I Live Here Too

Numbers 35:34.

"You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord, who lives among the people of Israel."

An important reminder to care for our environment, because it's God's home too. I can't think why, but I've never really thought of it like that before. I guess God does live here, with us. So that would make it his home.

And going by this passage, it's not just about reducing our carbon footprint, or planting trees, etc. In this passage, God says that "murder pollutes the land" (v33).

What we do and how we live is polluting the land. It's no wonder our natural world has issues. We can't just reform our exploitation of natural resources (although we do need to do that), or just reform our spirituality (although we do need to do that). We must also reform the way we live - our relationships with others - because somehow this is affecting the environment. I can't explain how it affects the land, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's true, because our natural world is getting worse.

And there's no point saying, "I've never murdered anyone - I'm all good," because Jesus pointed out that hate towards a person is as bad as murder.

Our broken relationships are polluting our land.

We've got to start living better, with all our connections right.

With the environment,

With God,

and with the other people in our world - our friends, family, workmates, as well as all the people we don't know, but who our decisions still affect: like the poor cocoa farmer in Ghana, and the sweating factory worker in India.

God lives here too.

Ben Needs...

Thanks to Geoff for passing on this fun little game.

Type "Ben needs" (or your name) in Google and list the first 10 decent responses....

1. Ben needs money for art supplies.
2. What Ben needs right now more than anything is for the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series (I've "invested" a lot of money on that).
3. Ben needs a crutch (hurt my leg trying to steal art supplies at the baseball).
4. Ben needs body of steel (then I'd have no trouble pilfering stuff).
5. Ben needs our support now (for my sore leg, and I really need to quit stealing because it's bad for me).
6. Ben needs the beard back (kind of need to change my identity - no reason).
7. Ben needs 14 stitches to close cut on forearm (there's got to be an easier way to get art supplies).
8. Ben needs your vote to win composer of the year prize.
9. Ben needs a bigger helmet (being an artist, composer, baseball fan and unsuccessful thief is perilous).
10. Ben needs more orange and less finance (I've finally decided to just paint with fruit...).

Earthquakes

Numbers 16 | Mark 15

The contrast in these two passages is amazing. Numbers 16 tells the story of when God incinerated 250 men for sinning against Him, and made the ground open up to swallow their families and homes whole.... A powerful, unweilding, uncompromising God.

And then in Mark 15, this same God is about to be crucified, and he's allowing people to falsely accuse him, whip him, embarrass and mock him, beat him up, and finally nail him to a cross to die a horrible death.

What amazing humility and restraint Jesus showed. He doesn't call up an earthquake, or fire to incinerate these sinners, although they deserved it. He just accepts the beating, takes their sins on his own shoulders, and gives up his life for them. No more need for earthquakes, if only we trust him.

I struggle to comprehend this God.

A Bit Drastic

Numbers 15:32-36

A man is found gathering wood on the Sabbath day (when you're not allowed to work). The people didn't know what to do with him, so they brought him to Moses, Aaron and the rest of the community.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man must be put to death! The whole community must stone him outside the camp." And so they did.

This shocked me a little. Sounds pretty drastic. But I guess it showed the community that you can't mess with God. He has to be taken seriously.

I'm pretty glad we're under a more gracious arrangement now....

The last few months has been pretty busy for me, and there haven't been many rest days in there at all. Still, if there was the threat of stoning, I'd probably be a bit more intentional about it, and I'd probably have a healthier life....

Bible in a Year

I just bought myself a One Year Bible, so I can read the whole thing over the next year. I've been wanting to try and do this for ages. We'll see how we go. It says you only need to read about 15min a day. Sounds not too bad.

I'll post some things every now and then about what I'm reading.

Tick for Day 1.

:: Contrast ::

:: Contrast ::, originally uploaded by anthonyko.

Tam & I have booked tickets to go on holidays in New Zealand this year, so don't be surprised if I post some NZ photos every now and then. I'm a little excited about it all...