Scattered Verses

A Psalm for Today

1 O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!

2 For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads.

3 They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones.

4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of USA be remembered no more!”

5 In the tents of Iran and China traitors scurry for wealth, Conspiring of one accord

6 To what we do not know, You do. How and to what end, You see.

7 The children of Lot run strong within our borders Deceiving Your people, torturing Your lambs

8 Bowing to Amon, Baal, and Molech; Against You they forge a covenant.

9 Treat them as Your enemies of old Stand Your angel army with us

10 O my God, make the enemy like whirling dust Like chaff before the wind.

11 As fire consumes the forest, Reduce their plans to ash.

12 Pursue them with Your tempest Blasting their evil to smithereens

13 Fill their faces with shame. Bring them on bended knee before Your face, O LORD.

14(17) Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace,

15(18) that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.

Based on Psalm 83 Verses 1-4a and (17)-(18) directly quoted from blueletterbible.com

Jesus tells us that the entire Law and Prophets hang on these two commands¹: “The Lord our God is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might.”² and “’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”¹

And Jesus also says, “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”³

And then Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”⁴

Love of God, love of myself, love of my neighbors, love of my enemies?!? As Jesus does? All together? All at once? How does that work?

Love is a complex, confusing thing for us humans. C. S. Lewis masterfully integrates our feelings of love (affection, friendship, eros, and charity) with the Christian life.⁵ Yet, the love that Jesus bids us love is not purely human love. It is also divine love—“Just as I have loved you.” says the God/man, Jesus Christ.⁶ He hints at the holiness of the love that He asks us to dispense: “You therefore must be perfect, as the Father is perfect.”⁷

God is love.⁸ God is perfect…and, we are not.

We think we know what God means by love. We cannot completely comprehend. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours can ever hope to be.⁹ We preach ‘love like Jesus’ and warm thoughts of acceptance without judgment flood our hearts. Justice rolling like a river¹⁰convicts our souls that something must be done. That passion gooses our thoughts into plans for action. All good things as long as we understand that ministry is about the form that divine love takes not its essence.

Meanwhile, do we understood the love Jesus bids us do? By what definition can we do love as Jesus does? How do we disconnect our human-ness and open the flow of the Father’s love that Jesus showered upon the Apostles and us?

Ever notice that the episodes in the Gospels show Jesus meeting people where they are. He graciously and unfailingly heals them, encourages them, raises them from the dead, forgives their sin, corrects their thinking, etc. We see Him meet their need but rarely do we see the rest of the story.¹¹Did the woman caught in adultery sin no more? Did the rich young ruler ever sell his possessions? Did the any of the other nine lepers offer thanksgiving to God after showing themselves to the Temple priests?

The point being that Jesus may meet you where you are, but He doesn’t leave you there. You can initially rebuff His helping hand but that meeting will not leave you unchanged. (I would suggest your own experience proves it. Mine does. Sanctification is an on-going process.)

No matter the form His love took (healing, forgiving, correcting, etc.) Jesus did His love in the same way for each of them. Affection, friendship, eros, and charity were not part of the calculation. Is it possible for us to love like Jesus? To imitate his sacrificial love? Unconnected to our human reactions?

Absolutely. Absolutely not. We can but we won’t always be successful or good at it. Yet knowing what it is leads to the how of it.

To love like Jesus is to put the well-being of another ahead of our own.¹²

It’s as simple and as difficult as that.

Don’t take my word for it. Check the Scriptures. 1. Matt. 22:36-40 2. Deut 6:4-5 3. Luke 6:27-28 4. John 13:34-35 5. The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis ©1960 renewed ©1988 6. John 5:18 7. Matthew 5:48 8. 1 John 4:8 9. Isaiah 55:9 10. Amos 5:24 11. The Samaritan village and Lazarus/Mary/Martha are exceptions. 12. 1Corinthians 10:24

Coward’s Power Play

These days, our reaction as a society to hypocrisy could be an illustration of hypocrisy itself.

The entrenched on either side of an issue scream “Hypocrite!” at each other across a divide of their own making…to insure the increase of that divide. Like children choosing sides to play Red Rover, many of our politicians, our elites, and our wannabe-powerful people need as many bodies as possible to shore up their line of defense so that no one is aware of what is happening behind them and their view forward is obstructed.

Should any hypocritical action or verbiage be uncovered, those same politicians, elites, and wannabes treat the whole thing as if it’s the same as a ‘little white lie.’ That rationalization given over and over and over again gives them cover for doing what we intrinsically know is morally wrong. That would be bad enough except for a couple of things. Lying has become an art form. Word salads and shifting definitions have worked to blur any deceit of our tongues into a ‘little white lie,’ not worth acknowledging, not requiring an apology, nor any impetus to right the wrong. Secondly, hypocrisy is, in and of itself, a lie—a pretense, a phony word or spurious act—meant to deceive. They rationalize, we rationalize and rationalize until we convince ourselves that it’s not that bad.

Ah, but it is. There is a reason God detests lying lips, a heart for devious plans, and agitators.¹ It is why Jesus will tell many of us who believe that we are destined for eternal life that He “never knew” us.² It is why Jesus-denier-turned-Apostle Paul condemned Apostle Peter-the-Rock—in public—for hypocrisy.³

Hypocrisy is the coward’s power play. It offers anonymity, the hidden-ness that the coward prefers, to flip the proverbial middle finger at anyone the coward chooses. If you’re a Christian, hypocrisy points that middle finger directly at the Cross.

The cover and camouflage offered by hypocrisy also hides the little thrill of power that comes with appearing better than or making a fool of another. The coward perceives they have a leg up because they have the power to dupe others into believing they are something they are not—strong.

Too often the cowardice of hypocrisy morphs…and it’s never pretty. That little thrill of power morphs into a thirst that must be satisfied and protected. Ever notice how often pettiness mutates into cruelty? The do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do mindset of hypocrisy lets one do most anything to maintain—and increase—the appearance of strength and the power therein.

