days when I will bring famine on the country,
a famine not of bread, a drought not of water,
but of hearing the word of the Lord.
What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sin, ners.’
No one in my family would call me virtuous. I am a sinner and luckily God does speak to me through scripture. The problem is I must read, understand and listen to how a reading from scripture is suppose to speak to me.
Hebrews 4:12-13 The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgement on secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing is hidden from him; everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves. God is watching and He is speaking.
I have collected quotes from various readings of scripture. There are various topics including, marriage, the Kingdom of God, immigrants, guardian angels, lending money, giving money. Sometimes the words of Saints inspire me. Sometimes the words of Saints confuse me. Nonetheless, when I read scripture, I know it is the word of God and He is talking directly to me. My old buddy Dennis and I would always say that there are no coincidences with God. Simply, God wanted me to be inspired by the scripture that I stumble across. No coincidence!
Now I am not trying to shortchange efforts in Bible Study. Revelations is current today as it was at the time it was written. The Book of Acts is a pattern for our church to grow into the future. That is something we should be doing anyway. Nonetheless, we come across scripture every day. We sometimes are open our eyes through other people, a T-shirt with a quote or the news. Still that small strong voice is speaking to us across the ages and in the present.
God knows we are sinners. He is not judging us yet. We shouldn’t judge others, because this not our job. He speaks to others and hopefully our actions help others to do good and not evil. We can’t earn our way to heaven by good deeds, but those deeds might lead us to repentance and that might lead us to communion with Jesus.
Jesus says in today’s Gospel, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed, I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.
Listen!
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for the Holy Land. Pray for peace!
