We’ve been looking at the tension between Jesus the peacemaker, and the Disturber who said, “Don’t think that I’ve come to bring peace, but a sword.” Together we’ve thought about how the Teacher carried out his mission of reconciliation while creating so much conflict in the process. His Sermon on the Mount is no exception. […]
When I wrote about diplomacy and the art of peacekeeping in the last post, some thought I was suggesting that we negotiate or compromise on important truths. Admittedly, that would not be a good thought. Unhealthy compromise should be a concern. So let’s narrow our focus to the idea of interests vs. values, which according […]
Last night I had a chance to hear a lecture hosted by our regional World Affairs Council. The speaker was an articulate member of the international diplomatic core who walked us through the complex issues of: Rhetoric and reality—the difference between what is said and done. Interests vs values—the tendency to act in the interpretation […]
While wondering why trust is so important to God that he put a deadly tree in the middle of paradise; and then made “trust” not only the means of avoiding that tree—but the antidote for being born of the parents who didn’t—I’ve been thinking about a short song (Psalm 131:1-3). In the process I bumped […]
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH • Time: 1070 BC • Place: Land of Israel • Spirit of the Age: In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. —Judges 21:25 NKJV • Growing Crisis: A group of people known as the Philistines have brought their foreign gods and influence […]
It was an issue in the Garden. Without it, so many years later, we still miss the mark of what God is looking for in us. Without trust the Bible says we cannot please him. Why would it be such a non-negotiable then and now? And if we had the courage of Abraham, and Moses, […]
Did Jesus die on a tree not only for us, but also for the tree on which he died? The question made me uncomfortable. But I couldn’t deny that a broken trust and resulting curse have done more than tear into our humanity. As the Bible sees creation as full of the glory of God, […]
Who among us hasn’t seen the pain we can bring to ourselves and others by thoughtlessly saying the truth without humility, love, or wisdom. Those who accused Jesus of being a sinner, or worse (demon possessed) weren’t all wrong. They were followers of Moses. They had heard the rumors about Jesus’ birth, and were not […]
Just before Jesus healed a blind man (to release him from spiritual dependence on men who thought they could see but couldn’t), there is an eye-opening conversation recorded in John chapter 8. That episode picks up as a group of Moses’ followers drag a woman caught in adultery before Jesus. Hiding their real intent to […]
I’ve been sitting here reading a question over and over that any of us can find in the ninth chapter of John’s gospel: “…And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was […]