Therein lies the wrongness of hypocrisy. Lies, in any form, are not a foundation on which to build anything. Lies are sinking sand⁴ that will not support anything forever. When what is built on lies eventually crumbles, the hypocrite and the duped innocent will suffer. Too often, the duped innocents will pay the higher price.

The hypocrite will tell you that they are benevolently exercising their power over others to insure the safety of all while not holding themselves accountable for anything. In truth, our politicians, elites, and wannabes are responsible for/to others—a completely different mindset. The person who takes on responsibility for others actually forfeits, by choice, some of their autonomy by inviting accountability. That forfeiture can be quite costly. One that exercises power over others won’t countenance accountability. How hypocritical is that?!

Any tongue can profess the Gospel. Living the Gospel is the light of faith. It is between the professing and the living that many Christians unconsciously become hypocrites.² Christians are to be known by the fruit they bear⁵—love of neighbors and love of enemies. The only fruit hypocrisy bears is poisonous. As Christians, that poison is unbelief. (I believe! Help me in my unbelief!⁶)

Hypocrisy, like pride, is often a colorless and odorless sin that infiltrates our spirits in some of the most innocuous ways. True humility and Christ’s variety of meekness⁷ are good guards for the unbelief that creeps into our thoughts, hearts, and souls. Forgiveness and redemption are beautiful things, thanks be to God!

Proverbs 6:16-19
Matthew 7:22-23
Galatians 2:11-14
Matthew 7:26-27
Luke 6:43
Mark 9:24

Matthew 11:29

Got Hope?

Like Truth, like faith, like all that is noble, hope emanates from outside ourselves. Our society is in the throws of turmoil because too many of us wish to own those things that are beyond our individual selves. In the core of our beings we know that we do not have the capability of owning the transcendent. Therefore segments of our society want erase the transcendent in order to simulate the ownership of it.

Both the Bible and the Constitution offer pointed examples. They are flash points for many in our society. Why?

Both are self-contained. The Bible admonishes its readers and preachers to neither add nor subtract from God’s Word. The Constitution requires the gargantuan task of procuring a hefty margin of agreement among the citizenry to modify its contents.

I believe within the Bible is a miracle. A sacred document, it’s more than the words on the page. Through the faith I have in Jesus Christ, there is life within its pages. Without faith, the Spirit of God won’t be detected in His Word. Because God is the same today as yesterday and will be tomorrow, His Word stands firm as given.

The Constitution is a wondrous document but its words are not imbued with Spirit of God. There is no miracle contained in its pages, yet it touches an untold number of lives. There is no admonition to not change it. It is a testament to the wisdom and experience of its drafters that in recognizing the possible need for future modification, they did their utmost to insure the core would hold.

Both have the power to convict—the Bible of sin and the Constitution of trespass. Both have the power to save—you cannot have one without the other. Forgiveness is the crux of faith and salvation. Victims made whole by perpetrators bearing the toll should save both if justice reigns.

Forgiveness and justice are imperfect in this world. In the Bible and the Constitution, we find the hope to reach for perfection. The knowing that evil will be held to account and we are, and will continue to be protected, germinate into hope. Our anticipation of the perfect strengthens our resolve to stand firm and weather the assailments and afflictions of evil.

Yet, it seems that this very hope is what ignites the flash point of so many in our society. From the ancient idol worshipers of Baal to the modern atheist and the power brokers of today our hope has been their target for destruction. Why? What is it about hope that scares these people so much?

Both the Bible and the Constitution exhort us (in so many words) that Hope lives in us when we say what we mean, when we mean what we say, and when we do what we say.

Without hope, the Gospel is not preached and your enemy as well as your neighbor is denied your love.

Without hope, our society shall never become a more perfect union and the Blessing of liberty becomes the survival of the ruthlessly devious.

Without hope, freedom does not exist.

Without hope, faith does not exist.

Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Practice what you preach. Demand it of yourself and every person that touches your life. Let hope reign.

The Literal of the Word

One of the most immature ideas I ever had about the Bible was that it must be both literally and figuratively true at the same time. Jesus made the prophecies literally true. Much that is literal can be found in the poetry of the Psalms. ‘The Song of Solomon,’ however, definitively disabuses one of that particular notion.

The literal in Scripture is often given short shrift. Plumbing the layer upon layer of wisdom in God’s Word calls loudly to our souls. Our hearts know of God and eternity.¹ Our minds yearn to learn . . . what better than the mysteries of God? Being but dim shadows of the Being in whose likeness we were created, is the “vanity of vanities”² believing that we understand God, His ways, and His design? Do we become wind chasers³ believing that His ancient words have been surpassed by our own knowledge and wisdom? It is the literal of God’s Word that is our hedge against such vanity.

The Bible is in a way our Garden of Eden. The garden of God’s Word is self-contained and filled with every shade, hue, and shape of revelation. We, like Adam and Eve, have been invited to partake of our garden’s glorious riches . . .with one caveat . . . do not add to nor subtract from what is written in Scripture—Scripture interprets Scripture. No matter the pen that wrote the words, God breathed those words—with more specificity than we currently credit Him. This makes the literal aspect of Scripture intrinsic to living the faith we profess. As the Apostles so often model for us, we’re dense when trying to explore the mystery and grace of God. We require the literal as the foundation—plain spoken unvarnished words—on which to build and fortify our faith.

We must “be infants in evil,” but mature in our thinking.⁴ The plain unvarnished words of Scripture are our assurance, and reassurance, in seasons of difficulty and seasons of plenty (when its so easy to forget). It is the literal of God’s Word that tethers us to the Cross.

Jesus’ parables are infused with the literal. He often tells His audience that He is speaking in parables—instructing them to look for the deeper meaning in His examples of ordinary life. The exact human activities described in most parables have been carried out, in some form or fashion, since Adam and Eve left the garden. Know of anyone who lost a job they thought they were performing correctly?⁵ Did they gnash their teeth? Ask a farmer if every seed germinates, if every seedling matures.⁶ Looking deeper tickles our spirit and ignites its quest for its Creator.

Jesus taught those who were blind and mute to the spiritual.⁷ The parables teach extrapolation, an excellent mental exercise, particularly necessary when trying to digest the hard literal teachings of Christ.⁸ God’s declarative sentences mean exactly what they say. Knowing and living the literal feeds the figurative; the figurative nourishes the spiritual.

“This is my beloved Son. With Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”⁹[emphasis mine]

One is saved by professing Jesus is Lord.¹⁰Our profession of faith, Jesus is my King, encompasses the glorious mystery of God and our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Words have yet to stop pouring forth from voices and pens to explain how that two-fer works. St. Paul and St. Peter both tell young churches—and growing Christians (us)—that mother’s milk is that which nourishes our ongoing revelation of professing that Jesus is Lord.¹¹ He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. He rose from the dead that we may have eternal life. He is our Brother.

Have you ever noticed how many of the successful tout their lowly roots while behaving like the most important being in the room if not the world? (Have you ever noticed how many of them play fast and loose with the details?) The farther in the rearview mirror our trials and tribulations are the more they become dull shadows of the real time experience. The memory may be sharp but the distress is muted. Our gracious Father gives us this comfort. Fame and fortune have a way of replacing God’s comfort (relief amid thanksgiving) with know-it-all-ness and the presumption of wisdom.

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews takes to task those of us in the Body of Christ who may take the unfortunate turn to the presumption of wisdom:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.¹² [emphasis mine]

Most of us are able to accurately discern between what is evil and what is good in God’s sight. It is by constant practice that we become mature enough to discern between what is very nearly good and what is good in God’s sight. That distinguishing is a literal thing. Our grasp of the figurative and the spiritual, extrapolated from the literal, leads to the good judgment Jesus bids us to use.

Ever play the ‘literal game’? Kids play it all the time. ‘But mom, I didn’t have any cookies! I had crackers.’ Satan plays us with it all the time—ask Eve.¹³ Every teenage generation plays an off-shoot: developing its own language to disguise and hide their thoughts/actions from adults. Politicians, lobbyists, and activists play a ruthless version: camouflaging their intent in word salads, half-truths, and the twisted mumbo-jumbo of high dollar vocabulary. We play it with each other more often than we know . . .after all we can’t lie, can we? Jesus tells us to live the literal of the Word—not as game but as how we love our enemies and our neighbors as ourselves. He gives very simple and word by word instructions: “Let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no.”¹⁴ Say what you mean and mean what you say, anything else is from evil.¹⁴

Saying what you mean and meaning what you say garners more and more repercussions in these days. Being doers of the Word¹⁵ comes with a higher and higher price tag. How does one live the literal of the Word?

Begin at the beginning.

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”¹⁶[emphasis mine]

God is spirit.¹⁷

God is Three-in-One.

The Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are unique to themselves at the same time meld into one distinct being, the Spirit that is God.

Our persons: mind, heart, and soul are unique to themselves at the same time meld into one distinct being—our spirit.

Do you grasp your passions warring within you?¹⁸ Can you separate the differences between what your heart tells you, what your mind tells you, and what you know in your soul? Getting the three to agree on something is not always easy and it’s usually two against one. Yet, your spirit finds the peace and freedom of Christ in the agreement of the three.

OK . . . but much of what our faith calls us to live is in the figurative (carrying our cross) and the spiritual (following Him).¹⁹ It is the how, that’s done literally. Sooo . . . extrapolating . . . would that mean being ‘poor in spirit’²⁰ is to be lived literally, figuratively, and spiritually all at the same time?

Wait, what? There cannot be a literal aspect to this statement of Jesus! Has any teaching of this Beatitude ever reached your ears that says being poor in spirit is about imitating a low socio-economic status?!? This can’t be the figurative like being there in spirit though not physically. Are we not created in the likeness of God who is Spirit? This is clearly a spiritual statement.

Yet . . . there are copious teachings: about the first being last, about serving rather than being served, about being perfect as our Father is. Jesus asks us to pick up our cross daily and follow Him, imitating His life, being holy as God is holy.²¹ I submit to you that to be a do-er of the Word requires one to literally adopt the mindset of a low socio-economic status towards resources and creature comforts.

Fusing the figurative with the literal, we are not called, as St. Francis of Assisi was, to complete destitution. Assuming this mindset accomplishes two of St. Paul’s teachings. “Therefore be imitators of God.” ^aand “…in humility count others as more significant than yourselves.”^b In this frame of heart, thanksgiving for the Father’s incredible blessings is generated, setting our souls free to thoroughly enjoy God’s blessings amid that thanksgiving. Our spirits are able to soar with joy spilling over with every grace-filled swoop causing us to share Christ—His grace, His mercy, His suffering that saves.

What about those of us who don’t have to imitate poverty or devastation but survive it? Fighting for survival rages against considering anyone’s plight being worse than ours—or frankly, to care beyond the critical immediate needs for our existence.

Every one of us called upon to be ‘poor in spirit.’ Can you fathom how difficult it is to follow His command: do not covet, when your need is substantial?²² Can you fathom how difficult it is to be a competent steward, ever-treating all we have as His? The difficulties may be diametrically opposed in type, but who are we to judge the weight of another’s burden when the shirking of it carries the same consequences we would face should we shirk ours?

An imitation, though, is not is not an original and Jesus is asking for the authentic. That literal mind-set (to be more humble than our station in life) though, is what matures into the spirituality that recognizes that God is SPIRIT and we are spirit. Submission blossoms into the attitude of our souls and the direction of our thoughts and the tenderness of our hearts woven into the essence of our being.

Which is necessary when Jesus calls us . . .“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in midst of wolves, so be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.”²³ Here Jesus speaks in the figurative . . . and the literal is necessary to accomplish our common task: testifying to this world.

