Tag: Love
-
Cross of Mercy
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13 Jesus twice quotes Hosea 6:6 here and in Matthew 12:7. The message of Hosea is that God does not desire sacrifices, even though many believed that sacrifices were God’s…
-
Cross of Love
But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul’s statement about the difficulties people have in accepting the message of a crucified Lord is a lament, not a call to action. If the cross is problematic to understand, may it be so for the right reasons…
-
A Question for Lent
One focus of Lent is that we are urged to be introspective. If we intend to examine ourselves, we need good questions. Knowing where to probe, what thoughts or frameworks to investigate, and to be daring enough to look within, is required if we are to engage meaningfully with our own inner lives. We inevitably…
-
Seeking Dominance
Jesus never asked us to defend Christian values. He wants us to live them. The church, Christ’s body, is not to be the architect nor enforcer of particular behaviors for the world at large. We are to love our neighbors, rather than by law and legislation to dictate how they must live. Unfortunately, for decades…
-
Filled by Love
Now when the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along with…
-
Cross of Love
The cross, which is the central image of Christian faith and life, is tragically too often misunderstood. Instead of the cross portraying the endless love of God in the face of human cruelty, what I believe to be its true meaning, others interpret the cross as the cruelty demanded by God in the face of…