On my recent trip to Anchorage, AK, there was sort of a theme that emerged. It had to do with 'dough.' My granddaughter Mckenzie is a fussy eater, but she does like pizza. Which, if you live in Anchorage, demands a visit to Moose's Tooth. I must admit - and I have eaten NY pizza at a trat in the Bronx, Chicago deep-dish pizza in Chicago (OK, the airport), and California haute-cuisine pizza in Marin - the best pizza of all is at Moose's Tooth! Me and Mckenzie enjoyed that doughy crust together. When we got home, her Mom wanted to serve us fresh cinnamon-raisin toast for breakfast, so she got out the bread machine. Mckenzie and I had fun looking down through the glass top and watching the kneading process. Go, dough, go! And then there was the obsession; the addiction. Mckenzie is hooked on playdoh. Her 'Ba' (that's Kenzie-speak for her maternal grandmother) had sent me up with six little tubs of 'doh, and that's all she wrote. Kenzie approached me every day, sometimes twice a day, leading me by the index finger to the dining room table, repeating "doh? doh? doh?" We worked it for hours!
Perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of the Christian life is working our theology into practice. Kneading what we know into 'doing-dough. ' Our daughters heard their Mom say about a kajillion times the phrase that may end up as her epitaph, "Knowing and Doing are Two Different Things!" We remind our kids of their principles and responsibilities and they answer, "I know! I know!" Enter the aforementioned proverbial phrase. Most of the New Testament epistles are structured as a diptych with theology appearing at the start of the letters and practices/ applications following in the last half. Today's text is chock full of exhortations to practice the faith.
I count sixteen ways to knead our faith into action. I'll comment on a few. First, there's the one about entertaining strangers. The possibility noted is that we may "entertain angels without knowing it." True, angels are spiritual beings, but the word literally means "messenger." Sometimes God doesn't send us 'Gabriel-in-disguise,' He just sends us a stranger who, if we will be kind and accepting of them, will have a message for us from the Lord. I wonder how many times God attempted to talk to me through the words of a stranger, but I was dismissive or careless of them? If my theology is that God speaks and can do so in a myriad of ways, then my practice should be to pay attention - even to strangers.
We frequently speak our theology by declaring that God will never leave us or forsake us. But rarely do we recall it's antecedent in the text - "Keep your lives free from the love of money ... because God has said, 'Never will I leave you ...'" The Lord is saying that His presence with us is money in the bank. God's support of us is true and lasting. Cash is a fickle lover. It will leave you flat! If you had to choose between telling money to "take a hike" or telling God to "take a hike," which would you pick? Practice this one in these hard economic times.
Last reflection for now - how does the phrase, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" flow with the text around it? Does it come out of the exhortation to imitate the faith of our spiritual leaders? Or does it begin the warning to resist adopting strange teachings? The NIV suggests the former with its placement of the paragraph break. But a case could be made for the latter. Why don't you chew on that one, and let me know how you work the theology of the phrase into the pratices of the surrounding verses.
There are twelve other practices mentioned, and that's not an exhaustive list. There's a lot to this walking with Jesus Christ! At least we have the hope of the Hebrews benediction: "May the God of peace ... equip you with everything good for doing His will..."
Pray: Yes, Lord, equip me. I don't just want to be a Jesus scholar; I want to please You in all that I do. Help me to avoid hypocrisy, and let my theology and practice, my talk and my walk, match up.
PS For all you list makers, here are the sixteen imperatives ...
Keep loving each other
Entertain strangers
Remember those in prison
Empathize with the mistreated
Honor marriage
Shun sexual immorality
Don't idolize money
Consider and imitate the faith of spiritual leaders
Don't get caught up in strange teachings
Avoid religionism
Carry the gospel to a persecuting world
Lift up praises to God
Do good to others
Share with others
Submit to appropriate authority
Pray
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