Blue Helmets to Family: Blessed are the Peacemakers

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Matthew 5:9)

Perhaps Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” because no one else would affirm them. Peacemaking (Greek, eirēnopoios) is never popular because to do so means that one is not owned by either side in a conflict. I call it “wearing a blue helmet”. This is a reference to the distinctive blue helmets worn by U.N. Peacekeepers deployed as a buffer in regions of conflict. They are usually outnumbered and out-gunned which sometimes results in their being pushed around by both sides. Dallas Willard captures this sentiment,

The peacemakers… make the list because outside the kingdom they are, as is often said, “called everything but a child of God.” That is because they are always in the middle. Ask the policeman called in to smooth out a domestic dispute. There is no situation more dangerous. Neither side trusts you. Because they know that you are looking at both sides, you can’t possibly be on their side.[1]

Being a peacemaker requires us to see both sides and chart a just course. That is counter-cultural. “Every Christian is to be a peacemaker, and every Christian is to expect opposition.”[2]

Being Peacemakers is to participate in the Missio Dei, for God himself chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world[3], and Christ himself is our peace.[4] We show a family resemblance to our Father, revealing his character when we work for peace in the world. This doesn’t happen through appeasement and compromise, but by engaging lovingly through our kingdom convictions over the long term.

“Peace consists not of exploitation but of all things in right relation to God. Peacemakers enact not the empire's will but God's merciful reign, living toward this wholeness and well-being and against any power that hinders or resists it.”[5]

As we examine this seventh macarism “peacemaking”, perhaps it will help us to better understand what it is, by first considering what it is not.

Peacemaking is not…

• Isolationism where we refuse to get involved.
• Apathy where we are numbed past caring about what happens to others if we ever did.
• Appeasement where we give whatever the aggressor wants to keep hostility from breaking out. History reveals the futility of appeasement (e.g., Chamberlin’s negotiations with Hitler) and should inform the present situations with Iran and North Korea, for, “It just puts off the conflict”[6]
• Compromise where we go around our convictions for the sake of reduced hostilities and a watered-down so-called unity.

Instead of these worldly methods of faux-peace production, the follower of Jesus should take a higher road to peacemaking. In doing so, we reveal the character of God.

Instead of delighting in division, bitterness, strife, or some petty “divide-and-conquer” mentality, disciples of Jesus delight to make peace whenever possible. Making peace is not appeasement: the true model is God’s costly peacemaking (Eph. 2:1-17; Col 1:20)… Now it belongs to the heirs of the kingdom who, meek and poor in spirit, loving righteousness yet merciful, are specially equipped for peacemaking and so reflect something of the Father’s character.[7]

So, what is Peacemaking?

Paul writes to the Corinthians about our calling to be “ministers of reconciliation” as “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:18-20). We should note that there is truth in the old saying, “peace is not merely the absence of fighting but rather the presence of God”, and thus the presence of righteousness. So the task of the peacemaker is to bring people into the presence of God through the Gospel of Christ.  The peacemaker is committed to promoting peace with:

• God—through personal forgiveness and the preaching of the Gospel.
• Self—through accepting God's forgiveness and cleansing by faith as efficacious for even such notorious sinners as we know ourselves to be.
• Their family and friends—by extending the mercy which we have received to others.
• The World and enemies—by being salt and light, living righteously, working for the common good, and taking a stand for those who cannot defend themselves.   

Those who are peacemakers are blessed to be “called sons of God.” Why? Because they accurately reflect the character and mission of God to those who observe their lives. 

There is a distinction between the generic term “children of God” and “sons of God.” The difference is slight but significant. In Jewish thought, “son” often bears the meaning “partaker of the character of,” or the like. If someone calls you the “son of a dog,” this is not an aspersion on your parents, but on you: you partake of the character of a dog.[8]

They "look" like their heavenly Father because they live in cooperation and obedience to his mission. They are doing just what he does. It is important for us to remember that God is not primarily looking to judge/exclude/destroy the world, but to save it, heal it, and invite it into a relationship. God wants to “re-bind the broken cosmos.”

"When this reconciliation actually takes place, and one has 'peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ—even 'the peace of God which passeth all understanding'—the peace-receivers become peace-diffusers.  God is thus seen as reflected in them, and by the family likeness these peacemakers are now recognized as the children of God."[9]

If we are committed to peacemaking, we will face opposition. The world says this (peacemaking) is not a step, it is not safe. They are partially right. It isn’t safe. It messes with us…for we all have our own semi-sacred hatreds. We have that list of those who are "other than" us. Could God want us to work as peacemakers with them? [Spoiler Alert: Yes he does!] 
What are some ways that we can apply this concept in our community besides continuing to preach the gospel? Some ideas that have been suggested are:

• Mentoring neighborhood kids in an after-school program, since there are many who are unsupervised and at risk until their parent(s) get home from work.
• Working with our neighbors for better environmental standards and practices in the city (e.g., water and air quality are poor). For example, in Longview, WA, water was switched from the Cowlitz River due to a high level of untreatable pharmaceuticals from towns upriver to wells out by the old aluminum plant which brought a whole new set of problems. 
• Advocate for better labor-management relations in the city. Longview has a history of labor unrest going back to the 1930s. Currently, one paper mill in Longview and the teachers’ union in neighboring Kelso are on strike. If only there were management and labor parties committed to the “principled negotiation” of seeking the win-win solution of understanding instead of insisting on mutually exclusive win-lose scenarios.

The list above is just scratching the surface of what one little church in Longview should be praying over, brainstorming, wrestling with, and doing what the Lord tells us to do as peacemakers. Yet the needs are so large and the church is small. In the face of powerful systemic evils that work to objectify and marginalize certain segments of the population, I am strengthened by Paul’s admonition to the Church at Rome, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21).

One well-known example of someone who refused to be overcome by evil is Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” [10] 
When we take such a position, we will be persecuted for that is the natural reaction of the world to the light of God.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:19-21)

Followers of Christ can, and should, be peacekeepers in cooperation with the Holy Spirit who is the one that restrains the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8). Any effort we make will fall short without the involvement of the Spirit. But is it possible that we might not only be peacekeepers in the sense of limiting hostility (negative peace), or protecting the weak from the violence of the strong but peacemakers who work towards all parties being in a right relationship with the Prince of Peace and each other (positive peace)? The family of God... "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)

Where does it start? As this clip from McFarland USA states, 

“How you going to be family if you not eating together?” 

It might be hard, but sit down, share a meal and learn how to be family…it’s worth it.

And enchiladas are tasty too!

---

[1] Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God. (New York: HarperCollins, 1998), 118.

[2] John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, The Bible Speaks Today Series, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1985),(Kindle Locations 771-772), Kindle Edition.

[3] Ephesians 1:3-4

[4] Ephesians 2:13-17

[5] Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins : A Sociopolitical and Religious Reading. Bible & Liberation. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2000), 136.

[6] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), 62.

[7] D.A. Carson, The Expositor's Bible Commentary (Matthew--Luke). edited by Frank E. Gaebelein, Vol. 8. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984),135.

[8] D. A. Carson, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World: An Exposition of Matthew 5-10. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 28.

[9] Robert Jamieson, Robert, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown. A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Whole Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989), 28.

[10] Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“I Can See Clearly Now…”

This is an assigned post in response to Paul Louis Metzger’s post “Blessed are the pure in heart”—not the double-minded and those with cloudy vision.

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

    And who shall stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

    who does not lift up his soul to what is false

    and does not swear deceitfully. (Psalm 24:3-4)

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (Matthew 5:8)

Sunrise over Galilee

Purity of heart an essential trait of the true disciple, the citizen of the kingdom of heaven, (as seen in the verses above) can be tied to Matthew 5:4’s “Blessed are those who mourn...”  We mourn for our sins and it leads us to confess, repent, and be found pure in heart. When the love of God illuminates our hearts and reveals our trashy tendencies, we can either repent (allowing God to purify us), or we can turn off the light and continue to pursue darkness. This characteristic is aptly tied to the disciples' vision of God.  Jim Forrest compares those of the impure heart to a spiritually blind man,

Looking through dirty
windows?

Putting ourselves in the place of the blind man, we can see ourselves as blind from birth–not blind in the sense of being unable to see the material world around us but blind in our inability to see God, blind in not noticing the Creator in creation, blind in our inability to see God's image in others. It is usually a worsening blindness; as we get older we tend to become less and less amazed, so that things which were once astonishing become ordinary.[1]

The 19^th Century preacher, Charles Spurgeon commented,

"Foul hearts make dim eyes Godward.  To clear the eye we must cleanse the heart.  Only purity has any idea of God, or any true vision of him.  It is a great reward to be able to see God; and, on the other hand, it is of great help towards being pure in heart to have a true sight of the thrice-holy One."[2]

But purity of heart is not just a morally good life, but a focused or undivided heart. We are not to be playing both sides of the fence to our own advantage. God’s holiness is undivided in his love and mission to redeem the world. The vision of a holy God is, as Spurgeon wrote, a great deterrent to sin. But those who can see God as holy generally live their lives differently; they live wholly unto God.  As it is written,

"Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good.  Anyone who does what is good is from God.  Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." (3 John 11)

The pure heart is the result of our confession and repentance (itself the result of godly sorrow) and God's gracious sacrifice on our behalf.  We have the promise of His Word,

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

We also have the clear warning that if we do not repent (i.e., stop sinning and relationally return to God) we will not see God—at least we will not see his blessing.

