Today I read Joshua 22 where the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh are allowed to go back across the river Jordan and enjoy the lands that they were given for inheritance. When they return to their lands they built an altar and were condemned for it by the priests, because now that they have a tabernacle they are only supposed to offer burnt offerings on the altar in the tabernacle. However, the tribes have a most unusual response.
The tribes said that in the future they worried that the tribes on the other side of the river Jordan might disavow the children of these tribes because they were on the "wrong" side of the river Jordan. So to try and forestall this they built an altar, not for the purposes of burnt offerings, but rather as a witness that they too are of the house of Israel. Personally I think this is brilliant and very insightful of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh. They know their brethren well and were able to see quite clearly what would happen.
This holier than thou attitude has always been around and as far as I can tell, outside of the millennium, will always be around too. Because of pride, we feel more secure in our place in the Lord's eyes when we can point out that we are following the commandments or doing what is right better than someone else. Of course the irony is that by so doing, we are making ourselves less in the eyes of God. God is not impressed by pride. He is not pleased by holier than thou attitudes. I remember once I was living with some friends in California and we went out to lunch. My friend got some iced tea with his lunch and I reminded him that he was better than that and shouldn't be drinking it. I was shocked when he quite vehemently turned on me and accused me of being holier than thou on him and being, as he put it, high and mighty. I was so shocked and hurt that I couldn't even respond. I truly was only concerned about my friend when I had brought it up and his well being was my only thought, but to have him so hatefully respond to me was quite hurtful and shocking. I later learned that drinking tea was the least of his problems he was having and that was the real reason he snapped at me, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard after all.
But we should not let negative attitudes stop us from doing what is right and trying to help others. We need to make sure that we have the right intentions though and that we have the salvation of others as our goal. The Lord is not pleased when our motivation is pride and tearing others down. But that is between the Lord and each one of us. We cannot hide from the Lord, no matter how much we might wish it! Until tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment