My reading has me in Micah for a few days and as I read it I get this picture of Israel that the prophets portray over and over. Israel is “weary” of serving God. They have some sense of obligation, but they are in love with the gods of the age and want to pursue other lovers. Yet, they know Yahweh is there and they need to “appease” him. The question becomes: “Okay, God, what do you want? What’s it going to cost me this time?”
Continue reading “The downside of evangelical American Christianity”Tag: Mercy
The foolishness of lacking compassion
The things I don’t get list just got a new number hit.
Continue reading “The foolishness of lacking compassion”Can we return to a prophetic center?
I am still in the midst of lament over the jury decision last Friday. The officer who killed Philando Castile was acquitted. There is a sense of mourning, of lament, in our community and it needs to be felt. Continue reading “Can we return to a prophetic center?”
The darkness and the dawn
6 When I felt secure, I said,
“I will never be shaken.”
7 Lord, when you favored me,
you made my royal mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed. (Ps. 30:6-7) Continue reading “The darkness and the dawn”
What does the Lord require?
What the Lord “requires” of us is simple. We have complicated it. Continue reading “What does the Lord require?”
The deepest seat of our deepest emotions
When our “hearts” (which is our English way of describing an ancient concept of the “deepest seat of our deepest emotions”) belong to Christ, there is such wonderful, beautiful change.
Paul describes it in Colossians 3:12-17.
When Christ rules the deepest seat of my deepest emotions, anger is shoved away and love takes its place. Bitterness is crushed and compassion flows in its place. No more resentment. Out flows mercy and kindness.
Let my life be filled with his glory and lived for his glory.
Why bother with the Old Testament?
The God of the Old Testament is so mean. He’s violent. He’s vengeful. The “God I know” wouldn’t ever be that way. The “God I know” would be more like this:
“I know that you are a merciful and compassionate God, very patient, full of faithful love, and willing not to destroy.”
Yes, sir, give me the real “God I know.” Give me that “New Testament” God.
