On the Road to Emmaus » Bible

Becoming a Deep Person is the Most Fruitful Long-term Approach to Loving God and Neighbor (Principles and Practices for the Spiritual Life, Part 2a)

Richard — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 23:43:24 +0000

“Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline)

I read these lines when I was a freshman in college. They set a course for my life, because as I read them, I determined that I was going to be a deep person. No matter what it took, I was going to be one of them. Its seems like almost everywhere I go, people (especially young adults) are disillusioned by the degree of shallowness in the Church. It can easily become a topic for griping and complaining. Though I can’t say I haven’t ever participated in such ill speech, I realized a long time ago, that unless I was going to proactively be part of the solution, I was merely perpetuating the problem. Many are content with complaining because it is exceedingly easier than radically reorienting your life in the pursuit of a different end.

Leo Tolstoy once said, “Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing themselves.” In an age where being extremely shallow and narcissistic has become the norm—where our concepts of reality come from the hyper-idealized world of movies, where our heroes are celebrities who occupy a fantasy world enabled by exorbitant wealth—the only way change will happen is as we personally wrench ourselves out of the spell cast by modern society and begin to dwell deep.

The second principle in this series discussing Principles and Practices for the Spiritual Life is as follows:

Becoming a deep person is the most fruitful long-term approach to loving God and neighbor.

with its negative formulation as follows:

Remaining content with being shallow is not loving or helpful to anyone.

In John 15, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.” To be connected to the vine, means to draw life-giving nutrients from the source, such that, over an extended period of time, there is a slow and gradual process of growth. It is only this slow and gradual process of growth that produces fruit, and as Jesus says, much fruit. This is what I mean by “becoming a deep person” – unplugging from the hectic mayhem of our narcissistic culture and engaging in a process of growth, whereby, over time, your entire being is both opened to and ultimately flooded with the life-giving presence of Jesus. We can often tell the difference between people who answer problems with cliches, and those who have real, helpful answers; people who are merely repeating the words of another, and those who can speak from the heart; people who wax eloquently about God, and those who seem to have been with God; people who have plastic smiles, and those who can empathize with your pain; people who interact with life in a detached and low-risk manner, and those who have a passion for life, engaging in the full range of its joys and sorrows; people who can network, and those who love affectionately and deeply; people who relate to others on the basis of what they can get, and those who give freely from the heart, laying down their lives for others in love. It is to the latter that we are invited as we open ourselves to God, allowing him to enter deeper into our lives, and in such, we become deep people.

Why Greek Matters (Part 7) – The Genesis of Jesus the Messiah (Genealogies Really Matter!)

Richard — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:37:30 +0000

I know its easy to skip genealogies when reading to Bible. Loads of detail with little yield. Thought this might not be immediately apparent, the genealogies in the Gospels are rich with theological significance. Names such as Judah, Ruth, David, Uzziah, Hezekiah and Josiah that occur in the genealogy would surely have evoked many stories in the minds of readers and hearers in the first century, but none so much as the two names which head off the genealogy: Abraham and David. Altogether, Jesus is placed in the center of, so to speak; or perhaps more properly, at the end, of Israel’s history of covenant and blessing, deliverance and freedom, promise and expectation. Jesus is thus the heir of this lineage, the one who continues the story, sums it all up in himself and becomes the locus in which it reaches consummation. [Craig S. Keener, Matthew, 73-77].

However, under the surface, I suspect there is even more going on than identifying Jesus with Israel’s long history of patriarchs and kings. Perhaps Matthew is reaching back even further. The opening words of the Gospel, if I write out how the Greek letters sound for one of the words instead of translating it, are “The book of Genesis of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ). In verse 18 he says again, “The genesis (γένεσις) of Jesus the Messiah…” It is pretty easy to pick up on John’s opening allusion to Genesis in the first words of his gospel, “In the beginning was the word…” Likewise, Luke’s genealogy goes all the way back to “Adam, the son of God.” Is it possible that Matthew intends for his hearers to perceive that he, along with John (and possibly Luke), is writing a “new book of Genesis” so to speak? Is he writing a story about God’s purpose to right the wrongs in the creation and be faithful to the promises he made to the patriarchs? Is the occurrence of this word yet another reminder that we are to interpret the life of Jesus within the larger drama of Israel and God’s plan to restore the blessing of Genesis 1 to planet earth? Did he understand the first coming of Jesus as the inauguration of the New Creation of all things? Of course, we could never prove such in this particular instance, but it is at least my strong suspicion…

Why Greek Matters (Part 6) – Christ in Ya’ll, the Hope of Glory

Richard — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:41:14 +0000

I am not from Texas. I am not from anywhere remotely in the South. I am a Yankee to the core. Nevertheless, I believe one of the primary deficiencies of the formal English language is the lack of a word like “ya’ll.”

The Greek language (like many languages) has (at least) two forms of the word “you,” a singular form and a plural form (akin to ya’ll). However, you would never know this reading an English Bible. The following verses (plus scores others) all use a plural form of “you”, but from the standard English translation you would never have any idea:

Matt. 5:13 - You (ya’ll) are the salt of the earth…You (ya’ll) are the light of the world.

