Land

To you will I give the land . . . 

 - From Psalm 105

It is very critical for us to remember, maybe always, that the promised inheritance to Abraham, and therefore to Isaac, Jacob, and all of their sons . . . was for land.

You can have all the possessions in the world. But what good is it without land? You need a place to store your things. You need a place to grow crops and livestock, to provide for yourself!

God seems to value . . . very highly . . . the simple act of fellowship. If we must have one material possession, let it be land. Because we can make the land productive. And it can be made productive, only to provide for our basic needs for survival. God takes care of that.

If we consider a Heavenly realm where spirits exist in some non-corporeal form . . . even there, our image of the place is that there are things. There are places to sit. There are frames of reference which tell me that I am here . . . but you are over there . . . and the Lord is in the center, and really, throughout everywhere.

But a sense of place seems to give it purpose. People that focus on Heaven still think of it as a place.

Land represents place. It is something we understand. Look as far as you can see: to the East, West, North, and South - and all of it is yours, and your family forever. God described land to Abraham, and it gave the promise meaning. 

There is a place. A spot - - - a location. And we will all be there. Maybe we're sitting. Maybe we're standing. But we're somewhere. And we are somewhere, forever, without death and without sickness or want. (Because if you're immortal, what do you need?)

And why a place? 

Because God wants to be with us. He wants to be around us. And He wants us to be with Him. He wants us to be around Him.

When reading social media today . . . take note of how almost everything has to do with our desire to be somewhere specific . . . with specific people. That's everything to us. 

It's everything to God. 

Deception

Why then have you deceived me?

 - From Genesis 29

I've always felt like Bible teachers, and preachers, fall way short of expounding sufficiently on what just happened to Jacob.

"God's plan was greater than Jacob's."

"Wow Jacob really got what he deserved, hehe!"

"Deception was part of the culture."

No one seems to stop to realize what an awful experience this had to have been for Jacob. There might have been weeks, months even, of bitter anger between Jacob and the entire family of Laban! And what about Leah! How do you think she felt as all this was going on? And of course, there's Rachel! 

Was Jacob's love for Rachel reciprocated? I'm not sure we know. What if they were two young, passionate lovers, in the throes of hormonal surges . . . and all they can think about is when they can finally marry. By the time they finally do . . . Jacob is like 35, and Rachel, probably early 30s, and for their times, they are way past that phase of being head-over-heels in love.

We can assume with confidence, that they . . . yes . . . saved themselves for all of seven years. But for Rachel, it ended up being fourteen years total. She had to sit by as her sister Leah started having kids, and as Jacob began to kinda like Leah and their family.

What about Rachel's goals? What about her independence? Why didn't she stand up to her Dad? (Oh really, because she could have gotten herself executed? So this is the culture we're lifting up as an example?!")

I simply don't think we give stories like this the appropriate treatment. 

So I say, take it on face value. Let the account be exactly as it says, and let our imaginations fill in the blanks . . . for chances are, since the players in the narrative are human, as we are, they reacted pretty much as we would. 

The Promise to Adam, to Noah, and to Abraham, is going to come true. And it's going to be messy. There is going to be a lot of family drama. There will be a lot of bad people, and a lot of good people doing bad things. And it's really not appropriate to make trite little ironic jokes about it; if we do that I think we still don't really get it. 

Jacob was treated horribly, horribly, by his father-in-law. Without benefit of cell phones, or any phones, his father Isaac had to sit back and grow old for fourteen years, as his estranged son, the one hated by Esau, Isaac's other son, ventured off into a distant country . . . barely heard from, if ever. 

There are layers, and layers of tragedy in the narrative. And yet . . . one of Jacob's sons, Judah . . . would come out of all of this. And his mother was . . . Leah. So yes . . . there is an element of God taking control here. We needed Leah to have the son, Judah . . . out of which would come the messianic line. There's something about Leah, that we can speculate about today; but that may be one of the first things we go ask about, in eternity.

Whatever They Can Get Away With

 . . . After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

- From Acts 11

First, it is important to recognize that the label "the Jews," definitely means something different, in New Testament times, than it does in modern times. In it's context here, regarding the martyrdom of James the Apostle, it is referring to a functional majority of the people, that are in aggressive opposition to a movement that would bring down the current order of things. 

We see that Herod was trying to control this infant Church of Christ. Now . . . the Church wasn't doing anything. It was preaching love and self-reliance. It was urging an approach to charity and servanthood in which the people took care of each other. 

But despotic governments (whether from Rome, or King Herod) have always had the curious need to feel as though they are "helping" the people. They always claim, as Henry VIII, Josef Stalin, and Hitler did, to "love" the people. "I love them and take care of them. Shouldn't they, in turn, love me?"

And so governments try to control the welfare of the people. Ostensibly, because they "love" the people. But in reality, because they love power, and there's nothing like dependency to ensure the powerful stay that way. 

But what happens when a movement comes along and says, to government: "We'll take care of ourselves. We can establish peace, justice, and love . . . and we won't even need a government." This isn't to say that they advocated overthrow of the government. Quite the opposite - their attitude was "live and let live" and they preferred to ignore the government.

But from the vantage point of Rome, and Herod . . . this was a serious threat to their authority. The irony is that they could have cemented their own personal welfare, and that of their families, simply by embracing the ethic of the Christ-followers. But they saw it as a mortal threat and acted accordingly. They were joined and supported by masses of people that liked the Order of things as they were; and probably did not like, at all, this focus of the Christians upon honorable, and pure, living.

Herod did the unthinkable - seized some of the leaders, including James the Apostle, who had witnessed Jesus Transfigured - and had them put to death with the sword. The crowd, or at least the crowd that showed up, loved it! And so Herod went and had Peter brought in, too.

Corrupt politicians are always mindful of what the masses are thinking. And if they can get applause, they'll do it, no matter what the law says. If they can get away with "making an example" of somebody . . . they'll do it. 

It's something always to be mindful of. When the Christian message starts rubbing too many the wrong way, see if the Powers that Be try to stop it. And be wary of what they are willing to do, to stop it. 

She Did Not Know

... she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

 - From John 20

In the classic motion picture, "The Sting," an elaborate and entangled array of subplots keeps your brain active throughout the entire movie. You're trying to sort it all out . . . until at the end, you see that, yes of course this is how it HAD to all end. But then, just as you have come to accept the predictable ending, the surprise ending happens and changes the mood instantly.

I was always vexed by the subplots. I said to a friend of mine: "Can't they see what's going on right under their noses?" But my friend replied "That's the point! The irony of all of it!"

You know, that's actually very close to life. We think we see everything so clearly. But only in hindsight are things clear, and usually they are not what we thought before. Very frequently, reality ends up being the opposite of what we presumed to be real.

This is very instructive for us. Perhaps one of life's most important lessons: Things are rarely what they seem to be.

That's what makes the account of Mary Magdalene, at the empty tomb of Christ, so riveting. We're thinking, as we read: "What's the matter with her? Didn't Christ tell her He would rise? Why isn't she specifically looking for him to be there . . . alive?"

But . . . . hindsight. And we have the benefit of having read the entire account.

We're actually exactly like Mary. We always think we understand things so perfectly clearly.

Isn't that what's wrong with politics in America 2017?

Just this week, I undertook a clean-up of emails that are ten years old. I found one from a very dear friend and mentor. He was chastising me for my attitude while leading the Praise Band at Dexter United Methodist Church. I barely remember the situation. See how important it was to me at the time?

But my heart was pierced as I read the email from the vantage point of a decade. He's talking about me! What a jerk I was!

But I couldn't see it. I was always so supremely confident that I was a very effective leader. What hogwash.

Mary was at Jesus' tomb. She had been with Him for years. She was looking for Him. But she didn't even recognize Him, standing there right in front of her!

Let's not be so sure of ourselves. We're not seeing the full picture!!

A New Class of Humanity

...there is a new creation.

 - From 2 Corinthians 5

Some of my warmest life memories are songs. So it is with the wonderful song by The Imperials, called "New Creation." I always loved Russ Taff's introduction to the song, from their Live album, circa 1979. Taff had just joined the Imperials, and he was about to take the already groundbreaking group into vastly new territory, leading the way for Contemporary Christian music to become directly competitive with secular music, in terms of musical and artistic excellence. 

The song, "New Creation" was written by Taff, and seemed to indicate that Christian music, itself, was being reborn.

In the introduction, Taff shared that the actual Greek word used for "new creation" literally means, an entirely new species, a new creature. 

In 2017, this is an inflammatory concept. How dare Christians think of themselves as a separate, victorious, even . . . superior . . . species or, worse yet: race.

