Monday, December 27, 2021

Face

Make your face to shine upon your servant . . . 

 - From Psalm 31

When God makes His face to shine upon us . . . is it covered? Or did he create the human face as an important visual blessing to the world? If God's face shines upon us, does He also smile, to see our smiles in response? When He models such acts of grace and love for us, does He then expect us to do the same, to each other? Is the mouth an important part of positive communication, and of smiling, or is it really true that you can smile "with your eyes," and that would be good enough?

Science: The human face emits light. The part of the human face that emits the most light, is the bottom half: the mouth. The nose. The chin. 

Does God expect our lights to shine for one another . . . or does He prefer we cover our light? If a light is covered up by a bushel and thus loses it's value . . . does the same thing happen if the light-emitting bottom half of a human face is covered, as if by a bushel?

The rest of Psalm 31, before asking for God's light to shine upon us, goes into detail about the way the righteous are treated by the wicked. They're mocked. They're slandered. 

When walking down the street, the wicked turn away from the righteous - they avoid the righteous.

It's like seeing someone walking your way . . . and there's something visual about them that makes you cross the street so that you will not have to interact with them. I saw that happening a lot, during the summer of 2020. And the expression of the avoiders, showing forth from their eyes, the uncovered part of their face, had all the anger and judgmentalism that I would imagine the wicked have towards the righteous, all the time!

For I have heard the whispering of the crowd, says the Psalmist. 

I have heard it, too. Or read it, on Social Media. 

My Law

If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you . . . 

 - From Jeremiah 26

In 2021, out of both sides of the same mouth:

The Bible is about violence and slavery, and misogyny, and racism, and violence, and war . . . 

Doesn't the Bible say to take care of immigrants?

When it suits them (that is . . . when it fits their stratagem, to gain power for themselves so that they can get back at people that remind them of someone that was mean to them once) the certain faction of modern society finds the Bible quite useful. But when defaming the Bible can create enough dissension and confusion, also to assist them in the acquisition of power, they will do so. 

Here's a rather harsh and extreme-sounding warning from Jeremiah. Apparently, he lived in a time that had suddenly turned away from the Lord. But they didn't know they had turned away. Jeremiah spoke the prophetic warnings in the synagogues, in the presence of people that considered themselves faithful. The society, of its times, thought of itself as on the right track. Perhaps they were set on the goal of tweaking some of God's laws that were too hard, or that seemed to mean, or that didn't allow for the kind of selfish "fun" of the kind that gave their lives "meaning."

What was this "law" that God had set before them (and us)? It is summarized and repeated over and over throughout the Old Testament, and then Christ took it to a higher level in the New Testament. Here it is:

* Take care of widows and orphans

* Take care of strangers traveling through your communities

* Live purely - that is, unselfishly, not with greed, not being driven by carnal physical drives. 

Those three life practices are the very essence of practical love. 

And then Jesus further clarified it: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. 

That's it. That's what's so horrible. But notice it doesn't say anything about virtue signaling . . . and this is where perhaps people come so unglued over having to actually . . . well . . . love ALL others. 

That's the root of all the anger, all the hate, all the strife and violence. 

But I don't want to love others!

 . . . that's really what people are saying, when they resist God. 

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Shepherds

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 

 - From Luke 2

I wonder if Luke, when writing his gospel, went to find any of these shepherds, who by then were very old (if indeed any of them were still alive) to ask their firsthand account of all this? Did the Apostles . . . did Paul . . . ever have a chance to sit down and speak to any of the Shepherds?

They have the lead role in this part of the narrative. Mary and Joseph are are supporting characters here. It's all about the shepherds. 

I've heard it said that shepherds had basically a modest position in society. Yes, they were essential, and they had to be highly skilled. But when it came to being reliable witnesses, I do not know that they were valued for their credentials and credibility. Maybe they were like cowboys of the American West: coming from a variety of personalities and ethical grounding; but not normally found in the respected drawing rooms. 

So it is with God - - - giving the important work to servants, fishermen, tax collectors, shepherds . . . while leaving the intellectuals in their rightful place in eternity: some dark corner. 

The shepherds had names. They had families. They each had a mom, and a dad. They had hobbies. Some could make you laugh. Others hardly ever said anything. Some had tempers, and others were mild-mannered. They were no better nor worse than any one of us living, even today. 

But in this moment they had the entire world, and all of history, at the edge of their seats, following the exciting developments. 

I think that, of all the people you seek out in the first moments of eternity, that you find a shepherd-witness of the birth of Christ, and make them the first with whom you will make your new friendship and spend lots of timeless meetups with!

Monday, December 20, 2021

Confidence

Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence . . . 

 - From Hebrews 10

Confidence is, apparently, something we choose to express, and feel, rather than something we just feel, involuntarily. It's like Real Love; the kind based on a choice; the kind that puts others first and thinks nothing of oneself. 

I need a touch of that today. 

It's like the song Whistle While You Work - the idea that, when your feelings, and especially your negative feelings have put up a wall that halts your forward movement. You train yourself to delay, so that every word from trusted others, that is not 100% encouraging to you, becomes a snare. In the Whistle song . . . you think happy thoughts anyway. You choose happiness. You choose love. You choose confidence. 

You pretend to be confident, until it becomes a reality. 

I have a life problem. That is, a distinct problem that was small once, but has grown bigger over time. I am easily discouraged. I go one step forward, and two steps back. Maybe three. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You begin to send off signals to others, which activates their behaviors, resulting in words and deeds that make me even more discouraged. They do not know they are causing harm. And yet they are not at fault. They don't know what they're doing. In most contexts, their words are okay. 

But this is the very essence of evil. If I were Satan, my game-plan might be:

  • Use words of advice, and "help," or even support, to get good people to hesitate.
  • Make it a feedback loop, that prevents good people from correcting the root problem. Attack every attempt at change and improvement, with the "helpful" words from trusted others, mentioned above. 
  • Hit the good person physically, so that the words and deeds that are so discouraging, create physical stressors - blood pressure, headaches, racing pulse, overwhelming feelings of anger, resentment and distress.
  • Repeat
I'm dealing with rooting out the source of my life self-doubt and guilt. And every attempt, so far, is being met with instant counter-punches from well-meaning people that don't know what they're doing. 

I'm simply trying to tell my story. But my story illuminates the problem. It may empower others that are likewise hurting. Ironically . . . by sharing my own narrative, I'm doing the exact opposite of drawing attention to myself. And if I fail in clearly articulating the point, it is only because I'm human and can't do anything perfectly. And yet, failing in doing the RIGHT thing, is much to be preferred over attempting to do the right thing, but doing wrong because your motives and understanding is flawed.

Always assume the best in others. Always get out of their way when they're sharing a sensitive part of their story. 

And then be confident. Just do it. Choose confidence. You are on the right path. Well-meaning friends and family do not have your experience or perspective. They may try to help. They may be wise, usually. But do not let even them . . . prevent you from the attainment of your life's goal and mission. 

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Restore

 Restore us, O God of hosts . . . 

 - From Psalm 80

When you break the word, "restore" down to its modern English components, and then attempt an ancient Hebraic spin on them, you see the root word: "store."

Of course it's not talking about a 21st Century store, like TJ Maxx or Menards. They didn't have retail in the days of King David. 

It's more like store as in storage. The building up, and saving, of provisions. Stuff that you have placed in reserve, for a rainy day. Canned and dried foods. Seed for planting. Beef for protein. Knowledge of native flora and fauna, what's edible, what can be used to ensure shelter and warmth. What elements in nature have curative properties, in case we get sick? 

Storage is talking about the basic necessities. We are not likely to waste precious storage space on frivolities. Just the essentials, and plenty of it . . . but not more than we are likely ever to need, even in the worst case scenario. 

If I say "The storehouse is full," then I'm talking about a good thing. You can relax and enjoy this moment, because we have taken care of any contingency. 

But Israel had been "de-stored," (which sounds an awful lot like "destroyed"). There are forces in the world that simply hate goodness. They hate good people doing good things. They act selfishly and carelessly - they do not save - they do not plan or prepare . . . and rather than compare themselves unfavorably against the good and wise, they'd rather either destroy the good and wise, or destroy the provisions . . . the storehouses . . . of the good and wise.

Even if it means LESS good things for themselves, they will destroy the work, the creativity, and the productivity of the good and wise. 

Sound familiar?

The world hated King David's Israel. Had Israel prospered, and been supported by the world; then such things as freedom, wealth, quality of life, and happiness would have expanded beyond its borders. When fed and nurtured, Good expands and affects others. But the historic forward march of Good, through time, can be and is halted regularly, by these forces that, for whatever reason, hate Good. 

I don't know why this is . . . . unless it's due to insecure people that gain power, and begin to view freedom and wealth as a threat to themselves. 

It's childish. It's foolish. It's evil, even. 

But it just is. 

If we find ourselves in a position of being "de-stored." Then the pattern of history is just this: We must ask God to RE-store us. Provision us, once again. The forces of hate are so intense, and so concentrated into such raw human power, that apparently it can only take supernatural help, to get us through it. 

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Crown

 . . . but as for him, his crown will shine. 

 - From Psalm 132

We begin to focus more now, and the coming King. It is certain that we will have a king!

And isn't that really at the heart of all of human history? Human kings are horrible. Sure, occasionally, every couple hundred years or so, a kingdom might get lucky and have a good king. A lot of humans, maybe a majority of them, are willing to put up with ten lousy, evil kings; as long as the eleventh is a good one. 

The people protesting against the American system today, the empowered sliver of our society that has managed to attain dominance in Washington, in reality, wants a king. They want a single powerful person to gather all power to him or herself. They hope that this king wipes out the "mean" people in our communities . . . or anybody that may remind them of someone rich, or favored, or popular, when they were little. Perhaps they were bullied once. They never got over it and want retribution to this day. 

And so, a King! Yes! A King could do this for them! And once the people they don't like are out of the way, they plan to get back to talking about things like freedom and human dignity. 

We just . . . really want a king. 

Jesus is a Good One. He's eternally good. He's the got the power to fix things, and the humility to do it wisely and fairly. And he loves us all evenly. 

We enter Thanksgiving week. And we do so, with the King on our mind. 

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Favor

Let your servant find favor in your sight.

 - From I Samuel 1

Let's look at an attitude that God favors. This phrase: "Let your servant find favor in your sight," is rather frequently employed in the Old Testament. It's a very humble disposition. First: when you say this, you're making others more important than yourself; Second: you have made it your goal to make the other person happy. 

Your wish is that the other person approves of you. You want their happiness before your own. 

What if politicians in 2021 thought like that? What if married people did? What if news channels did? 

But wait . . . isn't that a little enabling? Aren't we opening the door to being used by a narcissist?

Maybe so . . . but I really don't believe narcissists are so common for this to be a problem. We do want healthy, functional relationships. We certainly don't want to enable wrong behavior. But at the same time . . . I think that it's unquestionable, that humility itself is too rare. We've puffed ourselves up so much, as a culture; that we don't see anything good in humility, at all. 

Is it possible that . . . in our overwhelming move to let every single individual do whatever they want,  even if it's to commit violent and destructive crime, we're actually dealing with forces we don't understand?

What if our responsibility as citizens, really, is to care (at least a little) what others think of us? What if the practical rollout of the biblical principle of seeking the favor of others, meant that we really should make adjustments, so that others could be comfortable?

We may be erecting a generation that is so self-focused, that we're missing the profound need for humans, to feel (once in a while) that other people really do care what we think . . . and that the need to be liked is a hard-wired need that we do not understand. 

A little more humility, please. 


Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Devour

They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers . . . 

 - From Mark 12

Our generation is vying to be the most notorious, in history, in identifying, weeding out, and punishing heretics. 

First: I think that I would avoid even the word "heretic," or "heresy" in our times. It's too easily used, in debate. 

Second: I'd put "hypocrisy" in the same category. Just don't. The words "heresy" and "hypocrisy" even sound similar, and they both sound ugly. They are not uplifting words. 

Third: You'd think that the more educated people would be the least likely to toss these words around casually. But the opposite seems to be the case. 

These are not times for ugly-sounding words. But now . . . lest the reader think I'm entering into a "warmth-for-everybody" theme here, I'm not. 

These educated, and highly-credentialed people, that love these words, are the same that enjoy the best seats in the house. They make sure you address them with their lofty professional title, usually "Doctor." (A side comment - an Engineering PhD of many of our acquaintance, said that you can tell how non-technical the doctorate is, by how much they insist you call them "Doctor.")

They don't mix it up, at all, with mechanics, farmers, hunters, beer-drinkers, patriots, proud Americans - - - the modern equivalent of fishermen in the time of Christ. They can't see it, but they are the very descendants of the Scribes and Pharisees. Look at their profession: Scribes. Writers. Journalists. Historians. They write the narrative and they record the history. We (blindly) trust them to tell the truth. 

What is this: They devour widows' houses? I think that we could unpack that statement for some time. But the implication is that the Man and Woman of God; the spiritual servant-leader, the person of any worth whatsoever, should be mostly concerned about their elders. I heard Dennis Prager assert, last night,  assert that one of the most important things we need to do, right now, is to restore the respect of children for their parents. Their first loyalty should be to mom and dad, and family. If that is in place, then free republics may thrive. 

And maybe this is why the care of our elders is so consistently stressed, from the "In the beginning," to "Come, Lord Jesus."

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Near and . . . Far

So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near . . . .

 - From Ephesians 2

A Facebook friend of mine loves to hate Donald Trump. By extension, he likewise expresses hate towards people that voted for Trump. He doesn't think he hates. He certainly does not believe he hates people that voted for Trump. But hate is what is felt, in the way people are treated. If we are to believe the victims in the #MeToo movement, then that means we should believe people that say "You are being hateful to me."

And as we have learned in the social justice movement . . . when someone says "You have stepped over the line," we are expected to change course, and even apologize. Make things right. Swallow your pride. 

This friend is a self-described evangelical. But he hates Christians that vote for Trump, so much, that he eschews being called an evangelical, if it puts him in the same camp as Trump voters. But he's also a retired professor in a Christian seminary (which should clarify the picture somewhat). He also had a career in journalism (which should clarify the picture totally). 

The mark of Christian purity should be evidence of humility. This friend is not at all interested in being proven wrong, in making things right, in admitting he's human, in apologizing. 

Let's see if we can get to Paul's point, in the letter to the Ephesians. In fact, let's see if we can understand any Scripture that talk about unity in the Church, or how to handle people from other cultures (like Samaritans, for instance). Let's try to identify a short-cut to empathizing with Samaritans, or Women at the Well, or Greeks, or Gentiles, or people of color, or white people, or males . . . . 

How can we tap into these emotions that have made people so hateful, so bigoted, so racist. Is it possible?

 Let's start with how you think of trump voters, (if you're a woker). Let's start with how you think of progressive millennials (if you're a traditionalist).

Now you've got it. That's what we're talking about. It's what Paul was talking about. It's what Christ talked about, and still talks about. You hate people without thinking. You want to separate from them. You are not with them, or of them. You look down on them.

And you must stop. 

Those who are far off will unite with those who are near. Near and Far are a very long way from each other. They are farther away, than a Trump voter is, from a San Fransisco liberal. God tore down the division between us. 

Let's start acting like it. 

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Curtain

You wrap yourself with light as with a cloak and spread out the heavens like a curtain. 

 - From Psalm 104

The truth of God is often presented, as though covered by a veil. Most people will look at God, and His Word, and see only a curtain. They see nothing. They can't see what's just beyond the curtain. 

It may be a common trait of humanity - - - to not want to look beyond. To be satisfied with the curtain. 

Why do we hide from the truth? Why don't we dig deeper? Why don't we want our knowledge to be more complete? Why don't we want our perspectives to be enhanced by the unique purview of others? 

Just today, I saw on some Cable TV show, a true story about a guy with a large cyst on his arm. He let it grow until it was the size of a grapefruit. When asked why he didn't take corrective action a long time ago, he said "I don't want to find out there's something bad under there. I'm happier not knowing."

How much harm comes into the world, into our lives, because people are afraid to dig? What damage comes from not wanting to find out?