Matt. 7:2 – “For in the way you (ya’ll) judge, you (ya’ll) will be judged; and by your (ya’ll’s) standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Rom. 12:2 – do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you (ya’ll) may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

1Cor. 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you (ya’ll) for the grace of God which was given you (ya’ll) in Christ Jesus…even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you (ya’ll), so that you (ya’ll) are not lacking in any gift…

1Cor. 3:16 Do you (ya’ll) not know that you are a (singular) temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

This “plural you” has significant implications for how we interpret verses on almost every page of the Bible. For example, as in Romans 12, is Paul’s goal that each individual would be able to personally prove what is the will of God for their individual life? Or is this discernment process something that “ya’ll” do together in community? Are you individually the salt of the earth or the light of the world, or are the people of God collectively the salt and light?

Luke 17:21 is an oft quoted verse in which the KJV, NKJV and the NIV read, “the kingdom of God is within you.” This is frequently interpreted as the Amplified Bible has in its gloss “the Kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts]…” Is the Kingdom of God in our hearts? This was a strongly promoted idea in the nineteenth century as classical theological liberalism approached its height. It is precisely what Adolf von Harnack says in What is Christianity?:

“The kingdom of God comes by coming to the individual, by entering into his soul and laying hold of it. True, the kingdom of God is the rule of God; but it is the rule of the holy God in the hearts of individuals…From this point of view everything that is dramatic in the external and historical sense has vanished; and gone, too, are all the external hopes for the future.” [Adolf von Harnack, What is Christianity? Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1956, 56]

Ironically, when evangelical Christians talk about the Kingdom of God being “in their hearts,” they are in essence spouting off, not Christian orthodoxy, not something a first-century Jewish man credibly could have said, but word-for-word theological liberalism, the same theological liberalism which is ready to dispense with the deity of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the second coming of Jesus, the new creation of all things, etc. In Harnack’s mind, the notion of the Kingdom being “internal” was very much related to the way he jettisoned “all the external hopes for the future,” i.e., the New Creation of Heaven and Earth.

Because the “you” is plural, Jesus’ saying would be better translated (as the NRSV, TNIV and NASB do), “the Kingdom of God is in your midst.” The Kingdom is not a “spiritual” principle, but the demonstrable intervention of God in time and space to restore and renew life on earth. Thus the purpose of the saying is not to describe an “internal” reality of the Kingdom, but rather, the demonstration and experience of the Kingdom of God in the shared life and experience of God’s people in the public world.

A related verse is Colossians 1:27, which is often translated, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” I’m sure it won’t surprise you to hear that the “you” in this verse is also plural, although you would never know it from your English Bible. Paul is not saying that “Christ-living-inside-of-you” is the hope of glory. While of course he would not deny the reality of Christ living inside of us, this is not the point of the verse. Rather, it is Christ in the midst of the Church, the experience of the Messiah in forming a redeemed and redemptive community of self-giving love, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, restoration and renewal, that is the hope of glory, namely, the sign in the present that gives us expectation for the fresh work of grace God will accomplish when he makes all things new at the end. The presence of Christ in the community of the redeemed is even now the present experience and advance pledge of the restoration of all things which fills our hearts with confidence and eager expectation of its certain consummation.

A Life Poured Out in Love is the Starting Point of All True Christianity (Principles and Practices for the Spiritual Life, Part 1a)

Richard — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:50:51 +0000

This is the beginning of a series in which I hope to distill a synthesis of my learning and experience with respect to the manner in which one cultivates a deep spiritual life. My intention is to combine both an understanding of how the spiritual life works along with what practically to do to experience growth. I find much spiritual counsel to have either a plethora of helpful principles, yet without clear guidance on how specifically to implement them; or lists of spiritual disciplines without a grounding base explaining their significance in the larger vision of the spiritual life (Dallas Willard’s Spirit of the Disciplines is a stellar exception). Here I will attempt to do both. In such I have isolated eight principles, which, in my gleaning from the Scriptures, from spiritual masters both ancient and modern, as well as from my experience, personally and alongside others, are central to a flourishing spiritual life. Each principle will be expressed both positively and negatively, briefly explained, and then followed by corresponding practices to specifically implement them in daily life. I will grant from the beginning there is much more that possibly could be said beyond what I will say with numerous additional principles, practices, qualifications, modifications and so forth. Granting the limited nature of my experience, understanding and articulation, I hope and pray these writings will bear fruit in your life.

Without further ado, the first principle is thus:

A life poured out in love is the starting point of all true Christianity, the source and summit of all true humanity.

A life lived for one’s self or within which self-giving remains ancillary is the sure path to de-humanizing futility. God does not recognize this as Christianity regardless of a superabundance of Christian jargon, activities, ideas, etc.

