Now is the Hour

2 Corinthians 6:1-10 -- 1 Peter 4:1-11 -- Judges 6:11-16 -- Matthew 4:1-11

As I sit here sipping a hot chai tea latte, feeling full and satisfied from a delicious meal and lovely conversation at the local Chinese Buffet, I wonder if I've spent my day realizing that Now is the Hour? After an odd sleeping pattern and late start this morning, I read the above scriptures, but found myself without thought or idea. Without inspiration or a word from God. I went to the Ecumenical Lenten Service at the Presbyterian Church at 10:00, hoping for revelation and guidance. The pastor read from Matthew 4 when Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights being tempted by Satan. He was about to begin his ministry, and He wasn't led astray or simply decide to go camping. He was led by the Spirit into wilderness to suffer. The pastor encouraged us to "make good use" of our 40 days of Lent...to examine ourselves fully...and to "remove anything that separates" us from our loving God. Now is the hour.

Now is the hour. What if I'm not ready? The scripture from Judges finds Gideon saying to an angel of the Lord, "But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us..." I find that we're still asking the same questions. They may sound more like, "Why did you let this happen to me?" "Where was God when tornadoes destroyed entire city blocks?" or "If this is what a life lived with God looks like, then I want no part of it." Sometimes we believe that when we accept Christ only good will happen in our lives. In fact, there is even a commercial running for a televangelist couple that says, "If you obey God, good will happen." And, that's simply not true--at least by our standards of good. John the Baptist obeyed God, and his head was cut off and served on a platter. Stephen obeyed God and was stoned to death. Paul obeyed God and was imprisoned and beaten repeatedly. Scriptures show us time after time after time when obeying God was not the easy, comfortable or "blessed" road. I don't think it ever is. There's a great song by Christopher Ames called The Remnant that talks about this very thing. (Check it out at: http://www.myspace.com/christopherames)

So why don't we believe God when he says, "See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!"? (2 Cor 6:2) Is it that we don't believe it, or that we're not ready for it? We want everything instantly, except that. Instant cereal, instant messages, instant credit, instant tax returns, instant winners. We're ready for stuff, but we're not ready to highlight the section of our Bible that says, "...as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger..." Because we want no part of these things. We want only to be blessed by God. And indeed we are. We don't want to be blessed to be a blessing. We simply want to be blessed. And the moment things don't go our way, we find ourselves asking "Where was God when I needed him?" OR instead, we might begin search for piety. We think we can control things. We make bargains with God. "I won't do this or that any longer, if you'll bless me." And so we begin. We consume ourselves with trying to live in "purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God" all the while judging those who aren't, who don't, who can't. The truth is, we can't either. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. God set us free from that life. So, why don't we live in that freedom? Behavior, we can control (at least for a little while.) We can understand "earning our way." We can't understand grace. And we don't understand how afflictions, hardships, beatings, sleepless nights, hunger...are part of God's plan for our lives.

We're reminded again of suffering in 1 Peter 4:1, "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention..." If we are to be true followers of Jesus Christ, we must also intend to suffer. We must also intend to suffer? Is that what that said? Then verse 2 "so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God." And what are our earthly desires? Well, suffering we do not desire. What do we desire? For what do we toil? For a nice car, a nice house,a nice job, a nice family, nice clothes, a nice church, a nice neighborhood. You know, I can't recall the word nice used in scripture, and it's not in my concordance--I just checked. How did pleasing ourselves become our top priority?

Still, there is hope. Peter goes on to say, "Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received." Constant love. A multitude of sins. Without complaining. Stewards of the manifold grace of God. Serve one another. Now is the hour. Love now. Stop complaining now. Offer grace now. Now is the hour. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation!