And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Luke 15:20

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In my experience, people want their fathers to be proud of them.

Fathers are the standard. Fathers are our first benchmark for what constitutes excellence. Fathers are traditionally the source of discipline in the household, as the Book of Proverbs reminds us. Fathers are presumed to set the example, and to point out the good path to their children.

It is only natural that we should desire the approval of our fathers. When we don't get that approval, that's not a good feeling.

This is a more difficult topic for me than most, as I am more than a little conflicted where my father is concerned. This one is personal.

My father was in most regards a good man. He was smart, he was practical, and he was not afraid of hard work to accomplish what he wanted—and he was an accomplished man.

I tend to believe there is more than a little of him in me, and therein lies the problem.

I am not being arrogant to say that I am smart. To quote iconic St Louis Cardinal pitching great Dizzy Dean, “if you can do it, it ain't bragging!”

My willingness to work hard is evidenced by how I have carved out various career paths for myself.

Whether or not I am practical is a question whose answer varies day to day!

But my father was also a hypocrite who made no secret of which of his sons he favored—and it was not me. Not being more like him left me perpetually on the outside looking in.

As a young man, I chose to walk away from him. I turned my back on my father and built my life without him.

I have built a successful and accomplished life, overall. I have been respected in my chosen professions. I have prospered. I have done well without any help from him.

After being very nearly killed in a car accident, I made the decision to reach out to my father and reconnect. At first he was glad to hear from me, but he also subtly made it clear that I might be his son, but whether I was family was open to debate. Far from the warm embrace the Prodigal Son’s father had for him, my father kept me very much at arm’s length.

What was not open to debate was that he had no regard whatsoever for my career choices or my professional successes. My choices had not been the choices he wanted me to make, and so were of no great significance to him. I remained a disappointment to him, not because I had not done well, but because I had not done as he wished.

At least, that was the gossip my sister-in-law's sister delighted in sharing, gossip which he did not deny.

So I walked away again. My father would never be proud of my accomplishments, but not because I am unaccomplished. My father would never be proud of me because my accomplishments did not matter to him. With no reason to remain, I left. I did not speak to my father again, and I do not regret that choice.

I never mattered to him, but it is impossible for him not to matter to me. Because he is me, in more than a few ways.

My father lives in me. From him I learned to think logically and practically in every situation. From him I get the stubborn streak that has carried me through a few rough patches. From him I learned that raising children into adults was serious work that needed to be done seriously.

That is the paradox of my father. There were never any joyous reunions as the Prodigal Son had with his father, but I cannot deny that my father took being a father seriously. He gave what was in him to give.

When I took on the challenge of raising my ex-wife's son's, I can honestly say that I gave what was in me to give, because that was what I had learned from my father.

When I am called to account for my life, I can point to my ex-wife's sons and honestly say “this much good I have done.” I can do that because of my father.

On this Father's Day, what shall I say of him? I can't speak smilingly of him, because my thoughts of him are not smiling thoughts.

Yet as a father, and as a man, he remains very much the standard. He is the benchmark in my life for both fatherly success and fatherly failure.

This is to me the nature of fathers and fatherhood. Fathers are men, neither more nor less. As men, fathers take on the ginormous challenge of raising children into adults. That is no easy challenge, and it is one at which we often both succeed and fail.

Fathers are men, and as men we are imperfect. Unlike our Heavenly Father who is perfect, we make mistakes.

As a stepfather there were times I was angry when I should have been calm. There were times I was harsh when I should have been gentle. Would my father have done any better? Frankly, I doubt it. I also doubt that he would have done any worse.

What shall I say of my father? He was a man, neither more nor less. Through his successes and his failures he did much to shape the man I am today, for better or worse. While I am not able to genuinely celebrate him, I do honor him, and I do respect him. And I pray I am not too much the hypocrite in saying so.

This Father's Day I have only a simple prayer. I pray that Fathers everywhere will be strengthened and lifted up, that the sons and daughters given into their care may prosper. I pray that their failures will not overcome their successes, that their sons and daughters will grow into good men and good women.I pray that they will be honored and celebrated for all that they do, for what they do is hard.

Fathers are men, neither more nor less. As men we are imperfect. Unlike our Heavenly Father who is perfect, we make mistakes.

Yet through both success and failure, fathers shape the next generation. In both victory and defeat, fathers remain our first and most relevant standard for excellence in all that we do.

To all the fathers, Happy Father's Day.

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But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Per′izzites, the Hivites and the Jeb′usites, as the Lord your God has commanded; that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices which they have done in the service of their gods, and so to sin against the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18

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When God commanded the Israelites on what to do with the peoples already in Canaan, He did not mince words. The command was to kill them all, without exception.

God, who has promised mercy and forgiveness to Jew and Gentile alike, decreed there should be only death for the Canaanite peoples.

That doesn't sound either merciful or forgiving. It sounds harsh, angry, and even cruel.

Why was God so unforgiving towards these people?

Scripture contains only a few details, but what details there are tell us the Canaanite peoples were not nice people.

