snapshots

Esther 1-3

As Bish has already mentioned, we've started going through Esther in USCU main meetings. It's cool, good to get off the beaten track, and the old testament definately deserves more attention than we give it. Now, Esther's often held up as an example for girls, so i'm told anyway, no ones ever told me how to be a good Christian girl. But look at the Esther 2...she attracts attention by making herself look beautiful, then sleeps with the most powerful man she can find, and under no circumstances tell him about her faith. Now, obviously there are reasons for all these thing in the grand sweep of what God is doing in Esther, but still...this doesn't seem like great advice!

Luke 4

If Esther 2 doesn't offer great advice for girls then Luke 4 isn't a guide on how to avoid temptation. It's too easy to read these verses, to preach these verses as if we were the main charecter and it's about us fighting temptation. But it's not, the main guy in Luke 4 is Jesus, not us. Jesus the son of God being contrasted with Adam the son of God (3:38) and given the number of quotations from Deuteronomy, Israel the son of God. The point is not about how fight temptation, but how we could never fight temptation. Jesus is everything we could never be, He is our obediant substitute. He succeded where Israel failed in the desert and Adam failed in Eden...and where we fail every day. The actual point of Luke 4 is much more exciting than the one that immediately pops into our head.

Isaiah 6

I read this with Pete and Sam this week. Good times. It's great to see God in His sanctuary, to see Him the way he is. God is holy holy holy, way more holy than we know. So holy, as we noticed that even the Seraphim can't look at Him. Even their eyes must be shielded from His glory and awesomness. Isaiah knows exactly what this means for him. 'Woe is me, for i am lost (ruined)' he cries. He is a sinful man, and knows he'll be burned by the holiness of God. But God doesn't consume him, God redeems him. The coal touches his lips, and his sin is atoned for. Amazing grace.