But humanity itself, all of us, with none to spare, is a beaten down species. Life is short and, let's face it, painful. Yes there are unexpected benefits to pain and sorrow. It builds character and an attitude of gratitude, for what we do have. You learn not to take anything for granted. Left to ourselves, we are subject to violence, which breeds more pain and sorrow. 

We need to change. We need to be changed. We need to become something different.

The idea of new creation is not so much so that we can lord it over, or be judgmental over, others. Far from it. It enables us to realize that, in the end, we do win. All of us. And all of them. All of us, together. 

It's going to take something other than just human, to awake from death and live forever. 

It takes a new creation. 

Yet

...for I will yet give thanks to him...

 - From Psalm 42

Years ago, I was at a large gathering of extended family. We all got together, because our Great Uncle Albert, who was still healthy but had only a few years to live, had traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan, from Western Illinois, to visit with all of us. Our Ann Arbor branch was the home to nine of Albert's nieces and nephews, and their families.

One member of the family, a guy named Jim, was there. He had a girlfriend there and was introducing my brothers, and sister, and I, to her, but from a distance. He said "This is Richard's son Gordie; and over there's his little brother Tim, and there's Ron, he's the oldest. And then over there is Norma. She's the oldest one yet."

I would tell this story to my Dad, who always laughed when he heard it. He thought the use of the word "yet," in this way, sounded humorous. There are some very vague difference and colorings to the word "yet." It can do a number of different things to a sentence, depending on how it's used. 

It can be an adverb, as in "I haven't told anyone yet." Or, "Rain, rain, and yet more rain."

And when you understand it in one of these other ways, it can change the meaning of the sentence. I'm not sure exactly how to explain how our friend Jim meant it, above.

But when used as a conjunction, as in this verse, it takes on great meaning in describing our God. As a conjunction, it joins two ideas together. The ideas might be contradictory. It can be used as the word "but" is used, except that "yet" has a little more edge to it. "She is horrible to me, yet I love her." It almost seems to be saying "Yes, everything you say is true. I am foolish to say so, but I love her."

Psalm 42 is about waiting, waiting, waiting on God. He once took care of us. Now He doesn't. He is far away. He is invisible. People are making fun of us. "Where is your God?" 

 ." . . . Yet, I will give thanks to Him."

Oh yes, He is nowhere near. And yet, I will praise Him.

It could have the adverb meaning too. "Oh I'm not praising Him now. But I will praise Him yet."

It has a couple of different meanings. And they are all good. The point is . . . we're going to give Thanks to Him, no matter what. In fact, we thank Him now.

How about sentences that begin "But yet . . . "? Well, my cousin Grant Johnson used to say that the two words when used together is such a way, make no sense,. 

But that's a different topic.

Ye

The Conservative Community Organizer

If you enjoy my thoughts, at all, you might be interested in this blog I had going, fairly regularly, about ten years ago:

http://reformbygordo.blogspot.com

Only God

...you are the God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forsaken, savior of those without hope. 

 - From Judith 9

I may dip into apocryphal writings from time to time. The Book of Judith was not included in the Protestant Bible, but the story is compelling, and in the case of this passage, powerful.

Judith was born into comfortable means. She had married well, and if I got the story right, wound up a widow. She was very attractive, and apparently, used these gifts in inappropriate ways.

But in the end, humility wins out. She realizes that she has been sinful. She cries out to God, to save Israel.

She is a wealthy person, that takes on the case of the lowly. For, even a wealthy Hebrew is but a poor vessel, in the Babylonian Empire. She gives a wonderful description of God, one that our generation has forgotten to emphasize:

• God of the lowly
• Helper of the oppressed
• Upholder of the weak
• Protector of the forsaken
• Savior of those without hope

Not too many generations prior, the Hebrews, and the Jewish nation, had it made, They lived in a very wealthy, and safe country, that had every prospect of expanding. (If you want your own citizens protected, in those times, it was essential that you keep growing. Well, it may be true for our times as well).

But wealth has a way of making one blind to oppression. Today's wealthy person is tomorrow's marginalized beggar. And in modern American politics, we can easily see how a little switch in voting patterns can become very hazardous indeed, for the well-off. 

So here's what we need: The wealthy, in any time, must be proactive and aggressive in helping the needy. In no time at all, you may find yourself in the position of Judith: comfortable today, but tomorrow praying the prayer of a pauper. 

But there is a message here, too, for the needy. We always want politicians, or other humans, to take up our cause. But the great people of faith, in Bible times, understood that only God could lift them up. When their hope is almost gone, they pray. They do not start organizing their neighbors in angry uprisings. 

And He always shows up. 

Food Tithe

I can't recall if I wrote this, or got it from someone else. I cannot provide attribution.

What types of tithes were given?

There were three categories of tithes practiced under the law. According to A Book of Jewish Concepts by Philip Birnbaum, they were the First Tithe, Second Tithe, and Poor Tithe. The three tithes are called in Hebrew: ma'aser rishon, ma'aser sheni, ma'aser 'ani, respectively. Israelites were also required to contribute terumah (gifts to the priests) from the fruits of their fields before they paid their tithes to the Levites.

Now the First Tithe consisted of one-tenth of the whole produce of the soil which was to be assigned for the maintenance of the Levite priests and out of this the Levite priests were to dedicate a tenth to God for the use of the high priest.

Now 2) second tithe which the owner must consume in Jerusalem (Deut 14:22-27); Now the actual second tithe of produce could be converted into money, plus a fifth of its value, and reconverted into food in Jerusalem (Deut. 14:24-27).

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, further elucidates this subject. It states: "the second tithe was the remaining nine-tenths had to be set apart and consumed in Jerusalem. Those who lived far from Jerusalem could change this Second Tithe into money with the addition of a 5th part of its value. Only food, drink or ointment could be bought for the money (Ma`aser Sheni 2:1; compare ). The tithe of cattle belonged to the Second Tithe, and was to be used for the feast in Jerusalem (Zebhachim <5:8>)."

The third tithe called the poorman's tithe which takes the place of the second tithe in the third and sixth year of the seven-year cycle culminating in the sabbatical year, according to A book of Jewish Concepts (p. 383 ). It should also be noted that the kings sometimes neglected to follow the Law of Moses and did not always keep the tithing system.

Good Soil

But as for what was sown on good soil . . . 

 - From Matthew 13

The lead up to the Gospel lesson has been a lot of discussion about sin and its consequences, about our great need, about how we are horrible at doing anything about it, without help.

But we do have a role to fulfill. We're not just helpless recipients of grace (actually, we are, but we still have a job to do).

We all know about the Parable of the Sower. We know that we are supposed to share the Gospel and grow the Church through our witness. We also know that none of us feels very competent at doing the one thing that should assure us of eternal life (or of being evidence that we're okay).

But have we ever gone deep into the conditions of the Good Soil? Think about this . . . the point is that the seed goes into Good Soil. Soil is a fairly passive element in gardening. I mean, at least on the surface. Of course a lot of amazing stuff goes on under the ground. And likewise, in the spiritual realm of building God's Kingdom. Let's look at how to make Good Soil (which, if we have it, then growth should be automatic):

* The "evil one" does not snatch away the Good News, in Good Soil. Many people, when they hear the Gospel, just start arguing with it right away. They get all logical with it, they go on and on about their intelligence and higher learning. That's not listening. And everybody knows that "listening" is one of the most highly prized virtues. A person that will not listen to even the craziest idea about gaining eternal life is probably not a very nice person to start with. It is very easy for "evil ones" to come around and lead them a different way. Good Soil is soft, it has been worked up, it has been watered. Good Soil is based on having a kind, open, listening heart. 

* Good soil enables deep and strong roots. For the believer, you build your root system through prayer, additional Bible study, and fellowship with other believers. Serve others! Do the ministry. Get involved! Get to where your faith can be strengthened! Show Up!  Good Soil enables strong roots. 

* Good Soil must be tended carefully. Weeds, thorns will grow up around it and take away all the nourishment. You pull up the weeds and thorns. You make the Good Seed your priority. Weeds can be attractive. A lot of them have pretty flowers are various points. But if you let them get past the point of flowering, your garden may be too far gone to repair the damage. A successful garden must be tended. And you have to tend your faith. Are you putting First Things First? Is Church your priority? Is it the most urgent thing you do each week? Are you actively serving those with real needs? This is where you get your focus off of yourself and on to others. When you see people drifting away from Church, it's almost always because they have let other things (jobs, hobbies, even families) become more important. Good Soils get constant attention.

Do these things, and the Master has promised growth. In numbers. In spiritual maturity. In effectiveness.

And it probably won't hurt the rest of your life, either. 

God Can Do

...God has done what the law ... could not do ...

 - From Romans 8

The law could not make us happy. It cannot heal us. It does not make us wealthier. It does not make people like us. It does not remove bad people from our lives. It does not make music. It does not create art. It does not build. It does not serve others. It does not take care of widows, orphans, and aliens. It does not inspire us to keep ourselves pure. It does not draw us near to God. It does not make us pursue Christ. It does not give us eternal life.

It keeps us looking over our shoulders. It makes us second-guess everything we do. It makes us compare ourselves to others. It condemns us, and others. It breaks us down. It wounds us. It makes us feel guilty. It makes us hate ourselves. It makes us resentful to God. It places our most urgent priorities away from Christ. It weakens us. It sickens us. It kills us.

It gives us the clearest cause-and-effect lesson possible, as to why we are mortal creatures. It explains why we die. It explains why doing wrong, is wrong. It treats us all absolutely equally, with justice.

The law is equal and just to all of us, for none of us can escape it's verdict (guilty) and it's penalty (death).

But it is merciful . . . it has made it so that sin, and selfishness, and hate, and injustice, and inequality will not continue forever, in God's universe.

But the law does not save us. It only condemns us. It defines us, the way we naturally are.

But through Christ, God has redefined us, as we really are. We are members of God's family, that are loved by Him unconditionally. We are willful, noble, dignified beings that may be prepared for never-ending fellowship with God and each other. 

We all long for eternal life. The Law does not do that for us. No law does that for us. No government, no politician, no doctor, no teacher, no professor. 

But God can do all of that for us. The law came first, to clarify the need. And then God sent a new law - the law of the spirit, the law of love and of life. God sent His Son to do what the law could not do: bring life and love everlasting. 

Blot

Our sins are stronger than we are, but you will blot them out.

 - From Psalm 65

It is hard to make a more honest statement than that: "Our sins are stronger than we are." Remember what the Apostle Paul wrote: "There seems to be a law that, whenever I do good, sin is right there beside me," (paraphrased).

Not only are our sins stronger than we are, but they are our sins. That bad side . . . the evil that we want to do, our "dark" side - - - we all have it. And the problem is, evil is based on our own selfish wants, needs, and drives. If it is something that we just have to do, or have, or eat, or experience, chances are,we're talking about something sinful.

And it doesn't have to be one of the obvious, or most renown sins. Everybody knows it's wrong to kill, especially if it's murder of an innocent person. Everybody knows you should not lie. The more public a sin is, the more eager we are to avoid it . . . because our ultimate goal is to be thought of highly by others . . . which is a selfish desire, which gets us back to the basic sinfulness that we started talking about.

That craving for a hamburger at 10PM . . . that's sinful. It would be better to do without. That little cheat on a high school exam . . . sinful. So many things that actually didn't hurt someone else, not really. If it is something you just have some urge to do, and you act on the urge . . . it's sinful. Because you are taking care of yourself first. You haven't really been thinking about the well-being of others. 

We need to be mature enough to admit that an awful lot of what we do . . . even the "good" things we do, are selfish, and therefore sinful. Even young lovers, going about with public displays of affection . . . as good and heartwarming as that is, to most people, may be deeply hurtful for a lonely person to have to see.

Just admit it. We're all too self-absorbed to be able to have a true, unbiased discussion about the nature of sin. Jesus, and John the Baptist, drew no attention to themselves. The attention became, most likely, because of the desire of each individual in the crowd, to make a name for themselves . . . or because they were too cowardly to stand up to the crowd. Either way you look at it, even the fame of Christ was propelled by sinful, selfish, predictable actions on the part of people.

We're immersed in it. It's overpowering. We might as well own it, so that we can realize how much we depend on God.
We cannot undo the bad that we've done. We cannot apologize our way out of it. We cannot will ourselves to become pure and perfect.

But God can blot out our sins, like you would dab a stain off your shirt with a wet cloth.

So let Him blot. 

Act: Grow

... so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty ...

 - From Isaiah 55

God's Word, and His plan, is compared here, to the water cycle. As rain comes down, fulfilling the essential purpose of watering the earth, and then returns to the sky in the form of clouds, thus beginning the cycle once again; so does God's Word go forth, and it returns back to Him . . . but only after accomplishing it's task.

God's plan is secure and reliable. It is not our plan. And, as a cycle, it tells us that, really, the way things always have been, is the way they always shall be. Except that the purpose of God's Word, is to fulfill His promise and one day, to make all things right, and bring them back into harmony with the universe and its Creator. 