God's truth is veiled, yes. God Himself comes as a stranger in the night. He is a stealth God . . . 

 . . . but only to those that are afraid to dig. 

Once you get past the veil, you see that God Himself is so open, so approachable, that even the light around him is like a vast curtain. Even the openness of Heaven itself, is like a cloak around God. 

We find paradox everywhere in Scripture. The truth of God is often found in the paradox. You have to part with your parameters. You have to question your assumptions. You have to be open to new information. This is the path to Truth. Is God hidden from us? Yes . . . but in reality, the cloak around Him is actually light itself, so that He is clearly seen by those passing beyond the veil. 

And so in the symbolism found in describing the Lord Himself (and God is Love, and God is Light) we see that He does not cover His Face, the source of Light. The path beyond any human danger is a lighted path, illuminated by the light emitting from the Face of God. 

And if God shows us His Face . . . then we also should show our faces, to one another. We have come to a point in history, where even the showing of a face is an act of faith. 


Monday, September 27, 2021

Woke

 Then Jacob woke from his sleep . . . 

 - From Genesis 28

Jacob's dream is legendary. Even in 2021, it may be hard to find a person living in a Western society, that has not heard the phrase "Jacob's Ladder." There was even a song so titled, by Huey Lewis and News, back in the 1980s. 

The idea is that Jacob happened upon a gateway, or portal, into "Heaven," and accordingly, by drawing so near to the Lord Himself, was forever changed by it. Jacob still had not done much except be kind of a cheat and a scoundrel. But God promised him, in the dream, that the land upon which he is resting, would be his one day, and that "all the nations of the earth would be blessed", through him. 

And all the testimony we have, that this dream actually happened, is Jacob's word. 

How many historical figures list as their chief credential, a "dream" that they once had?

But it's this closeness to another dimension, or to eternity itself, that occurs within the dream, that merits a closer look. Some have suggested that the dream state does, in fact, place you near a realm above and beyond our own. Some dreams are so life-like, it's hard to argue otherwise. 

Eventually, you wake up. This is the boundary from dreamfulness, to being "woke," or back to reality. 

Now think about that for a second. The woke state, compared to the dream state, is where your feet are back firmly planted. You are no longer in the fantasy world of dreams. 

Can a person claim to be "woke" whose objectives include setting up Utopia on earth, in these limited lifespans? 

Or should a "woke" person, instead, be practical, present, attentive to their surroundings and to others? 

When Jacob "awoke," the dream was gone. The angels, the ladder, the Voice of God. The ideal state occurred in the Otherworld of Dreams. But, while woke, Jacob got back into his routine. He worked. He rested. He played. He studied. He had aches and pains. He got hungry and thirsty. He dealt with what life had handed him, right there before him. 

Woke should mean . . . serving the people around you, cheerfully. 

It should not mean . . . stirring up discord because everything's not as perfect as you want it to be. 

WOKE. A concept that should be re-assessed. 

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Take

and taking [the child] in his arms . . .  

 - From Mark 9

If you were going to "take" something . . . what would you do? How would you do that?

You can "take" a left turn. This means you will steer your vessel to port. 

If you "take" a week off . . . you will not be reporting back to work for at least seven days. 

You can "take" a fast pitch, which means you don't swing at it. 

"Take" is an active word. You "take" your medication, which means you will ingest it. 

Jesus took a child in His arms, to make a point about humility and servanthood. And this picture in your mind is, the Lord has lifted a child up, and is holding him or her close to His chest. In holding the child, He is protecting him. He carries her . . . which means she goes where He does. 

Jesus equated this act with welcoming. And we are to welcome others. We are hospitable. We open our doors. We bring them in and care for them. We feed them. We shelter them. We provision them. We take them. And we do so actively. We do it to the "least of these." We help those most needy. We swallow our pride, and serve them.

Our emphasis is not on being right, or popular, or strong, or attractive, or clever, or well-educated. 

It is on becoming lowly, so that we can help the lowliest. We get them what they need. 

We take them.

I'm sorry. In talking about the neediest person, Jesus demonstrates what to do . . . and He lifts the needy person into His arms. He gets as close as He can, to them . . . because in the end that's the most needful thing of all. 

The separation of humanity from itself, for any reason, is a parameter that must not be permitted. Care for the sick. Put them away from others, so that their illness doesn't spread. But do not compel forced distancing from others. Someone has to go in and serve. Someone has to get close. Someone has to serve. 

Someone has to touch. 

Someone has to take



Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Emptied

 . . . but emptied himself . . . 

 - From Philippians 2

And now . . . a typical on-line comment by an evangelical:

If you're <fill in the blank>, what's a few thousand more deaths as long as you win your next election?

The person that I'm quoting is a lifelong Christian. A former Director of Publications and Editor of a denominational newsletter. He taught in a Christian college for twenty years.

He is a broken record of nonstop vitriol against one wing of American politics. The wing that he attacks is more likely to have his back, if things ever got particularly dangerous.

But it doesn't matter what side he's on. Variations of the above quote are commonplace, coming from all sides, against the other. The "other" side promotes policies that "murder" people. The other side is sub-human, idiotic, evil, sick, sheep, cultists, Nazis, Communists, etc., etc., etc.

And it only makes things worse.

Christ had none of that. He emptied Himself. He didn't go stir up political strife as a play for attention. He eschewed attention. He didn't insult people as a defense against His own hurt feelings. His gentleness disabled anger. It brought enemies together. It disarmed His adversaries.

Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay.

That's another of Christ's tenets. Keep it simple. Do the hard work, the extra effort, to be still and listen. To put others first. To understand why they think as they do. To get into their shoes.

And to keep your mouth shut . . . especially when your friends have been advising you to do so, for years.

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Face

I did not hide my face . . . I have set my face like flint . . . . 

 - From Isaiah 50

Is there ever a good reason to hide?

Yes of course, if you're setting up a surprise party for somebody. Or playing hide 'n' seek. Or Peek-a-boo. These are fun reasons to hide, but not what I'm talking about. (But even in the case of playful hiding, the fun comes from the symbolism of hiding itself . . . as a way to scare someone.)

The desire to scare others, simply out of spite, is probably borderline sadistic. Humans require stability and safety, in order to function effectively. There are no good reasons to scare others. 

And I daresay, there are no good reasons to hide. 

We hide, because we're afraid of danger. And if there's imminent danger, that's not good. 

We hide, because we're rude, like ignoring a tapping on the door, or a phone call, because we'd rather not be bothered. Whatever the reason, these reasons to hide may also be filed under the category of "rudeness." And even if you are trying to avoid somebody . . . even that goes back to something being wrong, or not good. 

We hide, because we're ashamed. And this is probably the most important reason to discuss hiding, and why we do it. If we're feeling shame . . . the takeaway must be, to avoid doing things that bring shame. (I realize that the preceding statement is potentially very inflammatory. I ask the reader to hold that thought, until some future time when additional layers of analysis may be done, in a blog post.)

But what do we do, when we hide? The goal is to go unnoticed, or unrecognized. 

We hide our faces. The covering of one's face is symbolic of something being wrong. Your face is your identity. It's how you're recognized. And recognition is at the root of our sense of self-worth. We want to matter, more than anything . . . . and for you to matter, I must recognize you. To recognize you, I must see your face. 

We need to show great care, when attempting to steer an entire culture, and society, towards an ethic of face-covering. The symbolism of the covered face is something that I do not believe we fully understand. But it's a parameter that should be on the table when discussing protocols to deal with epidemics, or any social development that may call for us to cover our faces. 

It should be a last resort. If there is push-back, our response should be empathy, not harsh reactions that border on violence. 

When you set your face like flint . . . you are boldly showing your face. You're so determined, that you're not afraid for everybody to interpret every possible nuanced line and movement, from your forehead, all the way to your chin, where your personality most shines, and from which most light is emitted, from the human form.

If we're going to advocate face-covering . . . could we treat it as a deeply serious option? Might we even address it realistically . . . as a last resort?



Thursday, September 2, 2021

Poor

Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor. 

 - From Proverbs 22

There isn't a problem in the world today, that doesn't trace back to lack of charity on the part of the haves, towards the have-nots, as the ultimate root cause of everything. 

