Morning Devotional

March 14, 2004

"Ceremonies" 

by Don Emmitte

Home

Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: `Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31 NLT).

In many tribal cultures, there are dances and rituals that members perform to please the gods they worship. Ceremonies for rain, cleansing rituals, sacrifices, and even fire dances keep their schedules full making sure their gods are happy and not mad.

It is as easy to make our walk with God complicated. We can as easily make our relationship with God so complicated that it is difficult to tell whether the right side is up or not! While there are a few basic principles set forth for us to follow in the bible, they are there to ensure that we live a life that restores us to God's loving arms. They are not there to keep us performing a "fire dance" afraid at any moment that God's judgment will find us lacking in a performance or fear of failure. God has already judged the world, including us.  Other than death, we are worthy of nothing else. Nevertheless, God has restored us to Him through His son Jesus. Christ's death on the cross for us is the only performance we will ever need for God's love.

God does not want our performance, neither does God want ceremonies designed to get His approval of us. God wants us to just believe that He has our lives under His control and to live out the basics. God calls us to live out the basics and then believe that He will carry out the details of our lives. This is Jesus’ declaration in our reading this morning. The simple basics are to believe in God with all of our hearts, soul, and strength and to show everyone we meet His love.

Part of maturing as a Christian is to enjoy the freedom that God has everything in His control. What may have looked like mistakes in the past are springboards to put you where He wants you to be today. It is impossible for anything to go wrong and nothing can be out of control when they are God's plans.

I urge you to stop fretting about the past and areas where you have failed. There are no complicated "fire dances" that you need to perform and no intricate ceremonies to do.  God's plan for you is simple and the path that you are to follow is basic. You need to believe that God is everything to you with finality. Second, I urge you to love Him with all you have and love others as much as you love yourself. Everyone that made an impact for God in the Bible did so by getting back to the basics that God designed for us. It is not hard or complicated, we just need to decide today to be mature and simply do what He has told us.