Shrewd as vipers? We get that, some of us may even relish it—until we understand that Jesus was not talking about the ‘shrewd’ that we apply to business predators, con artists, and jealous revenge. We, as Christian individuals, need to have a clever discerning awareness that can recognize strategies that non-believers use to avoid or tarnish our testimonies. We, as His Church, need to be shrewd enough to avoid the stumbling blocks that those in power may use to shut the lips and doors of our congregations. (Think John the Baptist and Herod/Jesus and the Sanhedrin.) We must to be able to discern right from the not-quite-right. It’s the not-quite-right stuff, the teensiest bit off stuff, that snares us and mushrooms into deviations from Jesus’ teaching. (Think the Serpent’s initial question to Eve and its aftermath.)

The innocence of doves. . .echoes of Nicodemus²⁴. . . how does one reacquire innocence? Logic argues that, unlike sin forgiven and forgotten by God, our experiences can’t be wiped away. Wouldn’t reason argue that our learning moments and life lessons are part and parcel of Wisdom? Yet, God asks, “How long will they be incapable of innocence?”²⁵

Ever wonder why the episodes of Daniel in the lion’s den²⁷ and the prophet’s three friends²⁸ in the furnace are taught so often to children? These are not prophecies or poetry; these are literal and true events—graphic and gruesome and cruel. The innocence of our youngest protects them from the heinous literal reality of the lions’ den and the furnace. It is by that very same innocence, which is hidden from the wise,²⁹ that our littlest ones grasp the saving grace of God in their spirits.

Our innocence is not born of naiveté nor attained by orderliness of mind. Beyond being innocent of sin (who is?), to be capable of innocence requires godliness of spirit. Our innocence abhors what God hates. It is vocal and active when God’s Name is defamed. Our innocence is aghast each and every time violence and debauchery intrude upon our lives—never ever becoming numb to it. Until, and unless, the almighty and living God reigns in our spirits—our hearts, our minds, and our souls—we remain incapable of innocence. We are only capable of innocence through forgiveness and redemption—through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

The teachings of Paul, Peter, and the writer of Hebrews guide us back to the mother’s milk of faith—the Gospel. When Jesus Christ sits on the throne of our hearts, when the Godhead reigns in our minds, when our souls yearn to please the Lamb, then our spirit is able to revel in the innocence God desires. In that innocence, we do not participate in that which can taint our testimony; that can blemish and mar the praise we raise in His Name.

From a practical aspect, the literal suffusing God’s Word is exactly why anyone, of any age, of any place, can pick up His Word and connect to Him. A thirteen year-old will come to the Psalms recognizing them as poetry. That same thirteen-year-old does not have the innocence of a toddler. Any innocence that teenager may have left could well be tattered and shredded. Inexperience, naiveté, hurts, and uncertainty demand the salve of the literal and the definitive over the figurative to heal and build trust. An empty vessel or one alight with Pentecostal flame, the very words of Scripture cultivate spirituality and nurture the spirit of every seeker.

From a particularly human point of view, slogging through some of the lists of names and tribes and numbers in the Old Testament²⁶ might test the legitimacy of putting such emphasis on the literal within the Bible. Learning the foundational history of the Christian church is certainly of value, but available from any number of other sources. Yet, our knowing these people’s names is of enough worth to God that He breathed their names into the ear of His chosen scribe. Why? These are people we will never know more about . . . from so far away (in time and place) . . . never to meet on this side of Heaven . . .

Yet, there are those of us who drop everything in our lives to spend weeks and months rebuilding towns destroyed by tornadoes and floods and earthquakes. There are those folks who work food lines anywhere . . . down the street or in Calcutta. They serve those whose names we will never know . . . those whom we will never know more about . . . from so far away . . . never to meet on this side of Heaven . . .

Without living the literal of Scripture, the spiritual—our regained innocence—escapes our grasp and leaves us unprotected. Jesus, the Epistle writers, and authors through the ages exhort us to be intensely diligent to test, to question so that we do not stray from the Truth. Why must we be so concerned?

Because God will send “a strong delusion”^cto those who take pleasure in unrighteousness—and they will swear to it—again and again—until some of us join them in their delusion. That delusion is going to sound good, look good, be powerful, and used as hammer. That delusion will condemn many.

It is the literal that saves us. The Cross—and every strike of the hammer nailing Jesus to it—has purchased our forgiveness. It is the literally empty tomb that grants us eternal life.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.

1. Ecclesiastes 3:11/Romans 2:14-15/Jeremiah 31:32; 2. Ecclesiastes 1:2; 3. Ecclesiastes 1:14; 4. 1Corithians 14:20; 5. Matthew 25:14-30; 6. Mark 4:3-9; 7. Matthew 13:13-15; 8. for instance Matthew 26:11; 9. Matthew 17:5; 10. Matthew 10:32-33; 11. 1Coritnthians 3:2/1Peter 2:2; 12. Hebrews 5:12-14 ; 13. Genesis 3:1; 14. Matthew 5:37; 15. James 1:22-25; 16. Genesis 1:26; 17. John 4:24; 18. James 4:1; 19. Luke 9:23; 20. Matthew 5:3; 21. Ephesians 5:1; 22. Exodus 20:17; 23. Matthew 10:16 (NIV); 24. John 3:4; 25. Hosea 8:5b; 26. The Books of Numbers, Kings (1 and 2), and Chronicles(1 and 2), among others, are filled with lists. 27. Daniel 6:16; 28. Daniel 3:17 29. Luke 10:21 a. Ephesians 5:1 b. Philippians 2:3 c. 2Thessalonians 2:10-11

Hurricanes, Hardships, Tornadoes, and Tumult

Jesus, divine Brother of mine,

I do not understand.

You are merciful and faithful

Yet, pouf, they’re gone.

The grandmas and papas, the sisters and cousins, the brothers and uncles

The aunts, the moms, the dads, the kids…and the critters

The houses, the places of work and worship; of healing and learning.

Pouf. Gone.

I don’t get it.

You could intervene and don’t.

Is it the scribe in me looking for a sign?

Would I be blind to it had You averted the disaster?

You tell us that our end is date is written long before our first breath.

