Monday, March 12, 2007

Isaiah 55:1-9 (The Message)
Buy Without Money
1-5 "Hey there! All who are thirsty,
come to the water!
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money—everything's free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
I set him up as a witness to the nations,
made him a prince and leader of the nations,
And now I'm doing it to you:
You'll summon nations you've never heard of,
and nations who've never heard of you
will come running to you
Because of me, your God,
because The Holy of Israel has honored you."
6-7Seek God while he's here to be found,
pray to him while he's close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
8-11"I don't think the way you think.
The way you work isn't the way I work."
God's Decree.
"For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.

When we go to the store to buy groceries we take our money or debit card with us. We know that we have to pay for the food we buy and we have to have food in order to live. The prophet Isaiah uses the image of food to tell us something about God. Having God in our lives is the only way we can truly live. And when we come to God, we do not have to have any money to get Him. God offers himself for free. Many of us are out spending our time and money on stuff, “junk food,” that can never satisfy us. We spend our money buying junk food, when God offers us his best for free.

Do you ever waste your time/money on junk that does not satisfy?

What kind of junk?

Will it be hard to give up junk and seek God instead?

What can you do to seek God?