In Matthew 22, an expert in the Jewish law asks Jesus which commandment in the law is the greatest. In today’s religious consciousness, the word “law” commonly conjures up various images of abject servitude, detached submission, despondent acquiescence or rigid legalism. When God says to do something you must do it, yet all the while, bitterly wishing there was an escape hatch through which you could return to a life of free self-determination. Yet the biblical concept of “law” is different. The word “torah” (Hebrew for “law”) is the noun form of a word which means “to throw or shoot,” usually with arrows. Some scholars suggest that meaning behind “torah” is in the aiming of an arrow or the pointing of a finger to direct such a shot. Hence “torah” means something like “guidance” or “direction.” This meaning fits well with the actual content of the “torah,” the first five books of the bible, since most of it is not lists of rules, but stories about God and his people. Remarkably so, the massive amount of material from Genesis 12 through the end of Deuteronomy all have a coherent theme: In a world where humans have unequivocally wrought disaster through their fighting, hatred, abuse and violence (see Gen. 3-11), God graciously initiates a promise of blessing to Abraham and his descendants, which both re-affirms God’s initial intentions for humanity (Gen. 1-2) and seeks to restore them. This promise, partially fulfilled in the stories recounted, remains the outstanding invitation to God’s people to be his answer to creation’s dilemma, and the agents through whom the solution comes (see David Clines fascinating book The Theme of the Pentateuch for a fuller exposition). The “torah,” then is God’s guidance on how, in the midst of a world of corruption and violence, to become a people through whom the earth’s desolate state can be mended and healed rather than further destroyed. By directing us to be participants in this grand story, we can be people who help the problem rather than continue to break lives, relationships and communities.

While I don’t imagine for a moment this was what the law expert was asking about in Matthew 22, I have more than a sneaking suspicion this is what Jesus chose to answer to anyway. In response to what the greatest commandment is, Jesus, in his typical terse yet far-reaching manner answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” The questioner asked concerning commandments in the law and Jesus responds with an answer which summarizes “all the law and the prophets.” This phrase, “law and prophets,” was a shorthand way of referring to the entire corpus of Jewish Scriptures. It seems as though Jesus is answering a bigger issue than which of the rules is most important, as if you only had one command to keep, which one would it be. Instead, Jesus is speaking to the foundational concept of the totality of Jewish Scripture. He addresses the entire unfolding narration of Israel’s history with God. In this history, God invited Israel to be the people who embody the true humanity before a world which had continually defaced nearly every trace of human semblance through its violence, ambition, hatred and greed. They would be God’s solution to the problem of sin and the agents through whom all nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3), a blessing which would prevail over the curse of sin and death (Gen. 3:15-19). Notice that Jesus does not replace the “law and prophets” with an abstract principle of “love,” as if, whenever one has subjective experiences which one might call love, then everything else in the Hebrew Scriptures doesn’t really matter. Rather, the “law and prophets,” this whole story of promise, blessing, invitation, failure and restoration can be summed up as love. The way the people of God are to be the model of true humanity and a restorative presence on earth is through a love with the whole heart, the whole soul, and the whole mind. Namely, God invites his people to be truly human, to be the restored new humanity, and participate in creation’s restoration first and foremost by loving God and neighbor with all of one’s being (heart, soul, and mind) and will the fullest’ of one’s capacity (the whole heart, the whole soul and the whole mind).

“It is the whole of Christianity,” C.S. Lewis remarks in Mere Christianity, “Christianity offers nothing else at all.” Everything we can say about Christianity begins with the notion of the whole and unreserved giving of oneself in love for God and for others. What is commonly represented as a high level of achievement, a point to which one gradually works towards in one’s Christian journey, because so lofty an idea it is relegated to theoretical endeavors for super-saints which are never really attempted. It is in actual fact the only starting point. The self-giving love of this Great Commandment is not what we relegate to the mature while we formulate a more accessible modality for the rest of us novices (after all, who is mature anyway we might retort?) where we can do some spiritual things but mostly live for ourselves. Rather, to miss this one thing is to miss the entire point. If everything else hangs on the call for an entire outpouring of love, then without it, everything falls to the ground in a tangled mess. Of course, I am not meaning that perfect attainment of love in full maturity is where one must start as a Christian. Nevertheless, a radical renunciation of self-absorption, self-promotion and self-protection coupled to the risky self-surrender which endeavors to love with all of one’s self, must be utterly foundational. By this I mean the central organizing principle of how time, money, resources, energy, emotions, relations, etc are used must be whole and unreserved self-giving love, otherwise we are failing to follow the most basic guidance about what it means to be God’s people and what it means to be human. We were made in love, we were made for love and we were made to love. God invites us to be his redeemed and restored people in the world, those in whom the restoration of true humanity is beginning to flower, and through whom the abundance of his love can flow towards the restoration of a fragmented and broken world. A life poured out in love is the starting point of all true Christianity, the source and summit of all true humanity.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent from The Book of Common Prayer)

Can I Understand the Bible Without Knowing Greek???

Richard — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:30:25 +0000

I intend to give a brief and fairly unnuanced answered to this question, by way of analogy. I have often heard the question, “Can I be saved (or alternately phrased, “Can I go heaven”) without speaking in tongues?” By this it is meant, is one able to be a true member of the family of God which participates in the resurrected life of the renewed creation, without having a devotional prayer language (often called glossalalia)? To this, the answer is “yes…but why would you want to?” In other words, why would you simply settle for “making it in?” In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul evidently perceives a great value to the personal practice of speaking in tongues and wishes all the Corinthians would do it. Thus, why not aim for everything we can have in this life? Why not set our vision higher, rather than acquiesce to the least common denominator?

