Isaiah lays it all out there doesn't he? (In God's words not his by the way...) You fast and yet you turn around and bicker. You worship and then you turn around and cheat others. Those are harsh words to hear, aren't they? No one likes to be reminded of the fact that we are simultaneously saint and sinner.
Why is it so hard to put God first? It's our human condition and it smacks us in the face over and over again, that is if we are willing to really see what's going on. This first week of Lent reminds us that God calls us to return to him with our whole hearts. Jesus says that those who love their lives will lose them and those who are willing to lose their lives will gain eternity. We are going to lose our lives anyway, someday that is. Morbid thought perhaps but we are mortal after all. Yesterday one of my track kids said to me, "Did you see that movie (something like) 1,000 ways to die?" No, I didn't. I only need to know about one way.
In our baptism we died to our old selves, our old Adam, our old man or woman. Drowned. Buried. Ashes to ashes and all that. But in Christ we are raised to new life! We will lose our lives sooner or later. But if you really think about it and embrace it, we lost it in the waters of baptism. Sometimes we just don't realize that until much later! Our baptism is our daily returning to God; our daily humbling, our daily reminder that we cannot do it alone but Christ who walks with us every step of the way does it for us. We live for him. He gives us a new life! That makes a qualitative difference!
It is great to be reminded of the importance of our baptism!
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