Seek Justice, Love Mercy -- Love Justice, See Mercy

"I won't let you slip away.
Not this time, not this time.
This time you're gonna learn what it means to receive the very mercy
That you denied when you denied
The means to believe,
I'll keep feeding you the proof that you need,
But you spit it out to follow your doubt."

~Oh, Sleeper

 

Sometimes (fair to say always?) the world is blind to the mercy God brings us every day. Let us not be hypocrits, let us not be blind. And being blind does not only mean that we don't consider, keep in mind, the things most take for granted, but it is also the lack of outward appearance. Even Batman agrees that "It's not who I am underneath, but what I DO that defines me." We must know, and we must share; the two steps in making God's presence real in this dark world.

 

"Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'" (John 7:38)

 

"Nothing within me is righteous
'Till You breathe upon my spirit.
Nothing within me is pure
'Till I call upon the name of the Lord."

~"My Heart Fails" by Mark Tedder

"Justice is God's way of showing us mercy."

~"Justice" by Mark Tedder

Why Is Hate A More Common Verb Than Love?

Remember how worship is not only personally experiencing God and praising him through music, it's also enacted through service. Now we must find a way in our own lives to create a bridge form "worship service" to "worship through service", and it's no easy thing. It is one thing to be able to be a light in the workplace, at school, in the neighborhood, etc. and overcome the urge to hate all the wrong you see, but it's another to actually be pro-active about your faith and love not only by not hating but by, well, loving; because love is a verb.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ~1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If you enjoy DC Talk, I guess they must not sound like a clanging cymbal and therefore, they must be God-sent people-lovers! Kidding; I can't really speak for them except that they put the song out there and they do make good music!

Now, essential to talking with others about how Christ could change their lives, you must be read up, meaning you can't just take a test without studying first. It needs to be ingrained in you, because when the Holy Spirit leads and you're listening, it won't always be at the most practical of times.

"I want to live like I lost the script." ~Icon For Hire

Why is it that nobody asks the question, "What would happen if I just never evangalized? It's not like that would stop me from getting to heaven..." Well, I'm pretty sure if you're down in the book, you would necessarily be a cold-hearted person, and only that kind of person would leave sinners as they are: Hell-bound.

Life is a McDonald's

It doesn't matter what you are experiencing, it matters what you know. When life becomes a ball of dirt and confusion, train yourself to keep remembering the basic points of faith, love and staying a strong character under stress; it's all those comforting truths that you used to know when the times were good. If you can't do that (stay strong during the difficulties), you can't really ever say anything during the good times without being hypocritical.

When the devil becomes your cloak, making you believe your own lies, just keep a mind to what Jesus would tell you, what you know in your soul, because it sounds so good, but you know it's just fake cheese.

Good thing they knew to follow the correct star. Everyone else was looking in the wrong place!

"I know what you would say, and it would sound like wisdom, but for the warning in my heart." ~Frodo Baggins

So if we can just know things, why can't we ever seem to act on that? Answer: because we will always be afraid of something that isn't there--death--unless we allow Jesus to cover some of that fear and doubt up with his encouraging smile.

"If death is victory, how afraid of life can we be?" ~Oh, Sleeper

Romans 16:20
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Big Man Behind the Curtain

Two different, clashing cultures right now are those who hate on others that don't meet the standard and those who are accepting of all types. It's this idea that we should all be equal because of bully-prevention, human rights and so much more; things that don't directly tie in to God. Let me rephrase: they have always tied in with God's morals and laws, but the secular population tends to take a few of those morals and twist them so that they don't seem like religious views but are still convincing and crowd pleasing.

Human hands can’t serve his needs--for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. ~Acts 17:25

Now, the culture/movement that appreciates and supports individual rights and personal differences, those who advertise a better way to live, even for those who are often looked down upon, can actually be appraising differences too highly. The problem with uplifting peoples' differences as a standard higher or more important than those God has already set is that it puts us troubled mortals on the throne where God should be. God has actually always been the man behind the curtain to lift people up and bring them back to life, give companions to those willing to listen, and fixing their differences as He stands behind them letting them shine with his glorious reflection. It's just about how you view the lifting of the soul--you either see yourself winning the battle or you understand that there will always be a man behind the curtain helping you out if you only ask.

"When I close my eyes, do I see light or darkness? Because regardless, when I open them darkness is all that remains." ~Yours Truly

Don't Be Too Smart

Don't be smart in a good way. What I find so easy to do is think up or reference or hint or hear interesting truths about God, convincing ideas that get me going and I share them with people. That can be very good...but then...

"We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God's name to it." ~Oswald Chambers

Those truths can become common sense, and we begin to uplift the good ideas that happen to coincide with Jesus' teachings and things that he might say. However, that common sense and those inspirational ideas become the idol and they get in the way of worshiping God. If they cannot simply be a step, a reinforcement to be pocketed but not dwelt upon, then they are most likely going to become a sort of god, or at least making God become his moral standards rather than what he is: the ultimate, perfect and holy being who created those standards to keep us in our place.

"In essence, Jesus says, 'Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.' Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard--we do not believe Him." ~Oswald Chambers again

Piscatorem piscis amare potest?

“The demons that make a person afraid are the hardest to cast out.” ~The Bronze Bow (book)

As a sort of epilogue to or follow-up of last week's blog...

Sometimes people can't see past the thing that blocks their view. Jesus asks us to not only see past those demons however, but to love those who might represent the demons we face in our own lives.

 

"'Daniel,' he [Jesus] said, 'I would have you follow me.'
'Master!....I will fight for you to the end!'

'My loyal friend,' he said, 'I would ask something much harder than that. Would you love for me to the end?'" ~The Bronze Bow (book)

Piscatorem piscis amare potest? Can the fish love the fisherman? Indeed it can. Does that mean it has to like it? Nope. You can dislike the sin, just not the sinner. Love the sinner (yourself included) for the life they have been given and the potential they have.

Open up your moat today!

De Profundis

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. ~John 14:27

When you get into that pit, those ugly depths of self-torment and utter despair when life seems pointless and love has abandoned you, there aren't too many options for getting out again. Eventually we always do, whether it is because of a friend/someone who comes life, satisfying our depression with worldly pleasures, or seeking out a higher power to walk the road of life alongside us. It is impossible for anyone to journey through life without those low points when God might as well be a golden idol to spit upon, so to get out of that is no small thing. It takes faith and just a bit of theurgy. Theugry is the working of a divine or supernatural agency in human affairs.

Just let it go; there's always someone there to catch you!

From the depths of despair, O LORD, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you. I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn. O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love and an overflowing supply of salvation. He himself will free Israel from every kind of sin. ~Psalm 130