At my school, I help lead a campus ministries writing group that works on transforming traditional scripture into contemporary themes and metaphors. We call ourselves "The Borrowers" because we are borrowing God's words from the Bible rather than claiming them as our own. This writing not only allows us to make the Bible more relatable, but it also allows us to actively be engaged in the text we are working with. Through this process, our goal is to produce a better connection and understanding of God's Word for both ourselves and others.
At our first meeting of the year we worked with the following passage from Amos 8:4-7 which contains a theme of lying and cheating others for personal gain.
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Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, "When will the new moon be over
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat."
The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob.
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
One of the ways we cheat in our modern day lives is when we cheat ourselves by saying we can do it all. By telling ourselves that we can do it all, we stretch ourselves too thin to the point where we are unable to give our all in everything we do and end up coming up short every time. This is what I focus on in my revisited version of Amos 8:4-7.
Hear this, you that make others feel inadequate,
and bring chaos to the word “schedule”,
saying “When will the summer be over
so that we may start our year of education
and the free time so that we may sign ourselves over to responsibilities?
We will make sleep small and the headaches great
and practice deceit with false confidence and little faith in complete accomplishment,
buying friends for an ounce of coffee
and prayer for a pair of A’s,
and selling ourselves short by turning in our knowledge of unfinished books and incoherent essays with our exhausted and inactive brains.
The LORD has sworn by the pride of the university:
Surely I will never forget any of their so called achievements.