The Old Testament made the point aggressively clear: We have to care for others, starting with our own. God names these others: Orphans. Widows. Aliens. 

That's it. Make sure your kids, your elders, and people from outside your circle, are taken care of. When he says "aliens" it really is referring to anybody winding up in your back yard, or even at your front stoop, that got there from some other place. 

Yeah, sure . . . the American Left, particularly the non-believer Left, rubs out face in it all the time, but focused on the "caring for aliens" part; in defense of an open borders policy. Well. they kinda get it, and it's good to get these reminders, no matter where they come from. 

But the Gospel is personal. God comes to us, and meets us where we are, face to face. He prefers the personal touch. And when He advises us as to our behavior, he's talking about helping others in the way it is most awkward: those right there in front of us: Our kids. Our parents. Our grandparents. Our aunts, uncles, and cousins. 

Are they well? Are they lonely? Are the young angry because of a lack of parenting? Are they sick? Are they hungry?

Are your own okay?

Is that unemployed, homeless person that has wandered into your community going to be taken care of? Or will you send him off where he can become even more resentful and angry? Yes, angry . . . at you!

We'd rather post our virtue-signaling memes about how compassionate we are (or more accurately, how uncompassionate OTHERS are). We can put Scripture verses in people's faces. We can point the finger. 

God asks you to make sure your family, your distant relatives, you neighbors . . . everybody within your personal orbit, that you can personally help . . . are okay, before going out and telling other people about what they're not doing (usually via politics). 

There's a critical point, a tipping point, where enough people are acting charitable, in this way, that the general population would not even dream there's a problem worthy of passing off to government. I don't know what that number is. But my guess is that it's only 10% of the population. That's how many people we need, doing what God has asked all of us to do - - - help the poor. Personally. With our own resources. 

Let's get on it. 

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Syrophoenician

So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

 - From Mark 7

We get a couple glimpses of Christ's activities during this time of His life and ministry; a time when He was riding high. His reputation was going viral throughout the ancient world. His fame was so astounding, and His deeds so remarkable, and His attitude so super-human, that I would not be surprised if almost every human on the planet had not heard about Him. Even without the Internet, humanity is very good at getting the word out. 

He's going from one place to the other. In the course of an ordinary day, He is followed, and people are insisting that they get close to him. Their desperation is like people clinging to departing aircraft, in order to get to a better life. Crowds grew around Him, instantly; and they grew geometrically. 

His fame was even greater than the Beatles, in 1965.

He touched this person, and then that. He had short conversations with people, that were worth volumes. He had peculiar methods, involving spit, and fingers in ears. But almost always, it seems . . . He touched. 

A person came up to Him, not wearing a mask. As the person got nearer, the people around Jesus moved away from the maskless person, which meant they got further away from Jesus. This person was making no effort to stay clear of others. As they spread out, you could see, in their eyes (for they were masked and you could not see the most expressive part of their face, which is the bottom half) bitter sneers directed at and against the unmasked one. Among the murmuring, you could hear many people in the crowd insisting that the person be roped and dragged away from the people that obviously cared more about others. And certainly away from the Lord . . . for He was not safe while in the presence of this maskless infidel. A hush came over the crowd as they waited to see what the Lord would do. 

They could see that the two were carrying on a conversation. Jesus was unaffected by the mask-status of the person. It was as if it were unimportant to Him. They got closer as they chatted! They were less than a fathom apart! (Look it up). But soon, the unmasked person flashed a smile so bright, that it couldn't help but lift the spirits of the previously angry throng. The person turned, and began to walk. The walk turned into a fast clip. The clip turned into a full sprint. And the crowd, overtaken by an overwhelming spirit of goodwill, forgot that the person had no mask on, and began cheering, and following along, some distance, as the maskless one disappeared on the horizon.

Oh, did I say maskless person

The person was a woman. And the woman was a Syrophoenician. 

Thursday, August 5, 2021

Until

. . . until the day dawns . . . 

 - From 2 Peter 1

Peter had seen all of it, firsthand. He is a witness to so many things documented in the New Testament. He's writing his account of all of it, based on his memories, and perhaps his own journaling. He was there. 

By the time he's writing his epistles, probably long enough for many in the Church to become impatient: "So when is Jesus going to come back, after all?" They were getting tired of waiting. The Roman world wasn't getting any better. Like any great civilization in its early stages of sliding from it's plateau, things were getting very scary. And the Church had this expectation that if they just be patient. Wait. Have faith. For another moment. Another hour. Another day, Another week. Another month. Another year. 

Another century . . . 

That their patience would be rewarded, and Christ would return, and they would never again have to fear living in the counter-culture underworld of society; or being refused the benefits of society as second-class citizens, or torture, or the gallows, or crucifixion. 

But then members of the first generation Church began dying. And then another generation. And then another. 

Two thousand years have passed. Christ has not returned yet. 

But now we are in a situation that is as close to the downfall of Rome, as any national slide since the time of Christ. I am not exaggerating. The world today is faced with conditions more chilling and dire than at any time, perhaps ever, in history.

Peter wrote to the Church . . . to us . . . to keep our light shining in a world of darkness . . . until . . . the day dawns. 

The world is in darkness. It is the just before the first twilight, called the "astronomical" phase . . . the darkest period of the day. It's also the quietest. At some point after midnight, the creatures of the night stop their din . . . and the world is quiet. Any sound, even benign ones, sound menacing, in those wee hours. 

The world alone isn't just dark, today. The Church itself . . . so many churches everywhere, are also silent when they should be calling out world events, and marking them as guideposts of what's to come. 

Peter wrote encouraging words to us. Is there world dark? Let us be the light. Let us continue until . . . 

And until can be a very, very long time. 

But so can a long, quiet, dark, menacing night, turning nervously, unable to sleep. 

But the light finally returns. It always does. 

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Face

Hide your face from my sins . . . 

 - From Psalm 51

If we could just boil every human behavior and attitude down to its very essence:

Is that selfish?

Or is it not?

I think that's really where it all starts. Are you doing that for yourself, because it feels good? Have you put any thought into the effect that what you're doing will have on others? Is it good for children, or does it just make you feel good, or smart, or important . . . or "bad"?

In 2021, we've just about made the transition complete, to a society and culture that actually prefers the bad; that prefers mediocrity. You know . . . stuff that doesn't require a lot of work, nor the inconvenience of being honorable; nor to think about others. 

If I feel good . . . then I must be good. 

What will people think of us, seven generations from now? Oh that's right, we don't care what they think. Just like we couldn't care less about our ancestors and their sacrifices. They're dead anyway. 

Our definition of "love" itself, has been mashed down into a tingly feeling we get when our chemicals and hormones get swirled around, just so. 

Does it put others first? Or yourself?

Scott Peck defines evil as fully-developed narcissism. Selfish acts feed selfish attitudes, and selfish attitudes grow into self-aggrandizement and the pursuit of what feels good. What makes me feel good.

You really can simplify the root cause of every bad thing . . . back to whether people are serving themselves, or others. 

The entire Psalm 51 (almost) is a sustained plea that God forget about our sinfulness. You cannot improve, you cannot gain real goodness, or the ability to express real love, without getting yourself out of the way.  In Scripture, God reveals His full face, to those whom He blesses. A covered face is a defensive face, an untrusting face. A face that is not interested in connection with others . . . at least . . . for the right reasons. 

The unselfish act is symbolized by showing one's face. It is an act of trust and vulnerability. It's the first step to meaningful human interaction. If we would cover one another's faces, we must do so with a full understanding of the possible repercussions, in expressing ourselves to one another, in this way. 

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Uriah

David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah . . . 

 - From II Samuel 11

I'm going to assume that the reader is familiar with the account of David, Bathsheba, Joab, and Uriah the Hittite, so that I do not have to summarize it. 

It would be interesting to have some Bible students put together a list of the most infamous human deeds in all of Scripture. I would think that David's treatment of Uriah rises to the top three of such a list. 

Lust, sexual immorality, deception, and even pre-meditated murder. There's a sense that people rather enjoy focusing on this biblical episode. They get to say "Look at what David did, and yet he was a 'man after God's own heart!'" This statement is often delivered via a sly, slightly mischievous grin. "My, but I'm on the edge!"

