Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
Some people enjoy exceptional intellectual gifts: strong memories, analytic and synthetic abilities, and good language skills. But Moses, it seems, wasn’t one of these. He was certain his speech impediment precluded any public ministry. Which raises a question. Why doesn’t God do better in finding followers? Moses was defective. Peter, too, seemed less than brilliant. …
Read More Brilliantly Wrong!“Start making retirement investments as soon as you start earning!” This was a Law of the Medes and the Persians, inviolable and unchanging. That truth—and its corollary, that compounding interest is magical—was the stuff of high school economics in my day. With a lifetime of steady investments we would retire in style. And this was …
Read More InvestingIn my current Bible read-through I’m noticing the Biblical theme of repentance. It’s not that I’m looking for the thread. Instead it seems to be looking for me! So join me, please, in a very brief and unsystematic reflection on repentance in the Bible. As context let me say that themes like repentance start to …
Read More Repent![Note: my apologies for the many copies of the last post many of you received—it felt like a reprise of Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in Fantasia! We think we’ve solved the problem … but only this post will reassure us!] Don’t look for this topic—God’s humility—in any systematic theology. You won’t find it! Certainly not …
Read More God’s HumilityJonathan Edwards (1703-58) offered some unique and helpful insights about the Holy Spirit in his “Treatise on Grace.” Right now I’m reading Robert W. Caldwell’s study, Communion in the Spirit: The Holy Spirit as the Bond of Union in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards, where he probes the “Treatise” in his second chapter. As Edwards …
Read More Broken LoveWhat makes one person more successful than another? It’s a hard question. I can think of my high school classmates, for instance. Back then the school “annual” picked a pair of students as “the most likely to succeed.” So at a recent class reunion I asked about Steve, one of the select pair. Was he …
Read More A hard questionI have a question about selfishness. Is it useful or destructive? Let’s set aside any in-between options as unhelpful. The question isn’t about gray uncertainties but about trajectory. What’s the basic direction of our ongoing choices? So, once again, is it ever okay to follow the selfish path, or does that path always lead to …
Read More A question of faithIn the Bible the Son comes to us through a set of self-disclosures: as the Christophanies in the Old Testament; as the newborn baby in the New Testament; as the Logos-Word in his coming out; as the adult prophet, Jesus, hiking the Palestine hills with a clan of fringy followers, calling, challenging, and stirring hearts; …
Read More Seeing the SonChristians and non-Christians alike hear the siren call of personal glory. Jesus, on the other hand, calls us to the highest delight of giving—of elevating others. Let’s compare these callings. Adam launched the monument-making impulse by wanting to be like God. Since Adam we all celebrate personal significance at some level. Yet the impulse divides …
Read More MonumentsFriends give life to our living. The bond we have with those we love sets our priorities. Friends offer destinations of heart for our calendars and our pathways. And the man or woman who is rich in friendships has treasure beyond any piles of property, cash, or status that others may hold dear. For many …
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