Thus when someone asks me, “Can I understand the Bible without knowing Greek?,” I reply, “Yes…but why would you want to?” If you are able to learn Greek, in other words,

if you are able to learn another language (which is true of the overwhelming majority of people in the world, since outside of America it is normal to speak two, three or even four languages),

and if you have some time (which most Americans do since they spend 5 hours a day on average watching television [1]; it only takes 3-5 hours a week, plus or minus a few, to learn Greek in less than a year)

then why would you not aim for the highest level of comprehension and understanding through the steady process of learning the languages in which the Bible itself was breathed forth by the Holy Spirit? God deemed fit in the fullness of time to send forth his Son to redeem humanity from the curse of Sin and Death. He also deemed fit that the account, exposition and implementation of this glorious redemption would be breathed by the Holy Spirit in the Greek language. The thirsting soul in pursuit of God is often led by love to learn this very language in order to know the Scriptures more profoundly, and through them, to know the God of the Scriptures with increasing clarity. Pastors, teachers, reformers, mystics and revivalists throughout history have turned to language as both an expression of love and a means to deepen love. John Wesley would spend his mornings meditating on the Greek New Testament before preaching from that very text on horseback. George Whitfield would spend two hours a night, after long days of ministry, often on his knees, doing the same. At age 24, George Muller would spend 10 hours a day studying the Bible in the original languages.

You can surely learn and understand the basic truths of the Bible without knowing Greek, but why would you want to?

[1] http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/americans-watching-more-tv-than-ever/

A Biblical Concept of God Gives Rise to Lament Not Apathy

Richard — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:57:44 +0000

In the atmosphere of contemporary Western Christianity, when someone voices a lament with the intensity frequently found in the Psalms, it is not uncommon for them to be looked at aghast or derided for their deficient faith and concept of God, which has produced such a so-called absence of trust. “If you really knew who God was,” they might say (or one might tell themselves), “you wouldn’t feel this way.” Yet when we look to the Psalms themselves, it is indeed the biblical and thoroughly Hebrew concept of God which provides fertile ground for the most poignant and unsettling of complaints. That our concept of God results in a lament-less spirituality, while the Hebrew faith invariably gives rise to lament, should indict us of our own deficient concept of God.

Allow me to illustrate.

Verses 1-13 of Psalm 10 voices a gut-wrenching cry to God, including the charges that

God is standing far off (v. 1)
He is hiding (v. 1)
He is not lifting a finger to help us (v. 12)
He is forgetting the afflicted (v. 12)

These near blasphemous claims, to a Western Christian, would obviously arise from a lack of understanding concerning God’s sovereignty (he is in total control), omnipresence (he can’t technically be “far off”), and omniscience (he can’t forget). Yet, these complaints do arise from a concept of God, albeit, a somewhat different one. Verses 14-18 give the justification, the rationale so-to-speak, for verses 1-13.

He sees, specifically trouble and grief (v. 14) – a corollary would be that he identifies such as trouble and grief, not as a “blessing in disguise”
The purpose of his “seeing” is not an abstract omniscience, but “so that you might take it into your hands” – i.e., act on behalf of the afflicted
He is the helper of orphans – he helps the helpless (v. 14)
He is King (v. 16)
He he hears the desires of the afflicted (v. 17)
God hears in order “to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed” – he is a God of justice who vindicates the downtrodden (v. 18)

Interestingly, the notion that “God is King” (v. 16), which is essentially what the concept of “sovereignty” means (i.e., God is the “sovereign,” the king), does not produce an apathetic acquiescence to divine pre-determination as it so frequently does in Western Christianity. Rather, it undergirds a cry for God to change what he is doing–don’t sit there continuing to do nothing – get up, lift your hand to help us! The Western deterministic concept of God (God determines how every event unfolds) leads us not to lament in the face of suffering, but to “trust” God in all things, that is, accept everything that happens, good or bad, as a blessing from God. After all, since he is all-knowing, he knows better than our limited understanding. Yet the Hebrew concept of sovereignty (God is King), or divine omniscience (he sees and hears all things), does not produce an acceptance of everything that happens (including evil), but rather, a resistance of all we know to contradict God’s revealed nature. God is the helper of orphans, therefore I cannot reconcile myself with any event, circumstance or person that promotes evil, hatred and violence towards people God loves. While faith can stabilize us in perseverance towards God’s yet unfinished future, true biblical faith refuses to ignore the open wound of humanity in the name of any theological construct, but rather suffers under it. In anticipation of God’s faithfulness to his Word and revealed character, faith and hope rejects any conciliation with a world marred by sin and death. In such we lament – with a cry both loud and strong, bearing an inexplicable mourning as we await, with all the saints and the entire creation, the future of God’s faithfulness.

While the Psalms abound with such examples, one further illustration could be taken from Psalm 74. Here the lament includes:

God has rejected us (v. 1)
His anger smokes against us (v. 1)
God has not remembered us (v. 2)
Our land has become a perpetual ruin (v. 3)
Our adversaries have roared in our midst (v. 4)
God is holding back his hand (v. 11)
God is keeping his hand in his bosom (v. 12)

In verses 12-17, the mood seems to completely change, recounting the history of God’s mighty acts:

God is King (i.e., “sovereign”) (v. 12)
He works salvation and deliverance for his people (v. 12)
He divided the Red Sea to save his people (v. 13)
He destroyed the enemies of his people (v. 14)
He is the mighty creator (vv. 16-17)