Your warning to be ready always— —

Understanding echoes in my spirit,

deep with weight and rumbling

Though no where close to the depth of thundering grief

Of those who left behind

in this foreshadow of rapture and wrath.

Oh, but sweet Lord

It is so upsetting, discombobulating

anger burns and my heart is shattered

leaving my soul in distress…

and I have suffered nothing…

But those poor people,

the ones left to pick-up the pieces—

so many pieces—

the ones left to rebuild and bury,

the ones to lend their hands and their backs,

to give their hearts and their love.

Why such devastation?

Why such misery?

Why such pain?

Only the faith of a child can accept that You know

what part of Your glorious plan this desolation fulfills.

I believe! Help me in my unbelief!¹

My spirit can only

look to Your crown, my King of kings.

My soul can only

cling tighter to Your cross, my Redeemer.

My heart can only cry to You:

May all that You gathered home be residents of Heaven when I arrive

May those left behind find Your mercy and compassion in those You send to help

Bless the hands and the hearts of Your workers

Let Your blessing multiplier work a thousand thousand-fold

Let Your grace weave comfort in devastated souls,

Let our prayers join with theirs.

Hear them Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Let it be so. Amen.

¹From Mark 9:24

Innocence

A Lament and Prayer

Good Shepherd, I beg of You

Save Innocence.

The world stalks her,

lying in wait to snatch her

from Your lambs.

Please, O Christ, save her.

Heal her from the ordeal.

Innocence is the gift You bestow,

that protects the growing–

the forming–

of Your little lambs.

You bid us to accept

the kingdom of heaven

as a child in Your innocence does.

But how, Father,

can that happen?

Innocence is being

wrenched from their minds,

torn from their souls,

stripped from their spirits?

Help us to understand the mutation

Innocence’s absence causes.

Grant clarity

to the grave and unspeakable abuse endured

at Innocence’s departure.

Our minds cannot, will not,

hold the memory of innocence.

We can be shrewd as vipers

and innocent as doves,

But that does not equate to the innocence

to receive the kingdom as a child.

O Holy Spirit,

I cannot claim such innocence,

such complete and full trust.

But this I know.

You have the power

to come upon them, babe and toddler.

Please, O Spirit, protect them.

Should innocence be lost,

trembling and suffering will infest the fold.

Your fold.

Without innocence,

hearts and minds

become untethered from Truth.

Lost.

Without innocence,

souls and consciences

cannot grasp love.

Alone.

Without innocence,

The spirits of Your created ones

are trampled and crushed.

Hopeless.

Seeking You, O God,

has us putting away childish things.

Dodging the pitfalls of complacency

Treading the waters of busyness.

Hence Your reminders of innocence?

How is it, Lord,

that the world decided our offspring

are still children long after they’re of age

and at the same time

that their psyches can handle anything

that anyone wants to pour into their beings

no matter their tender age?

How is it, Lord,

that Your people have failed to guard the fold?

Your fold.

Fan the flames of a seeking faith

in those to whom You entrust Your lambs.

Kindle the embers of discernment

that Innocence is regarded, again,

with deference.

Take hold and grant reprieve

for You alone, O God,

have the remedy of deliverance and healing.

Hear my lament O Lord.

I will wait in stillness…

…for Your answer…

…to my prayer…

…a note on breath of wind…

…in the deepness whispers…

My spirit bursts into flight

To chase the sound

Ever growing

Into the hymn

Of Hope

That came in a manger. That will come on the clouds.

An Extra One

A Prayer

Gracious Father, I come to You on bended knee,

Deserving nothing, yet asking—pleading for Your ear,

To hear the outcry of Your children in imminent peril

For them, Lord . . . for me . . . Your promise to keep.

Blessed Christ, at the foot of Your cross,

Gracious healer of the victims of another’s sin

I beseech You, for the little ones, for the innocents so wounded

For them, Lord . . . for me . . . Your promise to keep.

Glorious Spirit, my empty hands beg of You,

To do what I cannot, I implore You,

For the abused, for the trafficked, for the powerless

For them, Lord . . . for me . . . Promise-keeper be.

Save an extra one for me, O God.

Raise up hero, dear Father.

Grant Your hero the sight and strength

To save Your little one from a living death

To take away the innocent’s cup of suffering.

Save an extra one for me, O God.

Sweet Jesus, Innocent of innocents,

Put a stumbling block in evil’s way

Put a millstone ‘round the villain’s neck,

Guide the hunted to escape as You did in the Temple.

Save an extra one for me, O God.

Holy Spirit, our Advocate and our Comforter

Protect the spirits of our little ones and our imperiled ones

Safeguard their innocence, do not let them be

Captive of those whose desires are malignant.

Save an extra one for me, O God.

Almighty God, snatch hold of the villain!

Rebuke! Convict! Punish!

Redeem!

Miracles are Your bailiwick, O Lord.

Please save an extra one for me, O God.

Your method matters not to me.

Your promise is kept.

Thank You, my glorious God.

Glory be to Father

And to the Son

And to the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning

is now and ever shall be

World without end.

Amen

Whack-a-mole, a Conundrum, and a Siren Song

Conclusion (part 4)

The siren song that is but an substance-less refrain wafts through air: Judge not; do not hate; love, love, love…

The Kernel of Truth ploy might be the oldest, heaviest hammer in the Deceiver’s game of whack-a-mole. Adam and Eve were felled by it. They did not fall lifeless to the fertile ground of the Garden. Isn’t that the ‘fact’ the Deceiver whacked them with?¹ But dead they became, in a manner that Deceiver knows and advocates, destined to suffer and to inflict suffering on others. Liars extraordinaire continue to us it against us because we continue to fall for it.

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?²

Do we recognize our penchant for judging others as value-less as the Deceiver has judged us? How often we do it! What is in us that we indict one another as value-less quite easily on scant evidence and inuendo?

It’s the log.

The log blocks our view of God and His ways that are higher than ours. The log leaves us clueless to the realities of eternity involved here.