This passage in Deuteronomy speaks of their “abominable practices”, which tells us their modes of worship were offensive to God.

Leviticus 18 and 20 speak of child sacrifice to the false god Moloch, very forcefully telling the Israelites never to adopt the practice.

Leviticus 20 goes on to warn the Israelites not to defile themselves, that the land might not “vomit” them out the way it rejected the Canaanite peoples, resulting in God commanding their extinction.

This was no idle threat, as God eventually demonstrated in the closing verses of 2 Kings, with the fall of Jerusalem and the deportations to Babylon. The Israelites, God's chosen people and the instrument by which the wicked Canaanites were removed from the land, were themselves removed from the land. The land “vomited” out the Israelites, just as it had vomited out the Canaanites. They defiled themselves with sin, and were expelled from the land.

In Leviticus 19, God is quite clear on His expectations for the Israelites: they are to keep themselves holy, just as God is holy.

This is God's expectation for all who would follow Him, and keep His Law. We are to keep ourselves holy, because God is holy.

We know from various passages in Scripture that the Canaanites, as well as the Phoenicians and other ancient peoples in the Levant, did not aspire to Godly holiness. In addition to the abomination of child sacrifice, they built altars and idols to false gods, profaning their holy places with idolatry and blasphemy.

God decreed that the practices and culture of the Canaanite peoples were not compatible with what He intended for the Israelites. Where the Canaanites were sinful, idolatrous, and evil, God desired the Israelites to be holy, righteous, and good. That is God's desire for all who would follow Him.

God further decreed that there should be no compromise, no alternative to the fate God chose for the Canaanites. These peoples were guilty of great and grievous sin in God’s eyes. They had defiled themselves and defiled the land through their worship of false gods and other “abominable practices.” The penalty for their very great sin was eradication.

Whether we are considering the fate of the Canaanites or the fates of peoples today, Scripture is unequivocal. Faith and righteousness are binary propositions. We either believe, or we do not. We follow either God or Mammon. We are either slaves to righteousness or slaves to sin.

There is no third option. There can be no middle ground.

Sin can never be compatible with holiness. Idolatry can never be compatible with righteousness. Good can never be compatible with evil.

This is also how we may be sure that we all fall short of the glory of God. We are all imperfect beings, prone to errors of all kinds. God is perfect, and God's glory is perfect. The slightest imperfection in any of us is more than enough to deny us that mantle of His glory. The smallest of sins is more than enough to leave us condemned before God's perfect Law.

Our salvation—literally our saving Grace—is that God chooses to forgive, and to wash away the stains of our sins and imperfections. By God's Mercy, we are cleansed, purified, and perfected, that we may be fit to enter His Kingdom.

While we are assured of salvation and the perfect Kingdom of Heaven, we still have to live for now in a most imperfect world. We still have to make choices about right and wrong, good and evil. We have to make choices today, in the herenow, not in the hereafter.

When we make our choices, the overarching teaching of Scripture is clear: Good can never be compatible with evil. If we do not make the good choice, by definition we have made the evil choice.

We cannot compromise with sin. We cannot recast sinfulness as righteousness.

How, then, are we to navigate this imperfect world? Comes the answer: carefully, thoughtfully, and deliberately. We are called to weigh and measure our choices before choosing the right choice.

We are reminded in Leviticus 19 to reason with our neighbors, and not simply lash out at them, that we might not be tempted into sin by our emotional incontinence.

We see in the closing chapters of Judges what happens when communities and societies fail to hew to this simple commandment to use our heads before our fists. In a fit of moral outrage the Israelites very nearly eradicated the entire tribe of Benjamin, and were forced to make some very awkward moral tradeoffs to keep God’s chosen people intact.

The Apostle Paul in Romans 13 similarly advised caution and care when dealing with those who presume to wield the rod of governing authority: give everyone that which they are due, and no more.

At the same time, Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 10:25 not to go looking for evil—”Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.” So long as one can navigate the world with a clear conscience, one should do so.

Yet we should not pretend that we will never be confronted with evil. We should never presume we are somehow immune the temptations and vices of this world. We are not.

We will be tempted. We will be beset with evil choices as well as the evil acts of evil people.

We will be tempted. We will be forced to make choices. We will be forced to make hard choices. For every choice, God’s overarching command is clear: make the right choice, and do the right thing.

We are not called to make easy choices, or to take the path of least resistance. Very often we are called to make the hardest choice, and to take the path of greatest resistance, with the most obstacles.

Jesus Himself warned His followers—warns us even today—that doing that right thing may cost us dearly. If we truly choose to take up the cross and follow Him, that is a choice which may cost us our lives, can easily cost us comfort, wealth, and even friends.

Yet what alternative could there be? Regardless of how difficult the right path might be, what other path will lead us back to God? If we are not walking the right path back to God, by definition we are walking away from God.

If we are not doing the right thing, by definition we are doing the wrong thing—by definition we are sinning.

There is no third option. There can be no middle ground. Sin is not compatible with holiness. Idolatry is not compatible with righteousness. Good is not compatible with evil.