This kind of belief in God – a confession of God’s mighty deeds – the Hebrew concept of God – does not reduce the lament. It does not invalidate the previous expression of sorrow. Neither does it produce a response of apathy like “well now this is true, we have nothing to worry about” (and nothing to care about either). Rather, verses 18 and following of the Psalm go back into lament, pleading with God to act and not forget those who are oppressed as targets of violence. In all, this pattern we see in the Psalms should tweak the way we neatly package God in theological terms bearing the prefix “omni” or any other prefix for that matter. The God of the Bible is the God Who Acts, specifically on behalf of his people. He is the God of Justice. When these dear beliefs are contradicted, we do not sink into the swamp of apathetic malaise which we can call “trust” if we are so inclined. Rather, we allow a cry to well up from the depths – a shattering protest and earnest appeal, mourning the absence of this God of Justice. All is not well, all is not okay, and in such we feel, and feel deeply. This pain of godforsakenness is not a wonderful place to be. However, I would much rather be there, than in the catatonia of a faith that shuts its eyes to trouble and misery and closes its ears to the cries of the afflicted, rattling off some theological platitude in the stead of sorrow. For in the agonizing depths of godforsakenness, the crucified Jesus is always present – suffering with us – our friend and companion in grief.

Asking God the Right Question

Richard — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:17:50 +0000

Whenever there are times of great difficulty, pain or suffering, we naturally ask God questions. I once heard someone remark that in a certain instance people were “asking God the wrong questions.” The notion of asking God the “wrong question” struck me, so I made a quick breeze through the Psalms exploring what the God-inspired Scripture indicates are the “right questions” to ask God. The “right questions” might shock the refined sensibilities of affluent Western (i.e., quasi-gnostic, quasi-Victorian) spirituality. I’ve often heard that when going through a difficulty the right question to ask God is “what are you teaching me through this trial?” Strangely, I did not find that one in the Psalms. The Psalmists are rather uninhibited in their gritty and unvarnished processing of pain before God. Granted, these questions are not the entirety of this process. But they are where the process must start. Giving an answer is a meaningless abstraction apart from the concrete and often disconcerting question to which it corresponds. Comfort that denies the problem is merely delusion. The Psalmist does not simply “surrender to the sovereignty of God” or “discern what God is trying to teach.” The right question is the question that allows the full release of lamentation which is lodged in the soul whether it is expressed or not. Failure to express such reality only brings our relationship with God into the placid oblivion of unreality. The honesty modeled in the Psalms is the gateway into a deeper relationship with God and true Biblical spirituality.

My soul also is struck with terror, while you, O LORD—how long?

For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who can give you praise?

Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Why do the wicked renounce God, and say in their hearts, “You will not call us to account”?

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

“What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?

How long, O LORD, will you look on? Rescue me from their ravages, my life from the lions!

I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?”

For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you cast me off? Why must I walk about mournfully because of the oppression of the enemy?

Have you not rejected us, O God?

O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
Why do you hold back your hand; why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes.

O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?

Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you? Selah
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

O LORD, why do you cast me off? Why do you hide your face from me?

How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?

Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

Have you not rejected us, O God?

My eyes fail with watching for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?”

How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?

(Psalm 6:3, 5; 10:1, 13; 13:1; 22:1; 30:9; 35:17; 42:9; 43:2; 60:10; 74:1; 74:10, 11; 77:7-9; 79:5, 10; 80:4; 85:5-6; 88:10-12, 14; 89:46, 49; 108:11; 119:82, 84)

Being a Prophetic Voice in Times of Disaster

Richard — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:25:03 +0000

The most significant aspect of being a prophetic voice is deeply knowing and clearly articulating the heart of God.

From the time when a major natural disaster strikes, one can hold their breath until people have quickly announced that such a tragedy (which incidentally, happened in a place far, far away and did not remotely touch the speaker) was the direct judgement of God for this or that act of wickedness. This decree is usually accompanied by a montage of clippings from the Old Testament prophets, explaining how such is surely the case. However, it strikes me that there is a tremendous difference between repeating the words of the prophets and embodying the lifestyle and heart of the prophet, no less going on the journey with God of compassionate solidarity with the those who are now suffering. The former seems fairly easier and a trifle more convenient than the latter.

Consider this excerpt from Jeremiah, which is rarely used in such a prophetic montage:

My sorrow is beyond healing, my heart is faint within me! Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not within her…Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored? Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! (Jeremiah 8:18-9:1)

Or this:

Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter—my people—is struck down with a crushing blow, with a very grievous wound. If I go out into the field, look—those killed by the sword! And if I enter the city, look—those sick with famine! (Jeremiah 14:17-18)

Or this one from Lamentations:

For these things I weep; my eyes run down with water; because far from me is a comforter, one who restores my soul. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed. Zion stretches out her hands; There is no one to comfort her…” (Lam. 1:16)

Each of these passages deals with a situation in which the suffering is clearly caused by a judgement of the Lord and was directly related to the sin of the people. Yet consider how the prophet speaks – not as an outsider standing on moral high ground. Not as a detached arbiter of divine knowledge. Not as a coveted source of clarity. Rather, they speak primarily as those who mourn. They speak of “my people.” They cry out in bitterness of soul. They identify themselves as among those who suffer. The prophet only speaks in compassionate solidarity with the suffering. From a privileged vantage point the “wise men” claim to give counsel. They announce that all is in fact well. But Jeremiah rebukes them saying, “They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. (Jer. 8:11)” Those who lounge in affluence and with dry eyes declare that a disaster is in fact a blessing (peace, peace – this is a good thing), have more in common with Jeremiah’s enemies than Jeremiah himself, even though they might quote his writings. They also have more in common with those asking Jesus to explain whose sin caused certain suffering (John 9), rather than Jesus himself, the ultimate prophet, who in response to suffering “bore our griefs and carried our sorrows,” making the ultimate act of sympathetic identification with us by enduring crucifixion and through his resurrection, opened the way for suffering to be overcome. It is much easier to sound like a prophet, then to have the quality of soul a prophet possesses, which feels deeply for the suffering and leads one to suffer alongside them.

