We live world that is hardly concerned with responding to God's grace.  How do we live in that world?

The Old Testament reading for today comes from Isa. 2:1-11.  The first part of that reading reminds us that God has in store for us a wonderful future: not just improvements on our present state, but salvation.  But the second part serves as an acknowledgement that we have to hold that promise in our hearts while we live in a world that is not merely indifferent, but hostile and displeasing to God.

The Gospel reading for today is from Luke 20:19-26. In it, some religious authorities confront Jesus to ask him a question: is it permissible to pay Roman taxes? It may have been a sincere question. After all, the Roman coin had an idolatrous image of the emperor, and a pious person may have had scruples about doing any task that required handling anything of that nature.  But Jesus called for a coin and said, whose image is this? The emperor's, they answered. Then give the emperor what belongs to him, and give God what belongs to God, Jesus answered.  We live not just with God's promise of salvation, but with the understanding that we belong to God. 

Living with this promise of salvation, in the knowledge that we belong to God, can give us courage to confront outright evil, not just worldly indifference. In the New Testament reading for today, 1 Thess. 2:13-20, Paul recounts how he wanted to come visit his readers, but that Satan had hindered him--again and again. In other words, there were times when the bad guys won the battle, but Paul kept trying.  But he was bereft of them only in person, not in heart, he wrote.   What evil managed to keep him from accomplishing in the world, God allowed him to accomplish in spirit.

As we go through the day, dealing with indifference and perhaps even outright evil, may we always remember the future that God promises us and the fact that we belong to him, so that evil may not overcome us as we serve the Lord we love.