My prayer on every day is that I will have the courage and the vision to do the right thing in all things. My prayer on every day is that I will have the wisdom and the inspiration to show mercy and compassion towards my fellow human beings, without excusing and rationalizing away sin and wickedness. My prayer on every day is that I will have the strength and discipline to stick with the right path, no matter how big the obstacles lie ahead.

My prayer for you every day is that you also will have the courage and the vision to do the right thing in all things. My prayer for you every day is that you also will have the wisdom and the inspiration to show mercy and compassion towards your fellow human beings, without excusing and rationalizing away sin and wickedness. My prayer for you every day is that you also will have the strength and discipline to stick with the right path, no matter how big the obstacles lie ahead.

We are not called to make easy choices, or to take the path of least resistance. Very often we are called to make the hardest choice, and to take the path of greatest resistance, with the most obstacles.

When we make our choices, the overarching teaching of Scripture is clear: Good can never be compatible with evil. If we do not make the good choice, by definition we have made the evil choice.

We cannot recast sinfulness as righteousness. We cannot compromise with sin.

Good can never be compatible with evil.

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For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Philippians 3:18-21

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How do we distinguish what is good from what is evil?

How may we be certain we are adhering to God’s Law and not rationalizing our disobedience of God’s Law?

Certainly we can look to Scripture to know at least the letter of God’s Law. We can read in Exodus, in Leviticus, and in Deuteronomy what God requires of us. We can read in all the prophets of the Old Testament the cost and the consequence both of following God’s Law and rejecting God’s Law. We can read in the Gospels what Jesus taught about God’s Law and how we should keep God’s Law.

Yet when we look to Scripture we also see that simply knowing the letter of God’s Law is not enough.

Jesus Himself denounced the hypocritical legalisms of the Pharisees. As the Apostle Paul teaches in Romans, we have to carry out God’s Law, not simply know God’s Law. As the Apostle James points out, simply relying on the letter of God’s Law is sure to leave us condemned before God.

Even when we know God’s Law, we are still burdened with temptations and desires—with “thorns in the flesh”—which challenge our fidelity to God’s Law.

Temptation and desire certainly feel good, especially in the moment. Our many addictions, habits, and vices are indisputable testimony to this, even though they are hurtful to us. The Apostle Paul warned us of this very thing in 1 Corinthians 10, and advised us further in Romans 12 to always take excellent care of ourselves—self care is a moral duty to both ourselves and God.

The warning and the advice arise because, as good as temptation and desire feel, they are not what is good, for they are not what God requires of us.

We are human. We are imperfect. We are fallen.

We know temptation. We experience desire. We feel the tug of earthly pleasures pulling us off the path laid out before us by God’s Law, pulling us into temptation, delivering us into the hands of evil.

We are sinful.

That is part and parcel of what it means to be human.

We know God’s Law. We know what God requires of us. We simply do not want to do it, at least not all the time.

We know what is good. We are drawn instead to what feels good.

Such is the essence of sin—knowing what is good and choosing what feels good instead.

We sin, and yet who among us wants to suffer the full penalty of our sin? Who among us would blithely accept the penalty God’s Law demands of us for our sin?

At a minimum, we seek to make the atonements God calls us to make. Even though the sin offerings commanded in Leviticus are no longer feasible options, we at least understand the need to atone, both to God and to any who we may have wronged by our sin. We know we need to make such amends as we can to those whom we have hurt.

Yet how many times have any of us sought to rationalize away the need for such contrition? How many times have any of us argued at least with ourselves that it “wasn’t [our] fault”—when the action, the sin, and thus the fault are clearly ours?

How many times have we given half-hearted acceptance of God’s Law with endless variations of “yes, but…”?

How many times have we sought to convince ourselves that what feels good really is what is actually good, twisting and contorting God’s Law in support of our earthly and carnal desires?

Certainly we have only to pause to listen to any number of political messages to hear people of all political stripes attempting to convince us of this very thing, that somehow our immorality is really just misunderstood morality. Jesus warned us of such false prophets, warned us to look honestly and critically at what people do, and not be distracted by what they say.

Whether priest, pastor, or politician, such people seek to exploit our capacity for sin, turning it to their own perverse benefit. Such people tell us that what feels good really is good, even when Scripture says plainly that it is not at all good.

So we are constantly challenged to discern what is truly good from what we selfishly wish were good, that we might indulge our desires.

So we must constantly question ourselves, gauging both our actions and our intentions. Are we striving to be the light of the world, the calling Jesus gave everyone in His Sermon on the Mount? Are we seeking to bear witness to the Truth that is Jesus Christ, the Truth that is His Crucifixion and Resurrection?

Are we allowing ourselves to daily be born again into a life of renewal, of transformation, of growing closer to God?

Are we being courageous and hopeful? Are we instead being hesitant and fearful?

When the honest answers are not as we wish, are we willing to rededicate ourselves through prayer and serious study of God’s Word, that we might find our way back onto the path of righteousness that God has laid before us?