To help discern one’s readiness to be a prophetic voice in times of disaster, I’ve come up with a check list:

If your first thought when a disaster strikes, is a one sentence explanation that allows your life to largely remain undisrupted, you are probably not a prophetic voice.
If your first thought when a disaster strikes, is to figure out what horrible sin the area affected was committing, you are probably not a prophetic voice.
If your first thought when a disaster strikes is anything other than broken-hearted compassion, you are probably not a prophetic voice.
If you have not even skipped one meal between the time of the disaster and your pronouncement, you are probably not a prophetic voice.
If you are emotionally unaffected by the suffering of people whom God loves, you are probably not a prophetic voice and are likely in a seriously sinful state of hardness of heart.
If you find yourself talking about “them,” you are probably not a prophetic voice.
If you think it is good that “they” finally learned about the “futility of man,” you are probably not a prophetic voice.
If your prayers do not sound like the book of Lamentations, you a probably not a prophetic voice.
If your eyes are dry and heart unmoved, yet you can manage to have enough “insight” and moral high ground to size up the situation, your soul is in grave danger.
If you have no input or role to actually help the people in the disaster make sense of the situation, yet you feel compelled to neatly explain the situation in trite one-liners, not only are you certainly not a prophetic voice, but you need to take serious stock of your motives.

The question is, why would someone who has no voice or opportunity to help the actual people in crisis make sense of their situation, feel compelled to conceptually solve the problem? The answer cannot be altruistic concern, because by nature of their location and reach, their explanation cannot be of help to them. They are not a prophetic voice in the situation merely in light of their geographic proximity or lack thereof. So why do people feel so great an urge to explain such occurrences? Who does such an answer help? The only solution I can discern is this impulse comes from one’s own unsettled heart and the desire to assuage it. These answers serve to help ourselves. We all have “small-scale” issues of pain and suffering – a failed relationship, a moral deficiency, financial uncertainty, an abusive past, insecurities, fears, disappointments and regrets. The pain we experience from these are often strong enough to drive us to utter despair. Christians will frequently use trite explanations to eliminate this emotional upheaval – God caused this trial to teach me a lesson, or to test my faith, God is setting me up for an even greater blessing down the road, God is letting me go through this so I can relate to others and reach out to them, God is preparing me for my calling, or the tribulation, etc. These easy explanations help turn a painful experience into one that is apparently not so painful. The once-thought tragedies are actually a blessing-in-disguise. Thus the “explanations” help us maintain an even-keel status quo of emotional stability. In essence they serve to anesthetize the pains of life so we can continue to give off the image that we mostly “have it together.”

But suddenly something extremely terrible happens. Intuitively we know that things are amiss. The impropriety of our rabid and de-humanizing anesthetizing is exposed and so rises the utter need – the compulsion – the addiction – to apply the same logic we used for ourselves on a massive scale. That is the only way we can continue to justify our state. This disaster is truly a blessing because now people will turn to God and be saved. This disaster is truly a blessing because the “pride of man” is being revealed. This disaster is truly a blessing because it is better to suffer now than in hell. But this explanation-addiction does not arise from a compassionate solidarity with those in suffering, such as characterized weeping Jeremiah or the crucified Jesus. Rather, it comes from the selfish desire to maintain a status-quo in which we narcissistically can continue in our mental and emotional sanity and perpetuate the delusional image of our non-savior-needing state. Jesus did not respond to suffering with cliches – he responded by suffering and dying for those in need. The apostle Paul tells us the Christian response to the groaning of the entire creation – the sufferings of the present time – is groanings that are inexpressible (Romans 8:26).

To me it seems likely the reason we so often respond to the sufferings of others with obtuse cliches, is because we respond to our own suffering with cliches. We cannot feel the compassion of God for the hurting, because the god we worship does not have compassionate solidarity with us. He despises and scorns us in our suffering, giving us explanations rather than friendship. How radically different is the true God revealed in the Bible. In all our afflictions, he is afflicted (Isa. 63:7). He truly is the one who weeps with those who weep. His compassions (literally in Hebrew the feelings a mother has for those in her womb) are over all that He has made. In the midst of a world marred by suffering and grief, where is God? In your deepest pain, loneliness and sorrow where is God? He is not far away, untouchable off in his heaven. No, he is among us, suffering with us. The presence of the Holy Spirit is himself an inexpressible groaning within us, suffering alongside us (Rom. 8:26), reminding us of how the crucified Lord drew near to our pain in the deepest way. We do not have a great high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who became like his brothers and sisters in every way. He knows us. He is with us. He has drawn near, in the depths of our darkest despair.

