Respond from Your Own Location

“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

John the Baptist answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

• Luke 3:10-14

When people come to ask John the Baptist how to rebuild their faith and make it real, he gives them very practical, doable things to put into practice. He avoids ‘check box religion’ in order to meet people right where they are at. And did you notice the sorts of things he asks of people?

To the crowd who asked a general question, he gave a general answer about being generous and just. To the tax-collectors who regularly collected more than their fair share he told them to stop that particular practice. To the soldiers who used their power differential to extort money, John told them to stop that particular practice. These were spiritual practices specific to their jobs.

Might there be a spiritual practice that would be appropriate to your job or your lot in life? Is there a temptation that is particular to where you live or your family structure or your personality that the Spirit might want to challenge in you? Talk with God about these things.