I know my honest answers are not always as I wish. I know I am sometimes more hesitant than I am hopeful, that I am frequently more fearful than I am courageous. I know that I am rarely the manner of man I want to be.

I also know that, if I can admit that much, if I can acknowledge that I do fall short of the glory of God, I can also accept God’s promised forgiveness, the Redemption Jesus gave all of us on the Cross at Calvary. I know that I can pray, study, reflect, and strive to keep pushing forward in search of that righteous path.

I know what is good. I know what feels good. I know that God will give me the strength to choose what is good and resist what feels good, if I will open my heart to Him.

My prayer this day is that God will grant me the strength to every day choose what is good, and reject what merely feels good. My prayer this day is that, when I stumble, God will lift me up yet again, setting my feet back on that righteous path He has laid before me. My prayer this day is that I will daily be willing to be born again into a new life of constant transformation, renewal, and hope.

My prayer for you this day is that God will grant you also the strength to every day choose what is good, and reject what merely feels good. My prayer for you this day is that, when you also stumble, God will lift you up yet again, setting your feet back on that righteous path He has laid before you. My prayer for you this day is that you also will daily be willing to be born again into a new life of constant transformation, renewal, and hope.

I know what is good. I know what feels good. I know that God will give me the strength to choose what is good and resist what feels good, if I will open my heart to Him.

I also know I am sometimes more hesitant than I am hopeful, that I am frequently more fearful than I am courageous. I know that I am rarely the manner of man I want to be.

Yet I know that, if I can admit that much, if I can acknowledge that I do fall short of the glory of God, I can also accept God’s promised forgiveness, the Redemption Jesus gave all of us on the Cross at Calvary. I know that I can pray, study, reflect, and strive to keep pushing forward in search of that righteous path.

We know what is good. We know what feels good. Our challenge is to embrace the one and reject the other.

With God, we can do exactly that.

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Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.

Matthew 6:34

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“One day at a time.”

I am certain that all of us have heard this credo multiple times. A mainstay of addiction recovery programs, this simple sentence has been celebrated seemingly forever as both a coping strategy for dealing with all that life can throw at us and a broad approach for emotionally healthy living.

How often do we remember that it is also what Jesus explicitly teaches us?

Yet Jesus also teaches in Luke 14 that we should plan ahead, to make sure we have what we need to complete a task before undertaking that task. How are we to do that if we are not thinking about anything past today?

A part of the answer surely lies in the reality that if we are seeking forgiveness, and striving to be reconciled back to God, we are by definition thinking about a good deal more than just today.

If we are weighing cost and consequence, that we might make good choices, we are thinking about a good deal more than just today.

If we are truly born again, born into a new life of continual transformation, we are absolutely thinking about a good deal more than just today. We are thinking about eternity. We are thinking about whether we will spend it in Heaven or in Hell.

If we are not thinking about such things, if we are not concerned with such things, how can we possibly claim to have been born again?

How can it be that Jesus would also teach us to live one day at a time?

The easy answer is to simply dismiss the seeming contradiction as just that, a contradiction, an example of supposed Biblical inconsistency.

The easy answer is a lazy answer. The easy answer is also a wrong answer.

To get a right answer we must understand an important precept of how to read and apprehend Scripture. Scripture must be read and understood holistically. Everything within Scripture must reconcile to everything within Scripture, without exception.

Contradictions are simply not possible within Scripture; God does not argue with Himself. If we are faced with a seeming contradiction then we are faced with a flaw in our own understanding. We are faced with our own lack of wisdom.

Thus we must reconcile the teaching to take the world one day at a time to the teaching to plan ahead and be mindful of spiritual and eternal things. We must begin with the predicate that these are not contradictory but complementary teachings, with the one feeding into and supporting the other.

How does one reconcile thinking about the future, about planning for the future, with living one day at a time, worrying only about today?

One thought comes to us from medieval theologian and Augustinian monk Thomas à Kempis, who observed in his classic “The Imitation of Christ” that “…wherever you go, you take yourself with you, and you will always find yourself.”

The more modern version: wherever you go, there you are.

We may think about the future. We probably should think about the future. We certainly are known to dwell on the past! Yet we always exist only in the present moment.

I am here, and now. There is no other place, no other time, where I can exist.

As I can only exist in this present moment, I can only act in this present moment. I cannot act some place else, because I am only here. I cannot act some “when” else, because again I am only now.

As I exist, and as I act, so must I necessarily choose. Whatever I choose to do, I choose it here, I choose it now.

I cannot possibly choose tomorrow, or the next day. I cannot choose again for any of my yesterdays.

It is not that the only choices I must make are the ones I make right now. It is that the only choices I can make are the ones I make right now.

Decisions I will be called to make tomorrow I can do nothing about until tomorrow. Decisions I was called to make yesterday have already been made, and I can do nothing to alter them.

Worrying about decisions I will be called to make tomorrow, or fretting over decisions I made either wisely or unwisely yesterday, is simply to worry about things which are beyond my power to change.

Yet as I make my choices today, as I make my decisions now, if I am to make the right choices, and the good decisions, I must be mindful about the direction in which my choices will take me.

