Lent almost over

So, Lent is more than halfway over and how am I doing on what I gave up...erhhhhhhh....
much better than I thought!  I gave up for Lent bashing Mark.

I have to laugh...It just hit me the other night...I don't have to because God is doing it for me!!!

Scripture we've been studying in Disciple class has been very explicit about adultery and unfaithfulness...as we study the prophets and their condemnation of the Israel people for doing both.  As we studied Hosea and his unfaithful wife Gomer.  This week we are studying Isaiah who talks about the sin the chosen people are committing...Adultery is high on all of the lists.  The prophets talk about how evil folks are that do these things...of which I yell...YES! There are comments about how the people excuse their own behavior, they reason it out to be OK and try to convince others it is OK to do these things! 

So I haven't had to say anything...God speaks loudly for us both...

Yea God! You go!

Wait...God also talks in all of these instances about forgiveness and redemption....shucks...I guess there is more to the story.

Another week of Disciple class

Another week of Disciple class...As always...every week is written just for me.  This week we studied the book of Micah...it contains that great scripture I talked about  back in early Feb. The scripture that just kept popping up...Micah 6:8
What does the Lord require of you?
To seek justice.
Love kindness
Walk humbly with our God.

How simple those things sound but do you know how hard they are?
Three easy things, that's all he asks.

We also talked about those kings and those Godly people and how they turned from God.  He calls them out on it.  We always think of the new testament God of peace, love and kumbaya.
But there is also the old testament God of punishment if you have sinned, over and over and over.  You don't listen or learn.  He still punishes today but we don't like to think of that.  He wouldn't do that to me...

Tonight we had to re-read Micah and write down the specific sins that Micah was calling the leaders and people on the carpet for.  Here is the list.
idolatry
harlots
scheming
evil in the bed
coveting of neighbor's fields and houses and scheme to take them
stealing
Eviction of the poor
hate good and love evil
abhor justice
twist it all to their way of thinking
officials pronounce judgement for bribes
priests want a price for their teaching
prophets will prophesy for money

Does any of this sound familiar?  Sure does to me!
We had to then mark which of these still exist today....guess what ALL of them!
Look what happened to Israel after this...exile...humiliation...
The message from Micah to his own people was they needed to ask for redemption and change their evil ways...the same message for us today...I am always amazed how the message of old is still pertinent today.
What does the Lord require of you?