Eternal justice is God’s purview, and He alone is Judge. Our omnipotent and omnipresent God has never completely turned His face from the entirety of His creation—that agony Jesus bore for us on the cross.³ The Father continues to offer all of us the ability to turn to Him and never face the spiritual agony that Christ endured for us.

4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.²

Why is it that we expect more of others more than we expect of ourselves?

Why is it that we think so little of our own eyes?

How much damage will that log cause as we lean in to retrieve the speck?

Take the log out of our own eye—confess—repent! Our vision will not only clear but increase. We’ll be better able to minister to the needs of others and to more openly share the Good News. Without the log, we can leave judging to the One is perfectly just.

Did you not hear Him say that we are the salt of the earth? Does He not tell us that we are the light of the world that God may be glorified?⁴ This is why our yes is to be yes and our no is to be no—anything more will come back to bite us.⁵

“You hypocrite”²—Jesus means me, He means you—every time our actions do not match our words. So much (most) of our struggles within and without the family of faith is hypocrisy. We shall continually fall quite short of the mark, but forgiveness covers much. It is the purposeful and maliciously intended hypocrisy with which the Deceiver so enjoys whacking us. The Deceiver takes great and twisted pleasure in getting believers to insert a teeny tiny inaccuracy into the teachings of almighty God and watching it spread and grow like yeast in dough.⁶

If judging is God’s purview… If Jesus instructs us how to make the judgments that He expects of us… If doing nothing is not an option for us Christians… How do we resolve our conundrum? What are we supposed to do?

Coming to a judgment is a journey that brings us to Because. A Therefore must follow.⁷ Our Therefore cannot, by Christ’s words, condemn (or absolve!) as judging does. Jesus’ instructions give us a variety of modes and manners for our Therefore that will stretch to fit every individual situation in which we find ourselves. (Thank You , Jesus.) Our Therefore is asking, seeking, knocking.⁸ Our Therefore must be the example we set.⁹ Acts of mercy, kindness, and prayer are our Therefores.¹⁰ Our Therefore is forgiveness. All these can be done without condemning (or absolving).

Emm. Emm. There’s a fly in that ointment. Forgiveness without condemnation?!?

Not so fast, my friend. Are we to discard the blessings? “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account.”¹¹Because we are blessed as we suffer these offenses, therefore we are called to forgive—seventy times seven if necessary.¹²Does not forgiveness erase guilt and condemnation?

do not hate; love, love, love…

Do not hate? What load of dung! That whack has knocked us senseless.

How is it possible to love and not hate? For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.¹³This is not only a scientific/mathematical truism, it’s Truth. Hating murder, pedophilia, or any other evil that comes to mind is not the same thing as the hatred/condemnation of another human being.

‘Do not hate’ might be the Deceiver’s ultimate deployment of the Kernel of Truth ploy. The Deceiver doesn’t separate hate from hatred nor does he want us to do so. Yet, we have the calling and the power to do so in the Name above all names, Christ Jesus!¹⁴

In his hatred of God’s sovereignty, the Deceiver condemned us to sin, ripped the innocence from our souls, and stands as our never-silent accuser—testifying to his hatred for God through the sin he foisted on humankind. Evil, by whatever name you call it, feasts on hate—bellowing and belching hatred every nano-second of every moment.

We know that God hates things, at least six of them—seven of them He detests.¹⁵

So…how does God handle His hate for those things that harm His children—the very things that our spirits keenly know are wrong? Our Father gives us ample opportunities to repent, to lift our face to His, to ask for His power to turn us from our sin, to seek His wisdom, to knock on heaven’s door and hear Him say ‘Come in.’ Jesus teaches us how. The Holy Spirit warns us when we have veered from the narrow path.

Unlike the Deceiver, God loves us and wants what is best for us. The Deceiver is only interested in what is best for him—that which destroys us.

One of the great mysteries of God is His love for us! He loves us without having required anything of us and, though He desires us to love Him, He does not require us to love Him to receive His blessings. Hating those things that God hates, those things that wound His children, are a love-lesson: His love of us and our love of His children. It is hatred that cheats us of His grace. It is hatred that dissolves our willingness and ability to love Him in return.

love, love, love…

Can you count the books about love, about the different kinds of love? Don’t bother, you’ll get a headache.

God wants what is best for us. Jesus tells us repeatedly in the Gospel: He does as He sees the Father doing.¹⁶ Is that not the gist of love? Put the best interest of another before your own.

Our Father puts our best interests before His to the point of His Son dying on the cross.¹⁷ He puts the knowledge of Him on our hearts.¹⁸ He continues to send the Holy Spirit to comfort and defend us from the Deceiver’s tricks.¹⁹ Though we spend most of our lives doing the very things that grieve Him, He never stops saying to us: ‘Turn to Me.’²⁰ His arms are always open.

God has told us from old ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’²¹ Jesus tells us that loving our neighbors as ourselves is akin to loving God with all of our hearts, minds, and strength.²²

Notice that The Father and the Son have never called on us to like anyone. Liking our neighbors is optional—and quite a good gift when it happens! Liking our enemies is problematic to say the least.

Notice the ‘as yourself.’ We are called to love ourselves. Do we?

How do you love yourself when love is putting the best interest of another before yourself?? Could it be that loving ourselves is what makes us capable of putting another’s best interest before our own?

We pamper ourselves. We abuse ourselves. We coddle ourselves. We neglect ourselves. But do we love ourselves?

How exactly does one love one’s self? That question is answered by another question’s answer.

Is your life sacred?

Not do you live a pious life…not do you walk blameless…not anything you say or you do.

Your life is the thing that gives you your mind, your heart, your soul…your life is the essence of you—your spirit and the body God chose to carry it.

Not are you important…not are you above another…not talents or intelligence.

Is your life sacred?

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

But…but…

We can hold nothing sacred and holy if our lives, created by the most sacred and most holy God, are not sacred. What must our lives be worth if Jesus was nailed to a cross to save it! What must our lives be worth that Jesus wants us with Him for eternity!

