Can you do something without doing something?

Zechariah 7:5 Ask all the people of the land and the priests, “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?”

Can you do something without doing something?  That’s the question I am pondering today.  Can you walk across the street without walking across the street?  No.  Can you go skydiving without jumping out of a plane and using a parachute?  I hope not.  Can you cook dinner without actually cooking dinner?  Maybe if it’s a Costco lasagna.  Can you go to work but not actually go to work?  Now we’re getting warmer.  I guess you could show up physically but not be there mentally.  Can you do Christian things without really living like a Christian?  Yes.

In Zechariah 7:5, God wants to know – “when you fasted, were you really fasting?”  Let’s just assume that God actually knew the answer to this question.  And with that, I can assume that the answer was no.  So what did He mean by that?  Here’s what I think: Just because they didn’t eat, doesn’t mean that they had the attitude of fasting.  The attitude of fasting is to deprive your fleshly desires in order to draw you close to God.  It is about creating a setting in which you become hungry for Him and are drawn closer in your relationship.  That’s fasting.  Skipping a meal doesn’t count.

You see, it is the heart of the matter God was getting at.  He asked Israel to fast in order that they would be drawn back to Him.  But all they did was not eat.  I think we do some of the same things today.  We read our Bible because we are supposed to, but miss what it is saying to us.  We tithe because we were told we have to, but aren’t actually putting God first in our lives (which is the point.)  We pray our list like we are praying to Santa rather than truly connecting to our Father.  We go to church because that’s what Christians do, but don’t strive to be the Body of Christ.

It’s the heart that counts.  That’s what the Lord was saying through Zechariah.  He asks us to do these things because they are what transform us.  Following Jesus is not a list of rules; it is a life set free to pursue our Savior!

*You really can do something without doing something.  Do you have anything in your life that fits that description?

Defining God

Hosea 11:8-9 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart; My compassion is stirred! I will not vent the full fury of My anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One among you; I will not come in rage.

Sometimes you run across a statement so profound it will change your life.  Or maybe it will change the way you see the world.  These statements can be quotes from famous people, or maybe they are just ordinary people saying famous things.  Nonetheless, we will repeat them, share them with our friends, and even using them as an opening line in a social setting.  That way we will sound really smart.  Regardless, it is often in the simple profundity (is that a word?) that we find meaning.

I found a statement like that today, but it wasn’t by a celebrity – it was by God.  He said in Hosea 11:9, “I am God and not man.”  Pause.  Think.  Reflect.

Why did that have to be said.  Of course He is God and not man.  It’s because humanity tries to force Him into our box of human limitations.  We think He needs to make rational sense.  We believe that He is a vending machine where if we put in the right amount of money and push the right button, we’ll get the right candy bar.  We’ve reduced Him to formulas, traditions, religions, and even our experiences.  If our father was abusive, He must be too.  If only our mom went to church, Jesus is for sissies.  If something tragic happened to a good person, God is cruel.  It’s a frame of reference we see Him in, but it’s an erroneous one.

It’s a mistake to view God through our lens when we can’t even see ourselves through His.  We don’t get to define God, friends.  He defines us.  He is God and not man.  He doesn’t think like we do nor does He act like it.  God defines God, plain and simple.  So when we “expect” Him to conform to our thinking, we’ve got a problem.  He’s asked us to conform to His.  When we want Him to wipe out the bad guys, He’s unexpected moved and shows compassion.  And for some reason, this makes us angry – until we remember that without Him, we’re a bad guy too.

This is what I love most about God, that He is, well… other.  I love that I don’t always understand Him.  I love that there is mystery in who He is.  I love that He is way more powerful than I will ever comprehend.  And I love that when I am feeling down, the author of life breathes into me.  I LOVE that He is not a man!  He is God and I refuse to define Him with my own life experience.  I refuse to define Him with my hurts or my anger.  I refuse to define Him with my political views or my take on human suffering.  I refuse to tell Him who He is based on my limited ability to comprehend the meaning of life.  Rather I surrender to His “otherness” and allow Him to shape all that I am.  For me, He must be God and I must be man.  Our relationship won’t work any other way.