"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.  No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." (1 John 3:6)

Likewise, we are admonished by the Spirit-inspired author of Hebrews to…

"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." (Hebrews 12:14-15)

To be pure in heart means that we have integrity, and we are unmixed in mind and attitude.  Sin,

Animas River Spill
Photo NBC News

in any form, defiles, and ruins everything that it touches.  I think of the stains that might be left on a fine suit by India ink, or perhaps something we can relate to more readily today—the effect upon the environment by water made impure by heavy metals, toxic chemicals, or radioactive isotopes. To be pure in heart is the result of letting God wash us clean and reclaim us for use through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, in comparison to which our government's multi-billion dollar toxic waste clean-up "superfund" is infinitesimally small.

When Jesus talked of the pure in heart, he not only spoke of those who were free from sin but of those who were completely devoted to God.

"'Pure in heart' should not be restricted to moral, still less sexual, purity; it denotes one who loves God with all his heart (Deut.  6:5), with an undivided loyalty, and whose inward nature corresponds with his outward profession (Isaiah 29:13)."[3]

The true disciple is the same inside as he is outside; there can be no hypocrisy in the kingdom of heaven, nor any distractions or divided loyalties.  The disciple is satisfied to see God as the sole reward for a pure life lived for God.  As it is written,

"And I—in righteousness I will see your face;

when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness." (Psalm 17:15)

This beatitude reminds me of the 1972 Reggae song I Can See Clearly Now, written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and made popular by Johnny Nash before being covered by countless other artists…

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there's nothin' but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.[4]

How many dark clouds of pride, anger, resentment, and other impurities blind us to the faithfulness of God’s promises? How many dust devils of distraction keep us looking off the path and away from the Lord?

When we are pure, undivided, and locked on target in following Jesus, we are open to seeing God at work all around us and in many places that we would not expect. Just like Jesus spoke through the parables to those who have “an ear to hear” so God shows himself to those who have a “healthy eye” full of light (Matthew 6:22). And that is its own reward, for, “To see God is to enter into the great joy of God's love, the dialogue of love within the holy Trinity.”[5] 

Though today “we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Cor. 13:12)

One day we will sing, “I can see clearly now” and it will be the truth.

---

[1] Jim Forest, The Ladder of the Beatitudes, Orbis Books. Kindle Edition, 9.

[2] C.H. Spurgeon, The King Has Come, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1987, 49.

[3] R.T. France, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries - Matthew, Eerdmans, 1985, 110.

[4]  Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, I Can See Clearly Now, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. 1972.

[5] Jim Forest, The Ladder of the Beatitudes, Orbis Books. Kindle Edition, 106.

Like Admah and Zeboiim? Or the Mercy of God?

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." (Matthew 5:7)

This post is written in response to a wonderful post by Paul Louis Metzger entitled, “Blessed are the merciful”—not those who look out for number 1. Much of what he said in that post, I too have said over the years. I love it when someone agrees with me… and hopefully, the feeling is mutual.

Dr. Metzger writes, “All too often, we look at God as easily provoked and lacking in mercy. We even think that the God of the Old Testament presents himself in this way.” I have to confess that this is one of my personal hot-button topics. At times I have actually gotten myself in trouble by passionately defending the mercy of YHWH in the Old Testament. I am encouraged to see that Dr. Metzger and Karl Kutz are kindred spirits in this pursuit. The more convinced we are of the merciful nature of God, and of our own need for that mercy, the more likely we are to be merciful to others.

I was also delighted to see Karl Kutz appealing to Hosea 11:8-9 as an example of God’s mercy as this has been a favorite passage of mine for years—a clear revelation of the Father-heart of God!

Wasteland near the Dead Sea
Photo: Greg Dueker

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
    How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
    my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my burning anger;
    I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
    the Holy One in your midst,
    and I will not come in wrath.

This is one of the most passionate cries of God in all of the Old Testament. It takes an obscure reference to a devastated and desolate place and changes it into an amazing revelation of the merciful disposition of our Heavenly Father.

Pardon me, but your Mercy is showing!
God’s message to Israel through Hosea was one of great love and great judgment upon their persistent wickedness. Yet, even in righteous judgment, he does not bring the utter destruction that befell Admah and Zeboiim. Perhaps you are asking what, or who, are they.

Sodom & Gomorrah,
by John Martin, 1852

To put it in modern terms, Admah and Zeboiim were part of the Sodom-Gomorrah Metroplex (“cities of the valley”) that was destroyed in Genesis 19:23-29. Interestingly, part of the covenant curse for disobedience was to be made like Admah & Zeboiim as an example for all to see (Deut. 29:23). While there would come discipline and even exile from the land, the Lord was not willing to consign them to hellfire. He showed mercy—a mercy that came at great cost to him, even death on the cross. We see Jesus confer this value of mercy to his disciples here in the beatitudes.

            "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." (Matthew 5:7)

This characteristic begins the set of beatitudes that are the external manifestation of internal attitudes. We can tie this verse to verse three, for if we are not poor in spirit then we will not be merciful to others. True disciples are merciful because they realize full well that they have received great mercy from God.

Perhaps it is helpful for us to look at mercy in light of four descriptive qualities:

Mercy as forgiveness that remembers something...

Dr. Metzger writes, “Those who come to terms with their spiritual state of extreme poverty (Matthew 5:3) and who mourn their spiritual condition (Matthew 5:4) are slow to pass judgment on others.” While he used the classic illustration of mercy from Les Miserable in his post I am also reminded of the mythic illustration from Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring, where Frodo and Gandalf are discussing the creature Gollum.

Frodo: It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance.

Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many. (You can view the scene here.)

That mercy shown to an utterly undeserving creature did indeed lead to Frodo’s own liberation from bondage to the ring of power. We, like Gollum, deserved death but God deals in mercy if we will have it.

Mercy as compassion that does something...

Jesus’ story that we call the “Good Samaritan” in Luke 10:25-37 answers the lawyer’s question, “Who was a neighbor?” The lawyer has to admit that the one who was a neighbor was, “The one who showed him mercy.” (v.37) Merciful people actively extend (1) forgiveness towards sinners; and (2) compassion towards the needy.  However the Kingdom characteristic of mercy goes beyond simply doing merciful things, it means actually having a merciful disposition. 

Mercy as a disposition of gratitude...

Because I have been forgiven, because God has shown great mercy to me, then my paying that mercy forward is an act of gratitude. If my default disposition is gratitude then I will be slow to anger and quick to show mercy—not patronizing sinners as one who is above temptation and error, but as one who is poor in spirit and knows only too well my own dependence on the mercy of God.

Mercy as a cycle of appropriate response...

True disciples of Christ see needs and are committed to meeting them.  Merciful people live lives of service that follow the example left by our Lord Jesus Christ.  Merciful people are wise and actually benefit from being merciful.  This beatitude restates Psalm 18:24,

     "With the merciful             you show yourself merciful;
       with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
       with the purified             you show yourself pure;

and with the crooked            you make yourself seem tortuous (shrewd).
                                      For you save a humble people,

          but the haughty eyes you bring down. (Psalm 18:24-27)

While mercy doesn’t seem to be the appropriate response to offense and injustice, which we receive at the hands of imperfect people, it is appropriate when we are responding to the mercy we have received from the Lord in forgiving our sins against him more than to the spectrum of the sins of others against us.

Those who have truly mourned their own sins, being poor in spirit will extend to others the mercy that they are so keenly aware that they have received. And the reality of such a practice is that God says that we are blessed…and will receive mercy ourselves. It is a two-way street. We have to extend the mercy we have received to experience the “even more” mercy that we need.

I will close with this perceptive quote,

“Suppose God tried to reward an unmerciful man with mercy. It simply couldn’t be done—not because God would withhold the gift, but because the hardened human heart would not receive it.”[1]

May our hearts like saints and disciples of old, be open to the Spirit’s traffic in the mercy of God! Hear our prayer!

Kyrie eleison     (Lord, have mercy)

Christe eleison  (Christ, have mercy)

Kyrie eleison     (Lord, have mercy)

---

[1] Peter Kreeft, Back To Virtue (p. 115). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Daughters of the Leech, or Disciples of Christ?

This blog is a response to Paul Louis Metzger’s post, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”—not those who crave fast food justice. This is the fourth installment in this series on the beatitudes, as we take a look at Matthew 5:6,

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

                                                                     for they will be filled."

While fast-food metaphors, though appropriate, have become cliché, I would point out that the kingdom speech of Jesus is rarely heard in the "Take Out" lane. The theme song of our consumer spirituality is the classic Veggie Tales’ tongue-in-cheek love song, “My Cheeseburger”.

