"Lists"

“Lists”

 

One of the features of “The Late Show with David Letterman” was his “Top Ten Lists, some of which bordered on the absurd to get laughs. A time or two I’ve been tempted to buy The Book of Lists when I’ve seen it while wandering around Barnes and Noble. And if you were to look at my desk you’d find lists of things to do for the day, week or month plus a bucket list for the future. Our lives sometimes seem to be controlled by lists. To take some liberties with Ecclesiastes 12:12: “Of making many lists there is no end, and many lists weary the body.”

Some of our lists probably serve important purposes but in the long run most aren’t too crucial. But what about lists we find in God’s Word? While some might seem pretty insignificant (like the genealogies in various books) and others vital (e.g. the Ten Commandments and the Beattitudes) we must remember that “…Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us….” (Romans 15:4, emphasis added). So no list in the Bible can be dismissed as irrelevant—each one is there for a reason.

Neither Scripture nor life is really about lists but primarily about relationships. In his stinging rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 Jesus said they had all their lists in place but had ignored the things of which relationships are built, “…justice, mercy and faithfulness.” (Verse 23). Most importantly, though, God’s central message to us isn’t a list of dos and don’ts but how to have a relationship with him through His Son Jesus (“…Christ died for sins…to bring you to God.”—1 Peter 3:18).

Are you and I depending more on lists or the Lord to guide and give purpose to life?

 

Blessings!

Jim McMillan