Am I choosing to walk with God, or walk away from God? Am I choosing to obey His Law or defy His Law? Am I choosing to move along the right path or the wrong path?

In making each choice today, I am by definition choosing where I want to be tomorrow. I am choosing the path I will take from today forward. I am choosing the future I desire for myself.

Does it not make sense that I should focus on the choices I am called to make today?

Does it not make sense that I should put my energies into making good choices today rather than wasting them worrying about choices I cannot make until tomorrow, or fretting over choices I made yesterday?

Does it not make sense that we should deal with whatever is in front of us right now, and not be distracted with thoughts of what might come before us later?

We can easily see that, in order to make good choices today, we must calculate cost and consequence. We must look ahead that we might be sure we are choosing the right path. We must be mindful of where we want to go, at what destination we want to arrive.

The first best choice on every day must therefore be to focus on this day. The teaching Jesus gives us in Matthew 6 is the foundation of which Jesus speaks in Luke 14.

Choose for the future you want, but make your choice in the present, with your focus on the present.

My prayer this day is that I will always be mindful of what is before me today. My prayer this day is that I will always focus on living this day well. My prayer this day is that I will not be distracted by what may come before me tomorrow.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will always be mindful of what is before you today. My prayer for you this day is that you also will always focus on living this day well. My prayer for you this day is that you also will not be distracted by what may come before you tomorrow.

In order to make good choices today, we must calculate cost and consequence. We must look ahead that we might be sure we are choosing the right path. We must be mindful of where we want to go, at what destination we want to arrive.

The first best choice on every day must therefore be to focus on this day.

Choose for the future you want, but make your choice in the present, with your focus on the present. Choose today for today. Wait for tomorrow to choose tomorrow.

Take each day as it comes, one day at a time.

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And behold, one came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which?” And Jesus said, “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have observed; what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

Matthew 19:16-22

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Are you willing to do the right thing, no matter how hard it is, no matter the cost?

That is not an idle question. It scarcely needs be said that doing the right thing frequently costs us material wealth and material comfort.

Doing the right thing has cost some people their lives.

It is an easy thing to say that doing the right thing is hard. It is an easy thing to say that we should not expect to be rewarded in this life for doing the right thing.

It is not an easy thing to put that idea into practice. Sacrifice often seems unnatural to us. Rationalizations abound as to why we should not forego comfort and ease for the sake of a principle.

How many reasons do you have for not giving money to a homeless person panhandling on the street?

How many reasons do you have for not intervening when you witness abusive behavior, or a crime being committed?

How many reasons do you have for not running towards danger?

To be sure, I do not know if you do these things or not. Certainly some people do these things at least some of the time. I do them some of the time.

I do not do them all the time. I doubt anyone does them all the time.

Should we do such things all the time? One could argue with conviction that we should.

We know we are called to have compassion for the poor. We know we are called to protect the weak. We know we are called to come to the aid of those who are in need.

Are we wrong when we do not do these things?

If we begin with a premise that we are called to help all who are in need, when we do not offer the help we cannot say we are answering the call.

Yet we are also called to take care of ourselves. We are called to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. We are called to be holy, for God is holy.

Without any doubt, we ourselves always number among those we are called to help.

Self care is a moral duty we owe both to ourselves and to God.

Where should we draw the line? When should we move from self care to self sacrifice?

I honestly do not know, not even for myself.

If I am being honest, I am quite likely to respond to Jesus’ counsel the same way the rich young man did—by refusing.

Will I be denied entry into God's Kingdom as a result? If God judges me to be one of the goats and not the sheep, that is exactly what will happen. Jesus tells us that will happen.

Will God judge me to be one of the goats and not the sheep? I honestly do not know.

Does it count if we at least strive to do these things? Will God still receive us kindly if we at least strive to follow His Law and answer His calling?

Proverbs teaches us that God does look at our intentions in addition to our actions. If we cultivate caring and compassion for others, that does count for something. Striving to show mercy and even basic respect matters, even if we do not always succeed, and especially if we make mistakes.

Priorities matter. Jesus quite clearly teaches us to put God and God’s Law above all else. If we will do this, we are assured that God will take care of the rest.

Jesus also warns us to be mindful about what we make important in our lives. If material wealth and prosperity are more important to us than following God’s Law and fulfilling God’s Will, such priorities will impact our choices and lead us down a path away from God.

We should not be deceived. We cannot merely pay lip service to the ideals within God’s Law, nor can we simply say “I tried”. Merely mouthing the words or saying what we think God wants to hear is rank hypocrisy—and we can be sure God will know when we are being hypocritical.

We are imperfect, we are going to make mistakes—we are going to sin—and so God in His Mercy does take into account that we at least strive to do the right thing. However, we must actually strive to do the right thing. Our effort has to be real and substantive, not simply performative. We have to approach our actions with the right heart and the right frame of mind. We have to do what is right not because we desire a reward, but simply because it is what is right.