 

 

Our society of instant gratification conspires against Jesus’ powerful hunger and thirst metaphor. Our children complain, “I’m starving!” when they have gone two hours without a meal, without giving a thought to those who may have gone two days…or two weeks without a full stomach. We in the west have very little insight into what it really means to hunger and thirst. When discussing this in class a classmate pointed out that as Americans, “We don't know hunger...we know appetite.” To which the professor confessed, “I have never been hungry.” To which a prospective student visiting from Uganda could not help but laugh. In many parts of the world, it is inconceivable that someone could live half a century without ever knowing hunger.

In America, some people walk into fast-food restaurants and then walk out because it might take five minutes to order. In fact, my wife and I witnessed it at MOD pizza (a popular super-fast made-to-order pizza restaurant) yesterday. To think that it might take someone 15 minutes in the middle of the lunch rush to not only order but receive their pizza…what an injustice!
So besides being a rant about our appetite-manifested selfishness what is the point of this post? Simply that the quality of our righteousness determines the quality of our justice. Dr. Metzger writes, “Fast food righteousness includes self-righteousness that entails taking matters into our own hands or wishing that others would take matters into their hands on our behalf. It also entails the sense that we are the ultimate decision-makers on what is right and wrong.” Therefore the justice that it metes out, “involves hate and revenge rather than love and mercy. It fixates on getting even with others rather than making things right.” It is here that the voice of conviction reminds me of how we really do love our cheeseburgers! Do we cry out from the poverty of our spirit for the Father’s will to be done, or do we order up another combo plate of self-righteous posturing and blame with a side of denial?

The answer is found in that for which we genuinely hunger. Jesus suggests that the Kingdom disciple is hungry for “righteousness”, but what is that? It is not the proud legalism of the Pharisee that actually looks for what it can get away with. The righteousness the disciple seeks is greater than that, for it is not so much a standard to which we attempt to adhere, as a relationship to which we respond. The true disciple's hunger, their one controlling desire, their burning passion, is to be right with and pleasing to God their loving Savior and King. The cry of the psalmist echoes down through the millennia,

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
       that will I seek after:
       that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
               to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
        and to inquire    in his temple.

  For he will hide me in his shelter
                                 in the day of trouble;
        he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
        he will lift me high upon a rock…

You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” (Psalm 27:4-5, 8)

This passage speaks not so much about living in a cool building as it does about desiring the abiding presence of God in their life. From this relational center, flows a fountain of divine compassion and advocacy that brings the disciple alongside those who bear the burden of a fallen world’s injustice to bring healing. Ezekiel used just such imagery in prophetically describing the effects of kingdom righteousness (47:1-12).

I love what D.A. Carson wrote on this beatitude,  

"These people hunger and thirst, not only that they may be righteous (i.e., that they may wholly do God's will from the heart), but that justice may be done everywhere.  All unrighteousness grieves them and makes them homesick for the new heaven and earth—the home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:13).  Satisfied with neither personal righteousness alone nor social justice alone, they cry for both: in short, they long for the advent of the messianic kingdom.  What they taste now whets their appetites for more."[1]

So what about our hunger? Does it drive us to shamelessly demand so that we might endlessly consume? Do we prove ourselves by our insatiable desires to be the daughters of the leech? I am referring to Proverbs 30:15-16, which says,

A leech on the skin

The leech has two daughters:
    Give and Give.
Three things are never satisfied;
    four never say, “Enough”:
Sheol, the barren womb,
    the land never satisfied with water,
    and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

Or as I would paraphrase it, "two-three-four, greed is never satisfied, it always wants a little more". It seems that Western culture has become very leech-like. In the face of the latest trending self-interest, the timeless and counter-cultural words of the Lord invite us to dwell in the paradox of contentment in what the Father provides for us and the discontentment over what we have provided to others. As weaned children of God (Psalm 131:2), we are learning to wait on him for our daily bread at the same time that he sends us to give others something to eat (Matthew 14:16; Mark 6:37, Luke 9:13). And perhaps, in doing so, we will eat the same food that sustained Jesus so long ago,

So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish

his work. (John 4:33-34)

Will we be seen to be the satisfied disciples of Christ who set their own needs aside in order to share what we have with others? If we, like the psalmist desire the presence of the Lord in our life more than any cheeseburger, we will find it…and then we will naturally share him with others.

---

     [1] Frank E. Gaebelein, General Editor, The Expositor's Bible Commentary -- Vol. 8, Zondervan, 1984, p. 134.