I LIVE HERE TOO!

As a parent have you ever wanted to remind your children that not only do you live in the house that they are destroying with their disregard, dirty dishes, dirty clothes, etc.,  but you also pay the bills.  Having adult children who don't care much about these things is annoying at best.

I have tried to stay out of politics as much as possible, but when I read this passage I couldn't help but think about the countries of the world, in general, and the way that I, you, we are treating the land in which we live.

It may be that God has similar feelings when he looks around that I do when I look around my house.  It appears so...

Numbers 35:33 reads like this in the Message:

"Don’t desecrate the land in which you live.  I live here too — I, God, live in the same neighborhood with the People of Israel.”

It's pretty simple.  We aren’t supposed to desecrate the land in which we live because God lives here too.

The word desecrate is a pretty strong word, but I think there are occasions where it’s appropriate as we look across our world.   And as we look at our own lives, are there times when we choose to treat where we live with less respect than we should?

What would our lives look like if we really believed this verse was true — that God lived in our neighborhood?  What if we believed that God lived here too?   I think that’s worth asking.  After all, the word Emanuel means God with us.   

God.

With.

Us.

Right here, right now, right where we are.