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Thursday... So what are we really interested in?


Zechariah 7:6 (MSG), "You're interested in religion, I'm interested in people."

Thursday... So what are we really interested in?

I am sitting at my table at Aspire, the coffee shop that I go to 5 days a week to write this blog. Now this morning it is cold for the desert and people just happened to be bringing their dogs inside and they are noisy. Now I was getting a little frustrated until I read this sentence in Zechariah 7:6 in The Message and it says, "You're interested in religion, I'm interested in people." And that got me back on track.

So what are we really interested in?

Now the book of Zechariah in the first part after a general call to repentance is about encouraging the people of Judah returning from exile to rebuild the Temple. It had been destroyed and the people had fasted about the destruction. Now a group of people sent a couple of guys to ask a question. Verse 3 (MSG) says, "They posed this question: 'Should we plan for a day of mourning and abstinence next August, the seventieth anniversary of Jerusalem's fall, as we have been doing all these years?'"

Verses 4-6 (MSG) continues, "God-of-the-Angel-Armies gave me this Message for them, for all the people and for the priests: 'When you held days of fasting every fifth and seventh month all these seventy years, were you doing it for me? And when you held feasts, was that for me? Hardly. You're interested in religion, I'm interested in people."


Verse 6 in the NLT says, "And even now in your holy festivals, aren't you eating and drinking just to please yourself?"

Verses 8-10 (MSG) says, "[This is the message that God gave Zechariah.] Well, the message hasn't changed. God-of-the-Angel-Armies said then and says now: 'Treat one another justly. Love your neighbors. Be compassionate with each other. Don't take advantage of widows, orphans, visitors, and the poor. Don't plot and scheme against one another - that's evil."

And God's message hasn't changed through the years and he still asks the question, "And when you held feasts, was that for me? Hardly. You're interested in religion, I'm interested in people." People matter to God. That is why he created this world. That is why he sent his son to earth to die for us.

Hebrews 4:14-16 says, "Now that we know what we have - Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God - let's not let it slip through our fingers. We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all - all but sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help."

Yes, God is interest in people. He is definitely interested in you and me. We really do matter to him. And that needs to be true of us! Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning



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