“Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead,
those who are always instituting unfair regulations,
to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,
and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice,
so they can steal what widows own,
and loot what belongs to orphans.
What will you do on judgment day,
when destruction arrives from a distant place?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners,
or to fall among those who have been killed.
Despite all this, his anger does not subside,
and his hand is ready to strike again. “ (.Isaiah 10:1-4
I am not a “doom and gloom” preacher. I don’t try to scare people into falling in love with Jesus. I cringe inside when I hear people sharing Jesus with someone beginning by saying, “If you get hit by a bus today do you know where you will go?” I don’t center my messages around judgement. However, as passages like these from Isaiah remind me, there will be a final judgment They speak of a coming reality, I don’t like passages like this one. Congregations do not like passages like these. They don’t preach well and they are not easily swallowed. All things belong to and are under the hand of our creator. We are not entitled to anything. Everything is all a gift of grace. We are only stewards of these gifts for a very short time. And all of us must sooner or later give an account to the creator on how we used and shared these gifts of grace we received. Isaiah says on the “visitation” (judgement) day there will be no help or hiding. One’s position, power, status, wealth, possessions, pensions, house’s square footage, church status; are all meaningless before the judgment of God. Especially those listed that are gained at the expense of the poor. God’s glory is ultimately for our good. But it has a standard. We either obey his standards and live in his glory, or we deny his standards and die smashing against his glory. For his glory will not me moved.
My family, “To whom much is given, much is required.” (Luke 12:48). I pray during this season of Lent you will reflect on the gifts of grace and light you have received and your heart of generosity towards them and with them. You will have to do it one day in the not so far future, why not do it today? In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
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