August 28, 2007 Isaiah 1:13-14

08/28/2007

Isaiah 1:13-14

Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
        Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
        I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
        My soul hates.
They have become a burden to me;
        I am weary of bearing them.

In the Mosaic Law, the Israelites were given many festivals to commemorate their special relationship with God. One of those festivals was the New Moon. Each festival had a specific purpose and invoked the memory of some aspect of God. Passover commemorated how God spared the firstborn of Israel while the firstborn of Egypt perished. There are many others I won’t go into now.

But what had happened over time is that the festivals and celebrations had become rote—mere things that one does because one is supposed to. When we think of “evil” in the classic sense, we think of killing or drunken revelry or some other debauchery. But the fact is, that anything established for God’s purpose that is not carried out with reverence for Him, is evil. Even when no criminal or unkind acts occur, if we fail to honor God, we commit evil.

Wow! What an awesome responsibility. But really, how hard is it to remember God and honor Him for what he has done? It is an act merely of the mind and heart. It requires no resources, no money, no physical effort, only time.

Just as the Israelites were holding all their feasts and celebrations without any regard for God (they remembered the “what” but not the “why”), our society is fast approaching the same situation. Look at what has been happening to Christmas over the years? In an episode of “Family Ties”, the Keaton family is thrust into a modern version of “A Christmas Carol” Michael J Fox’s character, Alex, played Scrooge and Christmas had been renamed to “Commerce day”.

In a sense it seems fitting. Christmas is drowning in Santa Clause, elves, reindeer, lights, candy-canes, and so many other secular ideas, that the focus has been shifted almost entirely away from Christ. Even Kwanza (a made up tradition) and Chanukah (Hanukah) overshadow Christmas so that stores don’t have Christmas sales, they have “Holiday” sales. And in the workplace, you can’t say “Merry Christmas” anymore; we need to be tolerant and not offend anyone who might not be a Christian.

Why am I talking about Christmas in August?

Because the point is, that anything we do, where we do not honor God, is evil. This applies especially to our celebrations of commemoration.

Each day, focus your thoughts on Him and don’t let our days of commemoration become detestable to the very God who created and loves us.

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