Theological Commentary: Click Here
I was
reminded of a teaching I learned a while back.
Ritual leads to religion; discipline leads to discipleship. I also have another saying that I like. Religion is mankind’s attempt to work our way
up to God; Christianity is God’s way of coming down to us. Both sayings stem from the same thought. Our rituals, if meaningless, are nothing.
I find this
a meaningful place to contemplate as we go through this chapter. I hope you realized how you read 12 nearly
identical paragraphs in this chapter. It
doesn’t make for the most interesting of reading. I wonder how exciting the giving of the gifts
was by day 8 or 9, too. I wasn’t
there. I can’t say for certain. But again, our ritual is meaningless if it is
only ritual. I wonder if by day 8 or 9
this was ritual for the people involved.
If it was ritual, to what did it lead?
As I said, I
can’ lay any kind of judgment upon those Hebrew people so many thousands of
years ago. It may have been deeply
meaningful. It may have been
ritual. I can’t say.
I can,
however, look into my own life. Where is
my ritual leading me to religion instead of relationship with the Father? Where is my ritual taking the place of
genuine spirituality? Where is God
calling me out of human ritual and into divine spirituality?
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