The Uriah matter represents base, horrible human behavior. When you let it sink in, it becomes very difficult to see King David in a good light, at all. He would not make it through a 21st Century gauntlet of American public opinion, let alone the American criminal justice system.

And then the king goes and has Uriah himself deliver the order, that he be sent to the front lines, to the General, Joab. Why was Uriah chosen to be the messenger of his own fate?

 . . . Because Uriah had proven himself just, pure, and devoted to the king, and to the men in the field of battle. 

If one of the Bible's greatest heroes can sink to the level of such treachery, imagine what modern, ambitious, political characters are capable of. 

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Mary Stayed

 . . . but she did not know that it was Jesus.

 - From John 20

Mary Magdalene was inconsolable. She stood outside the tomb of Jesus, crying. She had been there all of one day, and over two nights. 

I'm reading my own imagination into it. I believe she followed along, and did not leave the side of the Lord, not even once, from the moment He died until His resurrection. I picture her in her constant grief. She cried as Jesus did, when her brother, Lazarus, died the first time. 

The cry of grief, from the death of a loved one, is distinct and unique. It's a cry that you expect. There is nothing odd about it. Families gather around the loved one that has just fallen into the sleep of death.

They might take the hand of the departed, noticing along the way as the skin becomes cooler, and cooler, to the touch. For some time, the loved one appears to be only in a deep sleep . . . with the exception that, while living, a sleeping person still is making some exertion to prop him or herself up, in some form. Even in deep sleep, the body may move slightly, to get more comfortable. 

But the dead person is in complete surrender. Inertia, or gravity, is the single force operating upon the corpse. 

Mary followed the dead Lord throughout those days. 

But if I say she wept, inconsolably, that is not to say she was a weak person. It is not to say that she should, hopefully soon, pick herself up and move on. Her commitment to follow the Lord, even in death, bespeaks a strength of character. She stayed. She showed up and didn't leave. She remained, when all the others left. Her audible cries were more like hymns of praise than shrieks of despair. 

When she turned away, for a few moments, Jesus took a deep break, and stood up. He could move like a thought, now, as His body was now eternal, unworldly. He slipped around behind Mary as she peaked in and noticed the tomb empty, except for two shining Angels. 

At first glance, she did not recognize Him. Yes, it was definitely Jesus, all right. But now His essence was changed into, maybe, pure energy (albeit operating still, in a physical, touchable Being). It was obviously Jesus, but she had never seen Him like this, and it took some adjusting. 

But here's the point - - - you can spend every waking and sleeping moment with Jesus . . . with Him all along, right there within reach. And yet when He rises up and soars into a higher realm, we miss Him, for a moment. It may take faith, even, to recognize the Lord in His eternal state. 

And He's standing right near you, even now. 

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Divisions

For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.

 - From Ephesians 2

You can't have peace with divisions. 

Paul is talking about two groups of humanity. The two fundamental divisions. The actual, root, down-to-the-core source of all human strife: divisions. 

It's not really about race. Race it just one expression of the problem. It's not about nationality. That too, is a smoke screen that hides the real problem. It's not the beautiful against the ugly. Not the athletic versus the artistic. Not the rich against the poor. Not the powerful against the weak. Not even, really, the wedge between human religions.

Although, these are all part of it. They are part, but not the whole. They are an outward manifestation, albeit a crude one. (Judge not by appearances). 

Simply put: It's the haves versus the have-nots. And it's fueled by jealousy. 

Prideful ignoramuses on the one hand. Petulant children on the other. 

And they're all just woefully human, doing what we should not be surprised that they do. 

We saw it on the school yard, ages ago. A bully . . . a kid bigger than the others, athletic, maybe from a wealthy family, probably blessed with a glib manner and a cute smile; this bully, having his way while the other kids pretend to like him. 

Or we might recall the forming of youthful gangs, practicing that most primitive of human traits: groupthink. The mob forming around a sense of anger towards one or two of the others; the gang developing its own character out of the unconscious movements of its individual parts. Moving inevitably towards a malicious purpose, until someone, or something, slaps some sense into enough of the kids, to cause the breaking up of the gang. 

We remember how Cain resented Abel. Ishmael resented Isaac. Esau hated Jacob. Joseph was loathed by his brothers. Saul feared David. And the Pharisees dreaded the growth of Christ's movement. 

We have every reason to recognize it for what it is . . . and yet, here in this "advanced" year of 2021, we see, playing out, the most baldly insidious fomenting of division in human history. We have division, for division's sake. We seem to want to be divided, simply because we like being divided. It's a fake and malicious sense that we become important if we are divided. 

The Apostle Paul articulated the most fundamental form of human division: Those in God's Kingdom (and possessing eternal life), versus those outside of it (mortal). 

And Paul says that God wishes to break down this barrier between us and them. 

If that is the case . . . shouldn't we actively, and aggressively, topple the superficial walls between us today, that have such potential to yield irreversible catastrophe?


Thursday, July 8, 2021

Mercy, etc.

Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 

 - From Psalm 85

Look at these concepts that are grouped together. They belong together. They cannot be separated out, and merged back into other concepts, that are inconsistent with any of the other words in the group. 

Mercy

Truth

Righteousness

Peace

We find here, two words that are probably overused in our time. Or rather, they are used too much, without consideration of the two other words in the list. 

Yes we should have mercy, all right. We have been lacking mercy, and it's a systemic problem. The problem of merciless humans predates the foundation of the United States, since before recorded time. And when all that's left of the USA is ashes, still there will be a problem, a systemic problem, of a lack of mercy among humans. 

Racism derives from lack of mercy. Divorce. Abortion. Poverty. Homelessness. If people were merciful, as they should be, they would take care of these things. But you can't legislate mercy. You can't force people to be merciful. Yes, for a finite period of time, you may tax, and then force people to act as though they have mercy. But that doesn't change what's in their hearts. Real mercy proceeds from hearts that actually feel, and willfully choose, mercy. In fact, government coercion to act merciful probably creates more systemic mercilessness . . . because what it really does to many human hearts, is create resentment. 

It also would be nice to have peace. We all want peace. But this is the same as saying, we want to be left alone. We want to be able to pursue happiness in our families, success in careers, pleasure in our hobbies. Just leave us alone . . . that is peace for all of us. But when our peace is mandated from outside us, we are no longer at peace. Being forced to do something you don't want to do, is not peace. And of course, people in want, the hungry, the homeless . . . it can never be said that they are at peace. Their daily path is too dictated by their circumstances. When we start committing violent and destructive acts, out of frustration for the lack of "peace," we're only making the problem worse. We're making it eveb more systemic. You can't advance peace by being violent. You can't tear things down, and get in the faces of innocent strangers, out on the street. You can't tear symbols down, that have positive meaning to uncountable hosts of good people. That's not peace

There's a whole lot more to it. 

Truth, and Righteousness.

You can't get to Truth, if dialogue is shut down. We humans are too error-prone. We need each other, to check our assumptions and challenge our theories. We have to have open minds and open community discourse. When you insist on your truth, you're promoting anti-truth. (And I realize that I have just made a hot-button statement that will make some people recoil. Please share your thoughts in the comments section and let's go deeper.)

Your Mercy, Peace, and Truth are null and void, without righteousness. Case in point: the problem of politicians getting a blank check to say whatever they want, and do whatever they want, because of their "side's" skill at circling wagons. We're great at rooting out corruption on the other side, but horrible when it comes to our own side. Corruption should not be tolerated! Ever! 

Righteousness means honesty, integrity, ethics, morality. And if you want to know whatever it is you might be doing, that, frankly, doesn't "look good" or pass the "smell test," just ask someone else to level with you, honestly. Ask someone on the other side. And then make a covenant with yourself, to avoid doing what looks bad, even when your opponent is the one noticing it!

Mercy, Peace, Truth, and Righteousness. You can't have one without the other three. Not really. 

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Conspired

Amos has conspired against you . . . 

 - From Amos 7

What is this fascination with the word "conspired"?

We don't handle correction very well. Differing opinions are challenging enough. We think it's cool when someone says something like "I aim to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." But we get mad when, in our comfort, someone afflicts us. 