We have to approach doing the right thing not with anger in our hearts, but with love—love of God as well as love for our fellow man. Not for nothing did Jesus admonish His followers to be reconciled with whomever they had even the smallest of disputes. Not for nothing did Jesus counsel His followers to leave their sacrificial gifts at the altar, and go first be reconciled to all who might have had reason to be angry with them.

We cannot rationalize away anger when it has filled our hearts. We cannot justify not feeling compassion for those around us needing a helping hand. We will have to answer for when we allow our hearts to harden even if we still go through the motions of doing what is right.

It might very well be that the rich young man speaking to Jesus understood this at least on some level. If he was being honest about himself, he was, by all normal human measures, a “good man”. Yet he still realized that something was still missing. All of his presumed “goodness” was not enough, and was not going to be enough. He knew he needed something more, and he plainly sought Jesus counsel about that “something more.”

Jesus responded by setting a high bar for moral excellence, and then inviting the rich young man to become one of His disciples. The rich young man declined the invitation.

He was not prepared to surrender his cherished creature comforts for the sake of doing that which was right and righteous. He was not willing to part with his material wealth, not even for the promise of spiritual wealth in the hereafter.

When presented with the choice between the pleasures of this world and the joys of the next, the rich young man chose the pleasures of this world.

We are always being presented with that same choice: pleasure now or joy later. We are always having to decide between this life and the life to come. Whether the moment is small, such as giving money to the homeless, or large, such as running towards danger simply because people are in danger, we are called to make a choice.

Which world shall we choose? Shall we choose this world or the next?

My prayer on every day is that, in that moment of choosing, I will make the right choice. My prayer on every day is that, in that moment of choosing, I will be strong enough to rise above the temptations around me, strong enough to ignore the thorns in my flesh, strong enough to keep to the right path. My prayer on every day is that, in that moment of choosing, I will be inspired to choose to follow God, to follow His Law and bend to His Will.

My prayer for you on every day is that, in that moment of choosing, you also will make the right choice. My prayer for you on every day is that, in that moment of choosing, you also will be strong enough to rise above the temptations around you, strong enough to ignore the thorns in your flesh, strong enough to keep to the right path. My prayer for you on every day is that, in that moment of choosing, you also will be inspired to choose to follow God, to follow His Law and bend to His Will.

When presented with the choice between the pleasures of this world and the joys of the next, the rich young man chose the pleasures of this world.

We are always being presented with that same choice: pleasure now or joy later. We are always having to decide between this life and the life to come. Whether the moment is small, such as giving money to the homeless, or large, such as running towards danger simply because people are in danger, we are called to make a choice.

Which world shall we choose? Shall we choose this world or the next?

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For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Ezekiel 36:24-28

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God's Wrath is what we get when we reject God's Law and defy God's Will.

God's Wrath is what we get when we sin.

God's Mercy is what we get when we repent of our sin and seek to be reconciled once more to Him.

God's Grace is the promise we have been given that forgiveness will come, that mercy will come, that reconciliation will happen.

God Himself described the Israelites as a “stiff-necked people”, an image of stubbornness and obstinacy which I suspect describes most people. We cling to our wants and desires even when we know what we want is not what God wants for us.

We have our “thorns in the flesh” coming between us and right behavior—between us and righteous behavior.

We know right from wrong. We know God’s Law, for we have been given His Law.

For each of us, knowing is never enough. We know, and we still sin, we still fall short of the Glory of God.

God knows this, and yet God has never not promised forgiveness and reconciliation.

He promised this in the first chapter of Isaiah, even as Isaiah was detailing the many sins and failings of God’s people Israel. If they would repent and return to Him, He promised to blot out their sins.

Despite the many sins of the Israelite people, God gave Isaiah a vision of Israel’s future greatness, of the bounty that was to come for Judah and Jerusalem. Even as God was pouring out His Wrath upon the Israelites, He still was promising them a great and prosperous future.

It was in a time of great tribulation for Israel, when King Ahaz was beset on all sides by the forces of Syria and Samaria, that God gave Isaiah the prophecy that Immanuel would come, a child who would deliver the people from all torment.

When Jeremiah denounced the many evils and degenerate sins into which Israel had fallen, he called simply for Israel to repent. With but simple repentance, God would forgive all sins and hold them against Israel no more.

Jeremiah was not shy about denouncing Israel’s evil, and calling the people out for their disobedience. Jeremiah was not hesitant to point out that Israel had earned a great punishment for its stubborn sinfulness.

Yet even as Israel wallowed in the depths of great sin and misery, God still held out the promise of future greatness. He pledged specifically to restore Israel to the land promised them.

Throughout all of Israel’s long history of sin and wickedness, God never forgot His people. God never abandoned His children.

That all might be redeemed and reconciled back to God, He sent His only begotten Son into the world, taking on human form that He might both die in perpetual atonement for all the world’s sins and then return from the dead, that He might overcome death itself, giving eternal life to all those who will only believe.

Israel is not alone in its history of sin and wickedness. Even a casual reading of human history tells us that sin and wickedness is the history of all mankind.

Sin and wickedness is my history. Sin and wickedness is your history. Sin and wickedness is all our history.