The Scripture gives us clear precedent in the prophets for moments when an explanation for a crisis is given by direct revelation. The Scripture also tells us that before the coming of the Lord there will be untold upheaval like the world has never seen. However, this does not require us to give an explanation for all suffering out of a selfish desire to remain in denial about our own pain. Indeed, if we might even purpose at one time to give that explanation to a world in desperate need, our central concern in the present must be to become the kind of person God would want to give such a message, someone who enters into compassionate solidarity with the suffering, someone whose life has been conformed in passionate likeness to the crucified Lord.

As I have been thinking about this, I find myself remarkably convicted. I see my own dearth of compassion and my need to draw near to the crucified Lord and hear his heart – to know him in an ever deeper way. What capacity of soul drove the Lord of Heaven to endure such shame and ignominy, such rejection and abandonment, by the world he fashioned with love, by his people Israel, by his closest friends, and by His very own Father? What depth of compassion courses through his veins? What manner of self-giving consumes such a one that does not scorn the sufferings of my pathetic state and bows so low to be near me, to know me in my deepest pain? I find myself wanting to be a prophetic voice, yet reduced to silence as I sense the inexpressible groanings in solidarity with the travail of creation ever so subtly begin to emerge within my soul.

Holy God

Holy and Mighty

Holy Immortal One

Have mercy upon us.

The Coming Justice of God – The Great Reversal

Richard — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:08:27 +0000

Scripture speaks repeatedly of a coming “great reversal” when God will right all wrongs and heal all hurts – the justice or “righteousness of God.” This will affect all areas of life and society – ecological, agricultural, economic, political, physiological, relational, etc. The New Testament tells us this time of God’s favor, though remaining future, has mysteriously broken forth in the present: it has already begun through the life and ministry of Jesus as he healed the sick, raised the dead, cleansed the lepers, welcomed the outcasts and restored the penitent. This restorative nearness is consequently present through the life and ministry of those who follow in the faithfulness of Jesus (cf. Lk. 4:19; 2 Cor. 5:17-6:2). As we begin to taste tokens of this “righteousness of God,” and become agents of it in the lives of others, our hearts swell with hope, anticipation and inexpressible longing for the full advent of God’s Kingdom when the Messiah is fully manifest at his glorious appearing.

The following is simply a list of Bible quotations describing this “great reversal,” meant to fire the prophetic imagination, inspire hope and motivate further study, meditation, compassion and action based on their contents. It is by no means a comprehensive list, so if you have something to add, please mention it in the comments.

You raise up the poor from the dust and lift the needy from the ash heap (1 Samuel 2:7)

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2)

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore (Isaiah 2)

You have shattered the yoke that burdened them, the collar that lay heavy on their shoulders (Isaiah 9)

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and leopard shall lie down with the kid (Isaiah 11)

The calf, the lion and the fatling together, with a little child to lead them (Isaiah 11)

They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain (Isaiah 11)

The Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of rich food, a feast of well-ages wine, of rich food full of marrow (Isaiah 25)

He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces (Isaiah 25)

the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth (Isaiah 25)

The wilderness and the dry land shall rejoice, the desert shall blossom and burst into song (Isaiah 35)

The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped (Isaiah 35)

The lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy (Isaiah 35)

Waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert (Isaiah 35)

Joy and gladness shall overtake them, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isaiah 35)

Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low (Isaiah 40)

The rough ground shall become level and the rugged places a plain (Isaiah 40)

Bring out the captives from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness (Isaiah 42)

I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground (Isaiah 42)

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old (Isaiah 43)

Behold, I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it (Isaiah 43)

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43)

…to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances (Isaiah 49)

to say to the captives, “Come out,” and say to those in darkness, “Be free.” (Isaiah 49)

They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill (Isaiah 49)

They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them (Isaiah 49)

I will turn all my mountains into roads and my highways will be raised up (Isaiah 49)

The LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. (Isaiah 51)

her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD (Isaiah 51)

the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing (Isaiah 55)

all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (Isaiah 55)

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle (Isaiah 55)

Violence will no more be heard in your land, ruin or destruction within your borders (Isaiah 60)

He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted (Isaiah 61)

To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (Isaiah 61)

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Isaiah 61)

To give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit (Isaiah 61)

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (Isaiah 61)

You shall no more by termed Forsaken and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you will be called “My Delight is in Her” (Isaiah 62)

I am creating a new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind (Isaiah 65)

No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress (Isaiah 65)

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox (Isaiah 65)

I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow (Jeremiah 31)

I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety (Hosea 2)

Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. (Joel 2)

The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. (Joel 2)

And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Acacias. (Joel 3)

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the one who plows and the planter by the one treading grapes. (Amos 9)

New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, (Amos 9)

They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. (Amos 9)

I will gather those of you who mourn, so that you will no longer suffer reproach (Zephaniah 3)

I will deal with all your oppressors, I will save the lame and gather the outcast (Zephaniah 3)

I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth (Zephaniah 3)

I will take away the chariots and the war horses, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations (Zechariah 9)

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. (Psalm 68)

God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing (Psalm 68)

The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. (Psalm 145)

[the Lord] executes justice for the oppressed; and gives food to the hungry. (Psalm 146)

The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. (Psalm 146)

The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. (Psalm 146)

The poor will receive the kingdom (Matthew 5)

Those who mourn will be comforted (Matthew 5)

Those who are lowly will inherit the earth (Matthew 5)

