Tag: justice
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Thieving Glory
Matthew 24:42–44; 1 Thessalonians 5:2–6; Revelation 16:12–16 Calling God a thief seems more than just a little ridiculous. Yet, Jesus uses the imagery of a thief to talk about the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is an ambiguous phrase. Many (perhaps even most) Christians, think of the “Day of the Lord”…
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Dripping Prayer
Proverbs 27:15–16; Luke 11:5–14; Luke 18:1–8 Persistence is often a good thing. However, blind persistence can also be incredibly limiting. As my younger children are about to begin their college journey (yes, still a few months to go), I look back to my time in college. I chose a major I wasn’t skilled at. I…
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Force or Choice
Matthew 20:20–28; Matthew 22:15–22 The author Robert Heinlein once wrote, “When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you’re using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.” There has been a transformation in our society where this seems to be truer now than when Heinlein…
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Monuments to What
Ecclesiastes 1:10–11; Matthew 23:25–32; Luke 11:47–54; Acts 7:44–58 You have probably heard George Santayana’s famous quip, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Perhaps the writer of Ecclesiastes phrased it differently. The reality is that human behavior (especially, selfishness, greed, and hatred) has a tendency to repeat itself. Jewish history…
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Right and Just
Matthew 1:18–21; Romans 5:6–11; Romans 14:1–23 For whom will you die? Your child? Your parent? Your next door neighbor? A murderer? Your nation? Your state? At some point in history, someone responded “yes” to at least one of these. A number of these are conscious choices. Others were forced upon people. Others were an unthought…
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Speed Check
Isaiah 56:1–8; Ezekiel 2:1–10 When you’re driving, do you continue to check your speed? What do you do when you check a speed limit sign? A speed limit sign cannot make you stop speeding. A speed limit sign cannot make you speed up. A speed limit sign can only tell what the authorities have set…
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Clothed in Rags
Psalm 94; Luke 6:27–36; 1 Corinthians 4:9–13 Bless your enemies. Except “bless” means something more than just be nice or even help them. “Bless” means to ask for God’s divine favor to come on them. We all want blessings, but we are being called to ask for God’s blessings for those who make our lives…
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Despairing Flames of Joy
It is for times such as this, that wisdom literature may help us. Wisdom literature won’t hand us the cure. Wisdom literature can help us step back from our immediate responses and reactions, and help us to develop a framework with which to handle reality.