How we hate being wrong. We hate it so much we'll fight back any time someone suggests a different, better path for us. We'd rather continue in error than admit that we were wrong on something. 

One of our tactics is to accuse the person troubling us, of "conspiring." Again . . . what's the big deal with the word "conspiring"? And what makes it such a horrible thing to be accused of?

When people won't listen to reason, maybe conspiring is the only option left, to fix things!

If I ask questions dealing in ethics, or morality, or criminality, or even basic wisdom, it is not "conspiring." It isn't trading in "conspiracy theories." 

Most people starting off to point out ethical or process problems are not trying to get someone in trouble. They're not trying to stir the pot, or show off how smart they are. Most of the time, they're sincerely just trying to make a correction, so that later on . . . good people don't get into trouble. 

But people get defensive, they push back . . . they even fight back . . . and it's on. Heals are dug in, and it becomes more about saving face than getting to something better. 

We need to stop using the word "conspiracy" so much. People get to ask questions. 



Monday, July 5, 2021

Ascending Together

Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, who have not pledged themselves to falsehood,  nor sworn by what is a fraud. 

 - From Psalm, 24

As my readers know, I like to break biblical statements down into their individual components, to see what simple points are made, and to let the stark meanings of words, emerge to the forefront. 

The passage is answering some basic questions: Who will get to ascend God's holy hill? Who is worthy for fellowship with the Almighty? Who gets to enter into eternal rest and reward?

The requisite requirements are clean hands and a pure heart. Nothing new there. 

But it's these other words in the selected phrase that should be a little awkward, in 2021, to consider:

  • Not pledged
  • Falsehood
  • Sworn
  • Fraud
I could stop right here, and the people that have the most to worry about, when these concepts are suggested, will be the ones that immediately go on the defensive. 

Rather than agree that, yes, of course we do not want to pledge, or promise, or align with falsehood. or yes, we certainly should not covenant with fraud; they will launch into a rant against this or that political leader, or political philosophy, or race, or position of privilege. For whatever reason, a commitment to truth, or a resistance to fraud, is considered parallel to other ideals, in their minds, which they believe to be personally threatening to them, or to their loved ones, or to some other group that they do not know, but that they believe aligning with is the same as being a "good" person. 

But shouldn't we all just agree that, yes, we will NOT endorse lies. And Yes, we do NOT want fraud to prevail? 

And then, go from there . . . together?

By what bizarre eternal sleight-of-hand, would it be deemed right, for lies and fraud to have a seat of honor at a Heavenly table?

Let us begin with the realization that, as humans, we all do not deserve such a place in God's realm. It is such an understanding, and the owning of it, that is the first step towards being worthy of such a status. 

It should be so simple to agree - Lies are bad. And we don't want fraud. 

Period. 

 . . . rather than to get our feelings hurt by the mere suggestion of it . . . 





Thursday, July 1, 2021

Leaders vs Winners of Popularity Contests

For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. 

 - From 2 Samuel 5

The word "democracy" gets tossed around a lot these days. Everybody claims it, but in the end they only prefer it, when they get their way. When someone else, or another idea, wins the vote, these people will claim that Democracy itself is under attack. 

That's a fail of the Education System.

Democracy is just the rule of the majority, that's all. And the majority can be corrupt. Based on my memories of the schoolyard, Democracy usually is corrupt. A band of kids can decide to isolate one of them - we used to call it "ganging up" - and for a period of time, shun the poor kid. They might even engage in physical violence against the kid. There was no rhyme or reason to it. It strictly proceeded from Groupthink gone awry. 

Let's face it: Adults do the same thing. In the workplace. In clubs and associations. Even when it comes to youth sports, as coaches - adults engage in the same childish behavior. We are, at our root, insecure. If we can band with others, we are willing to dispense with some ethical parameters that we know are good, in order to keep the crowd together, and pleased with us. 

Bullies operate, by manipulate crowds, in this same way. But even a bully can be turned on by the crowd. 

Here we have the nation of Israel. It's boundaries and laws had not been fully codified yet. There was a king - Saul - that had titular reign. He had been popular once, but his weakness of character, over time, showed him to be an ineffective leader. 

David, however, based on his life of humility and genuine connection with others, had the permanent trust and esteem of the people. Saul was the official king. But David was the true leader of the nation. 

Democracy may get us a titular "leader." But it very well may be that the true leaders are out among us. They do not seek power. They do not desire lordship over others. But the people grant them that level of trust, anyway, based on other things. 

There are a lot of reason why someone may win an election. We err in thinking that the winners of these political games are, in fact, "leaders." 

Especially in these times of civic discord, we should be careful to find the ones of great character: humility, gravitas, integrity, honesty, genuineness; and treat them as the true leaders they are. We are not required to follow, blindly, the winners of popularity contests and their acolytes. 

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Genesis and Matthew 37: Topsy-Turvy

May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.

And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.

 ++++++

We have, in Jacob, perhaps one of the most devious people in all of Scripture. And yet . . . he becomes the person after whom the nation of Israel is named. 

In the Scriptural narrative, there's something about bad people actually being the ones that fulfill God's plan. You might have hard workers like Esau, and Cain . . . and all of Joseph's brothers; or all of David's brothers - - - these were men that were society's best. They worked. They saved. They invested. 

I would bet that these others were considered leaders and role models within their communities. 

Not so with Abel, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. These were idle, dreamy, and even soft products of a hardened culture. Somehow they managed to make it through life, to find themselves to be the last ones standing; the prosperous ones; the powerful ones. 

We're not going to get what we expect, if we think we are open to God's unfolding plan. We have to remember that Abel, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph were not nature-lovers. They were more prone to indulge in the arts. They read more. They thought more. They stayed away from rugged and boisterous activities. They avoided dangerous situations. They were likable. But they were rarely called upon to help with any physical heavy-lifting. 

And quite often, they are conniving gas-lighters. 

And yet here we are. The world today is topsy-turvy. What's good is bad. What's bad is good. Everything is fluid. Nothing is certain. Nothing is absolute. We are told not to trust our own eyes, and ears, and good sense; but to just let any old idea sift through our porous minds. 

Likewise, the person that presumes to be on good terms with the Lord, doing all the right things, keeping the right schedule and routines . . . these people may be okay for a while, but then later find themselves in a worst state than when they started.

This, too, is trust, and faith. We will not get what we expect. But what we do get, we must learn to accept, especially if adherence to eternal truths requires such acceptance. 


Monday, June 28, 2021

Genesis and Matthew 36: A Word for Isaac

We saw clearly that the Lord was with you.

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

+++++

Isaac seems to be quite a different personality, from his father, Abraham. There's the sense that, while Abraham was bold and visionary, prone to great gestures of faith and power; Isaac was more of a soft-spoken, but strong, man. 

People didn't take Isaac on directly. He was too nice of a guy. He stayed out of other people's way. He did not want to offend. But he worked hard, and steadily. He was a tiller, a gardener, like Cain. But unlike Cain, he had a pure heart and warm tendency towards others. He grew and prospered. People enjoyed working for him, and making deals with him, because he was so likable. 

He was like my Dad. 

Isaac was not considered a threat to others. But the jealous types - and there are always plenty of those - did not like seeing his easy prosperity. It seemed to come so naturally to Isaac, as if he had some special secret, or magic. But there was no secret about it. He worked hard, lived modestly, and saved. His wealth may have come more from lack of spending, than from skill in increasing one's riches. 

He appeared to be a commoner that came into money. He did not appear to be as successful as he was. 

So, when they wanted to hurt him, they did it like cowards, sneaking around at night, and plugging up his wells. 

But you'd never catch him actually saying something hurtful about, or towards, someone else. This, too, frustrated his would-be enemies. He never gave them much to work with, in building any case against him, (sound familiar?)

Do not look at the externals for whether or not to respect, or like, another person. But listen to them. What do they say? What do they intend? And what is the result of their words? 

Do they divide, or do they heal? Do they lord it over others, or serve them? Do they draw attention to themselves, or deflect it upon others? Do they listen? Do they listen to other viewpoints?

Do they love dialogue and the gathering of different viewpoints?

We need more real people, good people, like Isaac, and less degreed and self-important people like the Pharisees in the time of Christ. They were all talk, and their talk was destructive. 