Is your life sacred? Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

But…but…

Loving our neighbors—and our enemies—begins with the sanctity of our lives. Oh, there’s no doubt that our life and every human life that draws breath on this earth being sacred creates a whole lot more questions. Questions that can be a struggle to answer especially for those who do not know that God has already provided those answers. Loving yourself asks those questions. Loving yourself seeks those answers. For those answers are part and parcel of the purpose for drawing breath on this earth.

Jesus tells us to love our enemies.²³ (He had a few enemies during His ministry!) Jesus tells us to love as He has loved us.²⁴ What did He give to everyone—those that sought His death and those that would crown Him Lord of all?²⁵

He gave them, He gives us, the Truth.

6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.²

Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?”²⁶

Would that Jesus had answered that question with specificity! But the conversation ended.

Why? Could it be that Jesus had already answered? Could it be that this question is one we ask to love ourselves? Could it be that Truth is not an human, but a matter of spirit?

So, what is Truth?

Forget the dictionaries. There is no plural to the word! A multiplicity of truths is the Deceiver’s playground. A multiplicity of truths denies Truth. The Truth is the one thing that every human being on this earth is given—the only thing that unites us across the universe. Only we ourselves can reject the Truth given to us. No one can take the Truth from us–not the Deceiver, not another person. THIS IS the object of the Deceiver’s game of whack-a-mole—to get us to give away the Truth within us—to give away the sanctity of our life that chaos and evil may reign.

The Truth is beyond any explanation of words. The Truth is a matter of spirit. Jesus had already answered Pilate, ”Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”²⁷

God is Spirit.²⁸ God is Love.²⁹ God is Truth.³⁰

We talk often of our mind, and our heart, and our soul. We are to love God with all our might through those things.³¹ Why? We are made in God’s image.³² Our essence—all that God created us to be—our mind, our heart, our soul—is our spirit. This is how we are of the Truth.

Our human brains have difficult time processing the apparent paradoxes of the Truth. God is love but love is not God. To give is to receive.³³

The Truth is harsh yet it is what allows us to be gentle. It is simple yet no words can express its entirety. It is unchanging yet encompasses every change that comes our way. It is complicated and it simply is. Its deeps and shallows are in accord. It is more dependable than gravity no matter how untethered our circumstances. It is unshakable no matter our turmoil.

The sincerest love

of self,

of neighbor,

of enemy,

is Truth.

Seek it; speak it. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

1. [Gen 3:4 ESV] 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

2. [Mat 7:1-6 ESV] 1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

3. [Mar 15:34 ESV] 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

4. [Mat 5:13-14, 37 ESV] 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. …

5. [Mat 5:37 ESV] 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

[Jas 5:12 ESV] 12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

6. [Mat 16:11 ESV] 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

(1-6: “Multi-Verse Retrieval.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 15 Oct, 2021. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/tools/MultiVerse.cfm>.)

7. “Whack-a-Mole…”, part 3

8. [Mat 7:7 ESV] 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

9. [Mat 5:48 ESV] 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

10. [Mat 6:2-3, 6 ESV] 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, … 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

11. [Mat 5:10-11 ESV] 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11″Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

12. [Mat 18:22 ESV] 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. [Earlier versions of the ESV and other translations (NKJV, NLT, RSV for example) translate this as ‘seventy times seven’.]

(8-12: “Multi-Verse Retrieval.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 15 Oct, 2021. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/tools/MultiVerse.cfm>.)

13. Sir Isaac Newton – “Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis”, 1686

14. [Psa 145:3 ESV] 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

[Psa 138:2 ESV] 2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

[Phl 2:9 ESV] 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

[Eph 1:21 ESV] 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

15. [Pro 6:16 ESV] 16 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: (See Part 3 for the list.)

16. [Jhn 5:19 ESV] 19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

17. [Jhn 3:16 ESV] 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

18. [Jer 31:33-34 ESV] 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

19. [Jhn 14:26 ESV] 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

20. [Zec 1:3 ESV] 3 Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.

[Isa 44:22 ESV] 22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

(14-20: “Multi-Verse Retrieval.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 15 Oct, 2021. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/tools/MultiVerse.cfm>.)

21. [Lev 19:18 ESV] 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

22. [Mar 12:30-31 ESV] 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

23. [Mat 5:44 ESV] 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

24. [Jhn 15:12 ESV] 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

(21-24: “Multi-Verse Retrieval.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 15 Oct, 2021. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/tools/MultiVerse.cfm>.)

25. All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, Edward Perronet, 1780

26. [Jhn 18:38 ESV] 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.

27. [Jhn 18:37 ESV] 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world–to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

28. [Jhn 4:24 ESV] 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

29. [1Jo 4:8 ESV] 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

30. [Jhn 14:6 ESV] 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

31. [Deu 6:5 ESV] 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

32. [Gen 1:27 ESV] 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

(26-32: “Multi-Verse Retrieval.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 15 Oct, 2021. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/tools/MultiVerse.cfm>.)

Whack-a-mole, a Conundrum, and a Siren Song

Part 3

Let’s take a quick look at the gist of parts one and two:

1: The initial conjecture made is that we humans, Christians in particular, have been deceived. We have allowed Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount – Judge not lest ye be judged¹ – to be pervertedinto a diluted gruel that neither nourishes nor sustains us. We have let Christ’s instructions become a weapon on the tongue of the Deceiver and the lips of the deceived. Ever-obedient to the catch-phrase, “judge not,” we sing along with the Deceiver’s cunning siren song: Judge not; do not hate; love, love, love… blinding us to the Deceiver’s need for us to not make judgments so that sin and chaos can reign. His scheme is to erase from our consciousness that Jesus requires us−and teaches us how−to make judgments; that God hates those things that wound and cripple His children; that sin broke our ability to love ourselves and others.