Yet God has never forgotten any of us. God has not forgotten you. God has not forgotten me.

God’s Grace, the promise that there will be mercy, there will be forgiveness, there will be reconciliation, endures.

God’s Mercy we already have, given when Jesus shed His blood on the Cross at Calvary, Redeeming us all with His perfect sacrifice.

Even as we from time to time endure God’s Wrath, the just consequence for everything we have done wrong—and for everything we continue to do wrong—His Mercy endures. Even when His Wrath has faded, His Mercy endures. After consequences have come and gone, God remains, waiting for us to be reconciled to Him once more.

Despite all the ways mankind manages to screw things up, no matter all the ways mankind manages to veer off into sin and wickedness, God’s promise of deliverance remains undiminished.

God will deliver His people—all His people—to the lands they were promised.

God will restore His people—all His people—to the inheritance they have been gifted.

God will save His children—all His children—reconciling them back to Himself.

This is the promise we have from God, and it is one He fulfills daily.

My prayer this day is that I will never lose sight of God’s promise. My prayer this day is that I will strive every day to be reconciled back to Him, embracing the forgiveness and redemption that are already offered, and already given. My prayer this day is that I will daily learn true repentance, and learn to stop doing the things I know God does not want me to do.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will never lose sight of God’s promise. My prayer for you this day is that you also will strive every day to be reconciled back to Him, embracing the forgiveness and redemption that are already offered, and already given. My prayer for you this day is that you also will daily learn true repentance, and learn to stop doing the things you know God does not want you to do.

Despite all the ways mankind manages to screw things up, no matter all the ways mankind manages to veer off into sin and wickedness, God’s promise of deliverance remains undiminished.

God will save His children—all His children—reconciling them back to Himself.

This is the promise we have from God, and it is one He fulfills daily.

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Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

Proverbs 31:28

Each year we celebrate the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day. This is the day we acknowledge mothers everywhere as a special blessing to us all.

We should celebrate mothers, not just today but on every day. Motherhood is how each generation comes to be. Without mothers, none of us would even exist.

We do not need Scripture to tell us that mothers are special. Scripture does remind us, however, that mothers are indeed special, indeed blessed, indeed a blessing to us all.

The closing chapter of the Book of Proverbs is an extended homily to mothers.

The opening of the Book of Samuel describes the passion and devotion of Samuel’s mother Hannah.

When Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth return to Israel, after both are left widowed, it is Naomi who guides and advises Ruth, that she might gain favor with Boaz, who ultimately marries her. Through the loyalty, love, and integrity of both Naomi and Ruth came Israel’s greatest King, David, as well as the royal House that bears his name—and through which Jesus Christ came into the world.

We are reminded of the faith and sacrifice demanded of mothers when Jochebed, the mother of Moses, placed the infant Moses in a basket on the Nile, letting him float into the presence of Pharaoh’s daughter, thus saving him from Pharaoh’s decree that all Hebrew male infants should be killed. Through her willingness to put Moses’ fate in God’s hands, Moses would eventually be called to lead the people of Israel out of bondage.

When Sarah, Abraham’s wife, laughs skeptically at God’s promise that Abraham would become a father of nations, He chides her, reminding her that mothers are a part of God’s plan.

Zechari′ah, the husband of previously barren Elizabeth, was struck dumb for the duration of her pregnancy, after the angel of the Lord had to remind him of the importance of mothers to what God ordains for the world.

As an angel would then relate to Mary, it would be through her child, Jesus, that mankind would be saved and restored to God.

Without the love, the devotion, the faith, and the sacrifice of each of these mothers, the great and heroic figures of the Bible would not come to be.

We do not need Scripture to remind us that mothers are a special blessing to us all. Even so, Scripture reminds us that mothers are also indispensable to God’s plan. All that He has ordained for humanity will unfold because there are mothers raising children, bringing into being each subsequent generation.

Scripture reminds us that mothers endure trials and challenges to raise their sons and daughters well. Mothers are a blessing to us all because motherhood itself is never an easy path.

We do not exaggerate to call mothers and motherhood a miracle unto themselves.

It is from my mother teaching me to read that I developed first a love of reading, and then a love of learning. Without that gift from her I would not be writing All Facts Matter, and I would not be writing this now. All that I am today, and certainly all that is good, is a blessing I have from my mother.

So my prayer this day is a simple prayer of thanksgiving for all the mothers in the world. My prayer this day is that all mothers everywhere may know that they are a blessing to us all, that they are to be celebrated and cherished. My prayer this day is that we all may pause to remember that motherhood is its own special miracle, through which boys and girls are raised up into men and women.

To all the mothers, Happy Mother’s Day!

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Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Galatians 6:7-8

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Choice begets action. Action begets reaction. Reaction begets consequence.

There is no part of the world where this sequence is not the eternal order of things. There is no part of the world where this is not God’s guiding principle for humanity.

I discuss choice quite often, and my reasoning for this is simple: choice is the starting point. Choice selects our actions. Choice frames the reactions which follow. Choice defines the consequences we receive.

Choices matter.

