There is a George MacDonald quote making its way around social media these days, from his novel Donal Grant, and it goes like this: “Cast away from you that doctrine of devils, that Jesus died to save us from our Father.” The implication is that it would be monstrous for a father to be so brutal and murderous that his own son would need to sacrifice his life to stop him, the father, from massacring human beings. And that it... Read more
Now would be an opportune time, I think, to point out a fundamental fact concerning followers and disciples of Christ: we have been grafted into the tree of God’s original people – the Jews (Romans 11:17-24). They, the Jewish people, constitute the first tree, but we gentiles have been added to that tree – not inorganically, but with the full participation that comes from the grafted branch joining organically in the life that proceeds from the original root. One might... Read more
Dearly beloved, let us ponder for a moment the frightening realism of Holy Scripture. In what other sacred literature, presumed to come from the breath of the Almighty Himself, do you find statements like this: “God! Please leave me alone!” (Job 10:20) The Bible takes the most clear-eyed view of the human condition ever written, and does so using the strongest, starkest, most violent and graphic terms imaginable. Man is said to be “abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like... Read more
Equity in its purest form fulfills all the demands of righteousness (which is the highest form of justice). Where the decrees and dictates of justice fall short of that mystical and holy state wherein everything is exactly as it should be – morally, spiritually, divinely – Dame Equity steps in and supplies the missing measure, whether of mercy or of extra provision. So far as this goes, Lady Equity is a beautiful goddess, and seems for the moment to stand... Read more
It is true that the older one becomes, the truer the great truths of life become. Those great truths usually congregate under the rubric of The Classic Virtues, because Truth and Virtue share an umbilical relationship of shared genetic material. Honesty is always going to be honored, surreptitiously if not overtly. And that goes for all the other primary virtues as well: nobility of conduct, and nobility of conception, will forever raise in the beholder a sensation that elevates and... Read more
It’s the long slog through the desert that is the most depressing and debilitating for many believers – that interminable “race” (in Paul’s words) that seems to be much more like a crawl through parched sand traps, spiritually speaking. It is when there appears to be no advancement in sanctification that one is most defeated – or at least that is when I’m most tempted to see no hope in the Christian life of (apparently) overblown promises. If day after... Read more
There is a meme currently making its way around social media that sounds appealing – if you don’t think about it too much, that is. At first glance it seems to be quite on the money and actually a bit inspiring. In part it says: “If you KNEW how [Jesus] can transform you, how He can take away all that bitterness, that sorrow, that hurt, that depression, anxiety[!]”. If you only knew that He could do all that! (with, of... Read more
There is a meme currently making its way around social media that sounds appealing – if you don’t think about it too much, that is. At first glance it seems to be quite on the money and actually a bit inspiring. In part it says: “If you KNEW how [Jesus] can transform you, how He can take away all that bitterness, that sorrow, that hurt, that depression, anxiety[!]”. If you only knew that He could do all that! (with, of... Read more
Beloved brothers and sisters, let us reflect for a moment on the extraordinary magic and significance of something not being us. How wonderful it is that the trees and the lakes and the mountains are not me, and – what is infinitely more important – that they are not God. I rejoice in the fact (the thankfully undeniable fact) that there is a gulf and a chasm that yawns between myself and the world of Nature – personify her as... Read more
In John 16:33, Jesus tells His followers that “in this world” they will have troubles or afflictions, but not to worry: He, Jesus, has “overcome the world”. Which I take to mean that whatever trouble you face as a Christ-follower can be easily overcome by the Lord, depending on how He weighs the relative advantages of your ongoing chastisement or your immediate succor. Now earlier, in Luke 8:7-14, Jesus had told “the parable of the sower”, in which He had... Read more
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