Aug 07
18
The Long View
Posted by Stephen18
Tags: goals, learning, patience
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Crisis piled upon me heap upon heap, panic, stress, urgent demands. My perspective shrinks to a tightly narrowed focus. Look only at the task at hand, lest I be overwhelmed by the towering burden of responsibility. Step carefully through the minefield. Stumble and the whole thing comes crashing down around me. One step at a time. Don’t dwell on how far the destination is, or I’ll lose heart.
Ever been in that situation? Yeah, me too. And through it all a sense of growing unease that I was missing something, blind to an important key that would lead me out of the shadows. It finally coalesced into the following verse:
Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law–justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others.
Matthew 23:23 (NET)
I had to read through the verse a few times. It seemed a bit harsh that a verse where Jesus blasts the experts in the law and the Pharisees was directed at me. I had just received something of a battering myself, and it felt a bit unfair to get yet another blasting. Maybe I’d received this verse by mistake. Maybe it was just something random that came to mind.
But still it seemed to fit. Strange.
So I wondered about the two halves of the verse: the mint, dill and cumin versus justice, mercy and faithfulness. Simple versus complex. Easy versus hard. If you want to know about tithing you look up a few verses and you’re done. Pretty straightforward. God gives to us, we return to Him a portion of what we have received from His bounty. On the other hand, if you want to know the thoughts of God regarding justice, mercy and faithfulness, you’ve got a lot of reading ahead of you. A lot of study. Meditation. And a lot more effort. A lot more sacrifice. Hard.
In a high-pressure situation I tend to block out everything but the absolutely necessary. Focus on the details. Otherwise I can’t cope. The problem then is that I lose perspective. I only see what’s directly in front of me. I lose sight of the long-term view.
Giving a tenth of mint, dill and cumin is a specific detail that can be taken care of immediately. I do it. It’s done. Check it off the list. Move on. In contrast, justice, mercy and faithfulness has to be ongoing. It had to be done before the present crisis, continue to be practiced throughout the current troubles, and be abundantly evident after all this has blown over. I don’t even know if I could express those concepts in a way that would make sense on a to-do list. Justice? Check. Mercy? Been there. Faithfulness? Done that. Took photos, bought the T-shirt. Silly, right? Just, merciful and faithful are not things we do, they are things we are. They are things God is. He always has been. He always will be.
So the Lord is reminding me that there is more to life than the immediate details (though they matter too). That the long-term outcome is more important. That character matters, and particularly that I must reflect the character of God.
With understanding comes peace. Long after herbs and spices have ceased to exist there will still be justice, mercy and faithfulness. Take the long view. And so another verse comes to mind, gentler, more triumphant:
… keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 (NET)
He has redeemed us forever. The ultimate long view.