God's Word is like an investment in an ever-growing stock market. He casts it out, upon the water. It comes back greater than it went out. It keeps growing, and gets a larger return, each time.

God's Word confirms the natural way of things. You go and build relationships and businesses, that grow. That's the point. Our work and our mission is to go out, and to expect something larger, or greater, to return. It's only natural.

Just this week, I learned that you can't sit around and hope things to get better. You have to work things to get better. Your business, or your ministry, will not grow unless you do something.

We came up with a learning point for my non-profit: "The way to make things happen, is to make things happen." Activity always yields some kind of result. For the believer, that simply means that, acting on faith, you can be sure God will increase it. But you have to act.

God spoke His word, and things happened. Some of us don't even do that much. Don't make people guess what you're up to. State your point, and then act.

God's Word

 O The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not strayed from your commandments.

 - From Psalm 119

The 199th Psalm places great emphasis on the value of God's Word. His Ways. His Commandments. His Law. The answer to everything is contained within the Word of God.

And in my life experience, I believe that. I am convinced of it, yet I do not always live it. My faith is constantly challenged. My selfish self-absorption always cries out to do it my way. I'm like a little kid rejecting the advice of someone with decades more experience. 

Yet we know that, without any doubt, the answer to everything, and to anything, is in God's Word. And if some specific problem is not addressed in the Bible, still it gives us a process whereby we can solve it - - - and the process always starts with prayer. 

I could dash off several examples of people that sought an answer to a problem, and decided to pray and go to Scripture. They would do something like close their eyes, open the Bible and point their finger somewhere on the page. And so often, a workable answer is right there where their finger landed. 

And yet I can neither prove, nor disprove, the assertion that the answer to every problem is found in Scripture. And that is mostly because, I have not used Scripture for every one of my problems. My record is too spotty . . . but it is complete enough that I am convinced that, had I used Scripture for every problem, I would have solved every problem, with God's guidance. 

The passage above describes a common problem: the wicked are trying to entrap, or ensnare us. And this is true. They are after us, constantly. And this is a harsh thing to say . . . because we know that most of the things the world tries to get us to do, are common activities that our un-churched friends may urge upon us. Have a drink. Have a smoke. Tell this joke. Make that hateful observation. Waste that money. Use this person for sexual favors. And we like our friends. We do not like thinking of them as "wicked." They're too nice, and that's too judgmental. 

Yet the snares are out there, and the traps. Traps do not look like danger. They look safe. Yet they're there. 

The answer? God's word.

What if we read a chapter of Scripture a day, and selected one commandment from God, and committed to keeping that one commandment, all day, consistently? I can affirm that my days would be considerably different, if I did this, and they would be improved. 

When danger comes our way (and it will) . . . 

God's Word.

A Quiet Man

... while Jacob was a quiet man.

 - From Genesis 25

The familiar tale of Esau and Jacob has so many colorings and points. I would like to dwell today, on this idea that Jacob was "quiet," fair, domestic. He was probably the artistic one. He was good in conversation. Esau would come in, loud and boisterous. He drew attention to himself all the time. He was skilled in battle, in livestock, and maybe in business (except that he sold his birthright). Esau was big, intimidating, bossy, and probably kind of a bully.

But Jacob kept to himself, stayed indoors. Maybe he knew how to sew. We know that he could cook. Jacob hung out with his mom a lot. He tended to her. She enjoyed his company. But Esau was a "man's man" that his Dad was proud to show off to his friends. When there was company, and Jacob walked in, Isaac probably blushed a little, and hoped he didn't say anything.

Why does God seem to choose people that are . . . well . . . lazy, ne'er-do-well, with none of the trappings of wealth or success? If God had to choose someone to carry forward his plan, and He could choose between a bold, loud, confident and pushy guy, versus a quiet, weak, soft-spoken, small guy . . . why does He always pick the little guy?

It says elsewhere in the Old Testament, many times, that the Hebrews were to take good care of the Scribes and Levites. While everybody else worked from sunrise to sundown, the Levites and Scribes spent all day in prayer, study, quiet, and gentle pursuits. Yet the people had to be reminded, in clear terms, of the value of these quiet servants that drew no attention to themselves. The people with the work ethic - well, we're going to take care of them, because they will not let us forget. 

It takes a firm and decisive directive from God, to make sure that the quiet prayerful ones (which are, therefore, very close to God) do not fall into poverty. Without God's leadership, the Type-A bossy guys would just as soon toss the "unproductive" artistic and studious ones out into the wilderness to fend for themselves.