Be like Isaac. 


Thursday, June 24, 2021

Genesis and Matthew 35: The Blown Inheritance

So Esau despised his birthright.

Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. 

+++++++

We don't know the entire story, when it comes to the incident where Jacob got Esau to trade his birthright with him. It had been customary for the oldest son to receive all of an inheritance. It's easy to think the whole thing took place during a single afternoon. 

But more likely, the Jacob and Esau Birthright Saga developed over months . . . maybe years. 

We've got Jacob, an excellent cook that was content to stay in the home all day, keeping house, managing affairs at the family HQ. This got him in good with the mom. Jacob was, from the start, rather a conniving, scheming guy. He would learn to be patient, and trust God. But for the first period of his life, he was impatient and insecure. 

Esau would work hard, all day. He spent the days out in the field. We can imagine that the result of Esau's industry was very good for the family. Perhaps he managed the business exceedingly well, multiplying the worth of his parents' estate. The two brothers were archetypical of two nearly perfect, opposing, personality styles. 

Esau was probably not as careless and dense as he appears in the biblical, summary version of his life. The two brothers did what all siblings do: they talked about family business, divided up responsibilities, had different roles to fulfill as the family grew, the business prospered, and their parents aged. 

Esau may have built up his own holdings, and assets. It's not like he gave up everything, in order to have a good bowl of soup. He only traded his inheritance from his father, in exchange for Jacob taking care of the home base. Not every man wants the job of caring for aging parents (in fact . . . very few do). 

But, this amounted to Esau "despising" his inheritance. He may have gotten tired of "Jacob this, Jacob that," while Esau did all the work. Truth be told, Esau wanted no part of it. Let Jacob have it. He'll spoil it, and after a few years he'll come back, begging for Esau to take it all back. 

It all amounted to short-term gain, in favor of satisfying a temporal desire. Esau did not see the big picture. But indeed, he did look a gift horse in the mouth, and liked his chances better, by separating from the family. 

We have a generation today, that is all too willing to burn down its inheritance. It has elevated carnal desires above eternal needs - putting pleasure and temporary comfort ahead of long-term virtues like freedom and overall prosperity (well-being) for everybody. The Esau-Jacob story plays out again, in American life, as two factions that couldn't be more different, split the national fabric down the middle in a scenario that cannot result in win-win. 

The modern Esaus also share a trait with the Pharisees of the time of Christ. They are trying to criminalize good works driven by faith. But that's another narrative, for another time. 

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Genesis and Matthew 34: Experts

The Lord, the God of heaven . . . will send his angel before you. 

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

======

The most powerful attitude on earth, is faith. Faith is hard to come by. It is hard to cultivate. 

Life is a continuous process of learning, which is a good thing. But learning can take our eyes away from faith. We can begin to trust, too much, in what we see, hear, and feel. We become too comfortable with the known; what can be empirically demonstrated to others. We begin to want evidence, expertise, facts . . . too much.

This is why it's easier for children, in their world full of magic and imagination, to practice simple, life-changing faith. The degree to which we practice faith, in our adult lives, is the degree to which we may return ourselves to the happiness and simplicity of our youth - - - and isn't that something we all desire, at least occasionally?

I hold it, as a basic tenet, that people with learning, degrees, credentials, and expertise, are to be held in some level of suspicion. Yes, they know their stuff. They have studied medicine, or the law, or theology, for years, and years. They insist you call them by their title: "Doctor." They want everybody around them to realize that they are expert. They are paramount. They are above the rest. 

Celebrity has taken over our modern culture. When once some personage has had a few moments on national TV, it is impossible, it seems, to get them to return back to their life of anonymity. Fame is a drug. It churns those internal juices that make us feel good. You get a little high from it. 

In our passion, today, to make sense out of it, we need a cultural movement to seek the wisdom, first, of the unlearned. The unlettered. People of modest means. People that aren't in the news. People that aren't famous news celebrities. People that aren't experts. 

We just need to trust the person with the simple faith to trust God. This is the wisest one of all. This is the real expert. 

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Genesis and Matthew 33: Violence

So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. 

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Abraham looked to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south. And all that he could see, God said, became his. Here was a barren region, completely unproductive, ignored, the domain of wanderers and the homeless. But it became the land of Abraham . . . a future site of a country populated by millions of people: the family of Abraham. 

The story of Abraham, beginning even before the Hebrew nation was launched, is steeped in violence. Bloodshed attended every forward step, it seems. But the territory now claimed by Abraham, belonged to no one before him. It was not stolen. It was not occupied. It was Abraham's. And the aspect of family took great root there. Nations are families grown very, very large. 

There is such a thing as owning land as property. There is such a thing as property. We can't help it. We want things that are our own. Any person, any child . . . anybody, of any age, wants that sense of possession, of pride. 

My toys. My hobbies. My job. My car. My health. My accomplishments. My talents. My family. 

There's nothing wrong with the word my. George Harrison sang about it, in the Beatles song I, Me, Mine. And yet, he rather enjoyed the fruits of his life's labors: his estate, and privacy, and money. Possessions are good. Individual traits are good. It can fill us with a sense of purpose, of pride. 

And nothing tops the sense of satisfaction one attains, when they stop wanting more. We should be happy with what he have. Possessions are wonderful. But they become a problem when we are more concerned with what we don't have, than what we have. 

That's where violence creeps in. 

The human condition descends into a violent state, unless it keeps its eyes firmly on forward movement, on thankfulness, on acceptance, on service, on spiritual things. 

When we enter eternity, I believe, we will be painfully embarrassed at our emphasis, in this life, on things, and not people. Even politicians that feign concern for the "needy" are only doing it to line their own pockets. 

John the Baptist was the simplest man ever. He posed no threat to anybody . . . except that he called out wrongdoing by others. He was a whistle-blower of the Jordan Valley. And wrongdoers, rather than fix the wrong, too often respond by hurting the whistle blower, making things worse for others, and for themselves. 

Property, wealth, want, poverty . . . doesn't matter. Violent people will find a way to be mad. And we seem stuck with that condition, until Christ returns. 



Thursday, June 10, 2021

Genesis and Matthew 32: Prepare

On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. 

I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.

There is a lot to be said for preparedness. The person that does not do sound financial planning almost certainly ends up in trouble. The best financial advice that I have ever heard, goes like this:

Set aside 20% of your income. Always. 10% for charity, 10% for savings. And in fact, there is more to this in Deuteronomy, where it talks about the "food tithe." But the bottom line is: Spend less than you make, always, and you will never have trouble.

But the best way to make that work, is to make it your only practice, from the day you're born. Money management is the ultimate preparedness. In fact . . . the simple act of saving is perfect; it's a nearly ideal spiritual practice. Because it doesn't take any time to spend no money. It's the one most fruitful and productive thing you can do: the perfect paradigm of practice faith: Spend no money . . . i.e., do nothing with it . . . and you will receive it back many times over. 

That goes against the idea of cast your bread upon the waters . . . but before you do that, you have to have bread. And the best way to have bread is to keep it. 

Perhaps we focus too much on planning. Planning takes time, perhaps, valuable time. But think about it --- Planning itself has to do with a sense of scarce resources. Taken to its completion: saving money also saves time. The less money we spend, the less we have to plan . . . because planning is the result of scarce resources. 

The person of faith is not going to go around spending money, anyway. God says that He will provide. All we have to do is go. But as in the money illustration above, we always hesitate. We decide to go back and plan . . . yes, that's what I need to do. Let me be prudent, and then I'll go out and do the Lord's will. 

It is speaking to me this morning, as I contemplate an entire life of waiting for everything to line up just right. Just go . . . and if you're worried about resources, remember to spend less than you have. Always. 

Monday, May 31, 2021

Genesis and Matthew 31: Sons

At long last, Abraham has a son, conceived under the law. It is true that he already had a son, Ishmael, whom he loved, no doubt. But Isaac would be the son born to Abraham's wife, Sarah. He was the son of promise . . . the one through whom the faith of Abraham would be realized. The promise of land, and of a great nation, would come through the descendants of Isaac. 

But Ishmael, too, would produce a great nation. 