Those who hunger for justice will be satisfied (Matthew 5)

Those who are persecuted will receive the kingdom (Matthew 5)

…the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them (Matthew 11)

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly (Luke 1)

He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty (Luke 1)

In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us (Luke 1)

To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1)

Just as one trespass led to condemnation for all, so one vindication [the resurrection of Jesus] leads to the rectification of life for all (Romans 5)

Where sin abounded, grace abounds all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life (Romans 5)

…in hope that the creation itself will be set free from the bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8

…he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet (1 Cor. 15)

The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor. 15)

…this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortality must put on immortality… (1 Cor. 15)

…then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15)

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more (Rev. 21)

Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 21)

No longer will there be any curse (Rev. 22)

Emotions Commanded in Scripture

Richard — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:53:52 +0000

The Scripture does not only command us to do certain activites. We are also commanded to feel certain emotions. Thus an emotion-less obedience is not in fact full obedience. God calls us to follow and obey him with our entire selves – all of our bodily, sensory, emotional, spiritual, and relational existence. This might seem unreasonable, as we all know it is impossible to simply turn our emotions on and off. The Bible does not call us to look like we have emotions, but to actually have them. Such requires more than will-power, but the opening of our hearts to God in a process of thorough-going transformation and restoration. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis describes the process of Christian transformation aptly:

“When Jesus said ‘be holy,’ He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder—in fact it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

While this might seem incredibly overwhelming, it is actually remarkable good news. From this we know that the religion we call Christianity is not simply about behavior modification or straight-jacketing your passions in order to conform to a behavioral norm. Rather, God would say that your passions are too weak, they are too easily satisfied, and Christianity calls you not merely to acquire this or that activity, but to have full liberation of the heart and body to fully flow and function in the manner God intended for humanity in creation. To be fully alive and fully human is at the heart of true Christianity.

The following is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but simply to show some of the extent to which God calls, indeed, commands us not only to do, but to feel.

(1) Joy—Philippians 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again rejoice!” (also Psalm 100:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:16; Romans 12:8, 12, 15)

(2) Love from the heart—1 Peter 1:22 – “Love one another deeply, from the heart” (also Romans 12:10)

(3) Hope— Psalm 42:5 – “Hope in God…” (also 1 Peter 1:13)

(4) Fear—Luke 12:5 – “Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.” (also Romans 11:20; 1 Peter 1:17)

(5) Peace—Colossians 3:15 – “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…”

(6) Forgiveness from the heart—Matthew 18:35 – “This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (also Leviticus 19:17-18; Colossians 3:13)

(7) Zeal—Romans 12:11 – “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

(8) Grief—Romans 12:15 – “…weep with those who weep [sharing others’ grief]” (also James 4:9)

(9) Desire—1 Peter 2:2 – “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation.” (also 1 Corinthians 12:31, 14:1)

(10) Tenderheartedness—Ephesians 4:32 – “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted…” (also 1 Peter 3:8)

(11) Brokenness and contrition—Psalm 51:17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (also James 4:9)

(12) Gratitude— Colossians 2:6-7 – “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him…overflowing with thanksgiving.” (also Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:17)

(13) Contentment—Hebrews 13:5 – “be content with what you have” (also Exodus 20:17)

(14) Patience—1 Thessalonians 5:14 – “be patient with everyone.” (Also Colossians 3:12)

(15) Kindness—Micah 6:8 – “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love (love, not just do) kindness.”

(16) Compassion—Colossians 3:12 – “…clothe yourselves with compassion…”

(17) Sympathy—1 Peter 3:8 – “Finally, all of you, have…sympathy…”

(18) Cheerful giving—2 Corinthians 9:7 – “Each one should give…not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

(19) Courage (do not fear)—Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified.” (also Deuteronomy 31:7, 23; Joshua 1:6- 9, 18; 10:25; 1 Chronicles 22:13; 1 Corinthians 16:13)

(20) Confidence (do not worry)—Matthew 6:25 – “Do not worry about your life…”

(21) Awe—Ecclesiastes 5:7 – “Therefore stand in awe of God.”

(22) Hate – Psalm 97:10 – “O you who love the LORD, hate evil!”; Romans 12:9 – “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” (also Amos 5:15)

(23) Do not hate – Leviticus 19:17-18 – “You shall not hate your brother in your heart…You bear a grudge against anyone of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” (also 1 John 2:9, 11; 3:15)

On the Road to Emmaus » Bible

Becoming a Deep Person is the Most Fruitful Long-term Approach to Loving God and Neighbor (Principles and Practices for the Spiritual Life, Part 2a)

Related posts

Why Greek Matters (Part 7) – The Genesis of Jesus the Messiah (Genealogies Really Matter!)

Related posts

Why Greek Matters (Part 6) – Christ in Ya’ll, the Hope of Glory

Related posts

A Life Poured Out in Love is the Starting Point of All True Christianity (Principles and Practices for the Spiritual Life, Part 1a)

Related posts

Can I Understand the Bible Without Knowing Greek???

Related posts

A Biblical Concept of God Gives Rise to Lament Not Apathy

Related posts

Asking God the Right Question

Related posts

Being a Prophetic Voice in Times of Disaster

Related posts

The Coming Justice of God – The Great Reversal

Related posts

Emotions Commanded in Scripture

Related posts