2: The Deceiver has hoodwinked us into believing that ‘judge not’ is an admonition to avoid all judgments rather than the eternal condemnation of others as the Deceiver condemned us—as value-less. His attack is a cosmic game of whack-a-mole. His aim is diabolically accurate and will be constant until we finally accept that all forms of the word ‘judge’ equal condemnation. The Deceiver wants our abilities to think, to extrapolate, to discern, and to resolve obliterated from our heads and hearts—ripped out of our souls (along with our innocence). Without judgment−justice, mercy, compassion, and redemption cannot exist. What then of our faith? This is the roiling cauldron of conundrum Christians face.

What’s the scariest thing you have ever prayed? “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”² should rank fairly near the top. There is an inherent need to preach the log versus the speck aspect of Matthew 7:1- 6. Yet without connecting that passage to the eternal ramifications in Matthew 6:9-15 and Matthew 5:17-20, we hollow out Jesus’ teachings about making the judgments required to live a life obedient to His Gospel.

His Gospel is filled with teachings about making those judgments. They’re called parables. Look to them and you will find a depth of truth in Jesus’ parables that touches our day-to-day lives. In the Parable of the Sower we meet the fool (rocky ground), the scoffer (the thorns) and the wise (good soil) of Proverbs. The do-nothing servant in the Parable of the Talents lays out the reasoning behind his judgment. Not acting on his judgment brings the wrath of his master. The Laborers in the Vineyard confronts emotions interfering with right judgment. Jesus directly confronts making judgments in other places too.

He specifically addresses making judgments on appearances in John 7:14-24. This not the oft taught log vs. speck variant based on looks or wealth or some other shallow characteristic. This is about whole cloth rather than parsed details. Society has always been quick, quick to pick apart and/or zero in on the bits and pieces of a situation. Jesus calls out our penchant for ‘gotcha’ and spinning—and how illogical this can become. It’s nothing new and it’s always been diametrically opposed to making right judgments.

Luke 12:54-59 touches on two points about making judgments. Jesus is speaking to ‘the crowds.’ He asks, why, if you can figure some things out, you don’t apply that same thought process to figuring out the ‘present time’? Figuring out the present time needs be done by all Christians, and every human being, throughout time until Christ comes on the clouds. He also asks, point blank, “And why do you not judge for yourself what is right?” What’s our answer?

Jesus tells us we have the intellectual capability of making judgments—that we know what is right. He expects us to make judgments about the place, time, and situation in which we exist day-to-day. He asks us why we don’t do so. In order to get us off the snide and do so that we may be obedient?

The cunning of the Deceiver is an evil masterpiece. Judge not; do not hate; love, love, love… His hammer of deceit has conned us into fearing both absolutes—right and wrong. The song-less refrain dupes us into injecting emotion where it should be verboten. We are so concussed by the relentless whacks we take. We don’t see them coming−delivered by talking-heads, entertainment, and money-grubbers to expunge our knowledge that justice cannot exist without absolutes. Our mish-mashed thoughts are so soaked in our own emotions that, though we can pamper ourselves, we do not love ourselves—much less our neighbors or our enemies.

Obfuscating Jesus’ directive by conflating judge, judging, justice, and judgment into condemnation produces our almost irrational fear of absolutes−of Law. We preface almost everything. ‘The way I see it, …’ ‘In my experience…’ ‘I don’t like broad brushes, but…’ What-about-ism is the same thing.

The Law (eternal, criminal/civil, science) is our reluctant acceptance that the Truth exists outside of ourselves and that it is greater than we are. Laws are our admission that we humans require them to co-exist. Our egos detest these things. Like the Deceiver (brought to us by the Deceiver), we want the Truth to emanate from within ourselves. We want to be the exception to every rule. We want to decide who must to follow which rules. There is nothing that constrains our egos more than the Truth. The Truth gives us no wiggle room. It simply is and nothing we can do, though we give it considerable time and effort, can change the Truth. The Truth will not—cannot—change based on how we feel about it.

Judgment is not an emotional activity. Which is exactly why, the Deceiver goes for the emotions. He knows that emotions desecrate impartiality. The Truth cannot be partial and be the Truth. Conclusions reached via emotions are not judgments; they are agendas. Truth may be immovable by human emotion, yet that very immutability makes it the sincerest love.

Judgment, in many ways, is a journey’s destination. Our footsteps of discernment, extrapolation, examination, and resolve unravel the facts, circumstances, and motives. This is true of all our judgments whether it’s about treatment after a diagnosis or to take a job or how to tweak the household budget or a court case. How did we get here? Where exactly, is here?

We are at ‘because.’ Because of these circumstances, because of these facts, because of these motives, here we are. Judgment is rendered because…therefore… ‘Therefore’ is where justice and judging dwell, where mercy and condemnation reside, where compassion and repentance live. Next door are the residences of redemption—eternal and earthly.

Jesus’ admonition not to play judge on an eternal scale is crucial to us as we make the judgments we need to live obediently. His prayer for us to forgive as we have been forgiven keeps us at the foot of His cross. His declaration (that He does not abolish the Law but fulfills it) is a promise that true justice will prevail.

Make no mistake, Jesus expects us to make judgments and act on them with the full knowledge of how to do so. Not only are we expected to make judgments, we are to protect each other from poor judgment (Ezekiel 3:16-21). Lest our jellied brains forget, there are six things God hates, seven He detests (conceit, lying, shedding innocent blood, devisors of evil, feet that run to evil, false witnesses, and family-breakers).³God hates those things that wound and cripple His children. Note that lying makes the list twice.

Not making judgments and doing nothing are not options for Christians. In Truth, not making a judgment is a canard. Doing nothing judges Jesus as not worthy of the glory to which our obedience testifies. Doing nothing denies that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Doing nothing judges our neighbors as unworthy of saving and the victims of the wicked as value-less.

We are not called to be finger pointers or shamers. We are to be proclaim-ers, proclaim-ers of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our proclamations of repentance and forgiveness, the Good News of redemption and salvation, require us to meet others as they are, where they are, how they are, and provide for their needs. We aren’t invited to do the work of the Holy Spirit. We are asked to love our enemies and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

And, just exactly how are we to that?

To be continued.

1. How Verse 7:1 is in my memory. I don’t find it in any translation.

2. From the Lord’s Prayer