Like so many other cases of sets, or pairs of brothers, in the Bible, the two sons of Abraham would become rivals to each other. More often than not, their rivalry would be violent.

Cain and Abel. 

Esau and Jacob. 

Joseph and his brothers. 

Moses and the birth son of Pharaoh. 

Etc. Even our pop culture, and much temporal history, is rife with the story of rival brothers. It is something we can all relate to. 

Jesus told parables about the sons of planters; of favored sons; of sons that built the father's empire, or squandered his riches. We can relate to stories about sons.

A parent is supposed to love his children unconditionally. It must never be said that a father did not support the efforts of his children. We are told that, in the end-times, children will be estranged from their parents. It is incumbent upon all of thus - - - those that know to be on the lookout for such developments, not to the ones that fulfill the prophecy. 

In the affairs of parents and their children, we much fight to keep those connections strong. Fight the impulse to reject your child, even if his or her choices are particularly loathsome. Reject the deed. Accept the child. Very often, froward decisions on the part of the young, are precisely because they don't feel loved. 

Let that not be the case. 

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Genesis and Matthew XXX! Brother

This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother."

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

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The 2021 generation  has a penchant for believing it has had a harder time than any generation preceding it. Never before, has grievance been such a prominent calling. We seem to love labeling others - rarely do we label something good. It's always a term we have defined as the worst pox upon humanity. 

Racist.

Communist.

Misogynist.

Entitled brat. 

We love coming up with new names to label others. We have even taken to the use of a common name for women, to describe someone that is particularly obnoxious (it's not enough just to identify entire groups - we have to bring the point home by personalizing our hate). My friend Mike texted me something interesting yesterday, how Social Media has been used, not for dialogue, but for virtue signaling and to magnify separations between us. 

Prior generations used scarlet letters to divide us - a concept which has traditionally been used as a warning to us, on how not to treat each other. Today, we have learned to use a mask as a way, quickly, to judge anonymous others. Never before in history, have people so suddenly lurched into angry assessments of total strangers. 

Another friend emailed me recently, about the effect of so many current events (via happenstance as well as official governmental or corporate policies) to divide friends and families from one another. You do not have to believe it to be a conspiracy, to recognize the evil of it, and to want to work aggressively, to reverse it. 

Division and anger is a thing, in 2021. A generation that had it made, but that desperately wanted to be "Great," like it's great grandparents, has fomented a crisis - - - the first crisis generation in history, that made up its own evils to defeat: like a re-enactment of The Hunger Games, where we all get to be Katniss. 

People watch what they say, lest they be canceled. They quickly distance themselves from the ones they need the most . . . friends and family. Safety has become more important than honor

We must become sly as a fox, try to stay a couple moves ahead of the culture, in order not to be snared by it. Think like them . . . so that we can overcome them, and perhaps bring them around to the true safety of free and clear consciences. 

One of my cousins could put an end to a type of gossip, every quickly. If the group ever began talking about his sister, or brother, or friend, or family member - whether or not the gossip was true, or cast him/her in a negative light - he could end the discussion with a simple phrase "She's my sister."

And that would end it. Abraham did not know what he was getting into, when he wandered into Abimelech's country. He did boldly go into it . . . but he asked people to talk about his wife, Sarah, in a way that was partly true - "Tell them she's my sister." Now, there are obvious, troublesome, problems with the narrative. But Abraham knew the power of identifying someone else as your close kin. People can respect that (most people). They may leave you, and others, alone, if you align together in this way.

So many on-line angst and anger could be avoided, if we could just say "I'm not joining you in condemning this person. He's my brother."

We have to resist the urge to divide family and friends, on the basis of the fake connections of virtual media. 

Hey knock it off. She's my sister. 


Sunday, May 16, 2021

Genesis and Matthew XXX: Go Out

Hurry and get out of this place . . . 

Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel . . . 

There are two cases here, in which people are instructed, by God or His Messenger, to Go out

The Old Testament example, of Lot in Sodom, involves a city that had become so corrupt and violent (the lines between sex and violence had become blurred . . . and possibly even confused with the definition of love), that good people were fleeing the city, for their lives. Mobs were gathering, and began to do as mobs always do . . . morphing into random masses leaving fear and destruction in their wake. 

God was going in to Sodom, to destroy it. But . . . does God actually ever have to destroy wickedness? Doesn't humanity do a good enough of a job of it, without help?

But the man Lot, Abraham's nephew, had apparently lived a safe and prosperous life in this once pristine city. Apparently, overnight, fortunes changed for the residents of that city. As the people became more and more enamored with the trappings of wealth and luxury, the sense of evil grew, all around them. But humanity does not address evil effectively. It does not root it out, before it takes hold. There are too many good feelings connected to wrongdoing. What can it hurt? Isn't everybody happier now? And besides, what someone does with their own body and life, is their own business!

If you wait too long, or look the other way, too much, you can lose your ability to fix something that is going wrong. Evil is self-oriented. It's focused on the short term, on feelings, and on the acquisition of stuff. It is sensory, rather than spirit-focused. 

This is what had happened to Sodom. Much like the "Me" movement of the 1980s, it seemed kinda cool at the moment. But it did not portend good things for the next generation, or two, out. 

Lot and his family were told to get out . . . and save themselves. 

But Jesus told His disciples to Go Out . . . and serve the lost children of Israel. The Hebrew people had been scattered abroad, thanks to countless experiences like Lot's, where it was necessary, in order for them to save themselves and preserve their nation. Nobody ever wants to leave their homes, especially in an emergency situation. 

Lot's family left suddenly, and left everything behind, to be destroyed with the rest of it. 

Jesus' disciples left all behind, as their things would just be hindrances to their ministries. 

One generation goes out, to save itself. Another goes out, to save others. One leaves danger, one courts it. Both take nothing with them.

Perhaps the takeaway is that . . . if we don't go out and minister to the world, circumstances will evolve so that we are forces to go out. The world seems to be moving fast, in 2021, in the direction of being forced out. May we be found spreading life and love, in the midst of all this fear.


Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Genesis and Matthew XXIX: Merciful

First published Monday, May 9, 2011

To the reader: This was the last blog post that I made, in the "Reflectionary" series, for almost two years. And it was the last one following the format of reading an Old Testament, and New Testament chapter(s) in parallel, looking for commonalities. In 2013, when I resumed Bible blogging, I began reflections based on the Common Lectionary for each successive calendar day. So, there will be no "Ten Year Reprints" for a very long time. Until then, they will be original, and I am going to try to resume the OT/NT parallel readings. Please let me know how you like the different formats. - GD


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"Now let me go down and see: if they have done according to its cry that has come to me - destruction!

"I want mercy and not sacrifice."
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"Why would God permit so many African children to die of hunger?

"Surely you're not saying the 911 attacks were God's judgment upon American immorality!"

If you apply the world's definition of love to its problems, like hunger, disease, war, natural disasters, and famine, it can get quite easy to become angry with God. Surely, would not a loving God care for His children?

The Old Testament is full of accounts of God solving problems by wiping them out entirely, then starting all over. And so the question is, how can this not be defined as merciful, or loving? When an animal is in great pain and will not recover, we advocate "mercy killing." End the pain and suffering. Sometimes the only way God can relieve people's pain, is to take their lives.

This idea of sacrifice carries with it an understanding of death. If there were no such thing as death, then sacrifice would have no meaning. If you have eternal life, you've got it all! "Sacrifice" is part of the equation that keeps the world in balance until death is destroyed at the Return of Christ. We sacrifice because it is a reminder of our mortal predicament. If we give something up, then we understand that it will help someone else who is suffering, thanks to the curse placed upon the earth since the time of Adam's disobedience.

But God prefers mercy, not sacrifice. Sacrifice is Old Testamental. It is self-focused. It is legalistic.

But mercy, which is understood by the mature believer, is New Testamental. It is outwardly-focused. It is based on freedom in Christ. It is conceived and driven in godly Love.

God heard the cry coming from Sodom and Gomorrah. There were those within its boundaries, in great pain due to its rampant sin. So it is today. God does hear the pain of those suffering in the poorest parts of the planet. He calls on us to serve, to act mercifully.

In the end, if the Church does not show up to help, God may be left with only one merciful option.