The Point

"That's just wrong.  Love means you'd better say you are sorry."  As soon as the lights in the movie theatre came on,  I growled to my boyfriend.  I didn't like the "point" of the movie and I wanted to make sure he got my point.

I'll admit that I often miss the "point" in movies and books.  I want to be entertained so I overlook the political and philosophical meanings.  Maybe I'm too literal.  Occasionally people use the literal to build a lifestyle and miss the  "point."

I often look back at the Israelites as being too literal and accuse them of missing God's point.  The verses in Deuteronomy 12:15-19, on first read, appear to be a how-to list of rules for daily living.  It's ok to slaughter animals in town.  Don't eat the blood.  Don't eat your tithe.  Don't neglect the Levites. 

They are good rules to live life.  Yet, my margin notes make me think that I can miss the point if I just use them as rules to judge good and bad, right and wrong.

These verses remind me that God was teaching the Israelites about relationship, specifically about their personal relationship with Him.  Here are my three points for today:

1.  Have the right attitude.  Treat your daily provisions as the blessings they are, God-given blessings.  (verse 15) Rejoice in everything you do because God made it possible. (verse 18).

2. Be honest with God.  Don't try to bend the rules.  He will know.  He even knows before we try to stretch the truth and wriggle out of the right way.  This must be why He is so plain in  His use of the "don'ts" in these and other verses.  My margin notes for verse 18 included "Don't rob God."  I will enjoy the time spent with God when I present my gifts and myself.  Why do I try to think of a better way?

3.  Share it.  These verses mention the clean and the unclean, children, servants and Levites.  Our worship of God is a community experience.  We can't exclude nor can we keep it too personal.

There is a television commercial airing now that has a catchy theme song. I caught myself humming it one morning.  The words, "It's all about you"  rewound through my brain.  At first I thought, "what a commentary on today's society--selfish."  Then I listened to  the commercial and realized they were selling their customer service.  That was their point.   Yet the tune is very similar to a song we sang in church years ago, "It's all about You".  The point of that song was my life should be about God.

I got the point of the commercial and it led me to a better point:  Today it's about my relationship with God.