Think about the quiet people in your life. Make a point to take care of them, notice them. For, they are not going to do anything to help you remember to. And yet they are the prayer warriors. They record our history. They teach our kids. They encourage us, if we'll listen.

Generation of Children

To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces...

 - From Matthew 11

The most recent sequence of readings began with anticipation for a wedding, and the coming of a Bridegroom. We have discussed the purity required of the Church, a bride to be adorned in white for the Groom, who is Christ.

We have seen how horrible we are . . . not at all pure in the way a Bride of Christ should be. Yet, He has made, and will make, us clean and worthy. 

Sin takes a lot out of us. It has cut short the life expectancy of humanity. We would do anything to live forever . . . except for what it actually takes.

In today's reading, Christ talks about His contemporary generation. It lives in the wealth of Rome. As long as you do not challenge the empire, you're okay. But the generation acts like you would expect a generation that had it all, to act. It's all about entertainment. They want to be entertained. They want to be noticed. The generation of Christ's first coming was like that. "Notice me!" 

They were an exhibitionist generation that would do anything for their moment of fame. They were a voyeuristic generation that had to be continually stimulated by entertainment. Perhaps the generation of Christ's second coming will be likewise?

Jesus says (paraphrased): "John the Baptist came, as did the Son of Man, and drew no attention to themselves. They focused on others, on serving them and calling them to holiness. Yet they are the ones that people noticed. Not only did they notice them . . . they mocked and ridiculed them."

How true and timely.

The world wears itself out with its abusive behavior towards itself. The generation that seeks to be noticed, and to be entertained, is a generation that cannot be content in its own privacy and thoughts. It is a generation that has perfected the Art of Self-Loathing.

Wretched Minds

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.

 - From Romans 7

For decades I have fond myself, occasionally, entertaining the thought that, if could just continue as a lost person, without any hope or promise of eternal life, without any aspiration of ever become holy, that perhaps than I could rest.

The bad thoughts that pop into my head - that only happens because I have set myself up to be targeted in the spiritual realm. God's adversaries do not need to go to war with the lost.

The Apostle Paul turns it all around into proof that there is a God, and a Christ, that there is sin, and that there is hope that we will become good people. He says that - - - if we want to do good, but keep fighting off the desire, and will, to do wrong, that it is evidence that the law, and sin, and redemption, are everything God says it is, in His word.

The readings this week are concentrated on the Return of Christ, the purification of the world, the redemption of Creation, and our hope that things will get better, and that we will live forever.

Here Paul grieves that we are such awful people in need of salvation. He boils it down to the simple idea: Just doing good is not good enough. The more good you do, the more wicked seem to be one's hidden thoughts. I think that this is true. And I also think that few people would admit it.

Paul concludes, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

The answer is everywhere else in this week's readings: The Groom. The King. The Son of God. 

If you ever wonder why you need a savior, just try to contemplate all the bad things you ever think about, and see how easy it is to remove them from your mind. 

He Waits

 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great kindness.

 - From Psalm 145

We have a pretty good answer here, to the question, "Why would a loving God . . . ?"

First of all, He did not want to create robots. We have a will. And when you think about it, a will is not worth much, unless it's capable of being willful. And a willful person is, basically, a self-centered person. 

So many layers of complexity to the human spirit:

 - Selfish
 - Self-aware
 - Capable of compassion
 - Can handle complex problems
 - Self-interest can be good for the community
 - Capable of violent response, when called for
 - Driven by a desire for peace
 - In the natural state, not capable of taming all of his or her demons.

There's a pruning process. We have to go through the forge of life. We must be given the chance to make mistakes, to learn empathy, to grow. But growth gains value by being accompanied by pain. 

Some of this is easy to access. Some of it must be accepted on its face.

So far, it has taken us somewhere around ten thousand years of history, just to get this far. And in our generation we have something - the Internet - that seems capable of delivering to us the kind of knowledge that ruined Adam and Eve: too much knowledge, too many images, too many thoughts entering our minds - too many of which are desperately evil thoughts - without the wisdom and social maturity. 

It's like we have to fail, utterly, to realize our need for God. 

But He waits. He hates our evil. But He is patient. He's like a doting parent. "Maybe if I just wait a little longer . . . they'll get it."

Believe it or not, He's slow to anger. We deserve judgment now. But God puts it off, another day, another year, another century. 

"Give them a little more time."