The closing verse to the Book of Judges reminds us that each of us has the power to choose for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. The grim story of corruption, vengeance and war which precedes that verse teaches us that we can all too easily make a complete mess of that choice, completely confusing ourselves as to what is right and what is wrong.

King David, for all his faults and sins, shows us that, even though we are imperfect and fallen, we can still choose well. He certainly chose well in facing Goliath. While he choose poorly in pursuing Bathsheba, he chose well in facing up to his mistakes.

Jonah chose poorly in rebelling against the task given him by God, but also chose to repent at least of his rebellion, if not his anger.

The Apostle Paul chose to persecute Christ’s early followers, until Jesus revealed to him on the road to Damascus that it was the Christians and not the Pharisees who were in truth keeping God’s Law. Paul chose to repent and become a leader in that same early church.

We are defined by our choices. Our fate is never an accident of birth, or the result of what others do. Our fate, in this life and in the life to come, is always molded by what we choose to do.

If we choose to uphold God’s Law and bend to God’s Will, our fate will be molded by that commitment to righteousness.

If we choose to defy God’s Law and oppose God’s Will, our fate will be molded by that rebellion.

If we choose one path, seeking happiness or perhaps material riches, we reject the other paths before us. If we go to the left we cannot take the path branching off to the right, and if we take the path on the right we cannot go to the left.

If we choose the path that takes us toward God, we are rejecting the paths which would take us away from God.

This is hardly remarkable or revolutionary doctrine. Jesus Himself made it clear that people had to choose whom they would follow in this world, God or Mammon.

Jesus also admonished His followers to be clear about their choices, and to define their choices with a simple “Yes” or “No”.

Choices matter.

Our choices matter, and our actions matter, because our consequences matter. Very few people, if any, are truly uncaring about the outcomes of what we do. We might not be concerned about all the outcomes of our actions, but invariably there are at least a few outcomes about which we are majorly concerned.

In almost every circumstance, we are not half as concerned about consequences as hindsight will tell us we should be.

When the tribes of Israel united in punitive war against their brethren the Benjamanites at the end of Judges, they did not intend the near-eradication of one of the tribes of Israel—but that was the outcome.

When David seduced Bathsheba, he did not intend to cause her husband Uriah to be killed—but that was the outcome.

When Jonah fled to Joppa and boarded a ship bound for Tarshish, fleeing the task God had set to him, he did not intend to be tossed into the sea and swallowed whole by a great fish or whale—but that was the outcome.

The Apostle Paul, when he persecuted the early Christians, did not intend to be confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, the enormity of his error thrust into his mind with traumatic suddenness—but that was the outcome.

It is these unintended outcomes, these consequences for which we do not plan, that drive many of our future choices. Because of unintended consequences, the Israelites had to agree to allow the surviving Benjaminites to abduct their daughters into forced marriages just to prevent the extinction of one of the Twelve Tribes. Because of unintended consequences, David, desperate after having impregnated Bathsheba, ordered her husband Uriah be left to die on the battlefield, just to conceal that adulterous liaison. Because of unintended consequences, Jonah, in spite of his anger and hatred towards Nineveh, complied with God’s instruction that he carry a warning to that city to end their wickedness or face God’s wrath. Because of unintended consequences, the Apostle Paul emerged from a three-day period of blindness determined to be the most passionate disciple of Jesus, determined to spread Jesus’ message of redemption and forgiveness to the entire Roman world.

But for the unintended consequences, the outcomes about which they did not care initially, the later choices by the Israelites, by David, by Jonah, and by Paul would not have been made.

What is certain is that there will always be consequences, both intended and unintended. Even seemingly “good” choices can produce unpleasant outcomes, and very often the morally right choices, the choices which conform to God’s Law, produce very unpleasant outcomes. Jesus was neither bluffing nor exaggerating when He invited His followers to “take up their cross”; He was reminding His followers that they would suffer horribly as a consequence of keeping to His path, but that also they would have a consequence of eternal life

Consequences matter. Outcomes matter. Actions matter.

Choices matter.

As the Apostle Paul reminds the Galatians, our choices are what determine actions, outcomes, and consequences. If we choose to indulge impulses and desires of the flesh, we are choosing a path that disregards God’s Law and invariably leads us away from God. If we choose to adhere to God’s Law, we are choosing a path that will lead us back to God.

The path of earthly desire has many pleasures.

The path of God’s Law has many challenges and obstacles.

We have to choose which path we will take, knowing we can only choose the one or the other.

We have to choose each day which path we will take, for the path we took yesterday need not be the path we take today, nor are we committed to that path tomorrow. If we took the wrong path yesterday, we can take the right path today.

Each day brings its own set of choices. Each day demands we choose which path we will take.

My prayer this day is that I will today be guided to make good choices, and not bad ones. My prayer this day is that I will today be inspired to choose to follow God’s Law, and to accept all the consequences that come, both pleasant and unpleasant. My prayer this day is that I will be mindful of the outcomes that arise from my choices, that I will weigh all of them prudently and deliberately, that I may choose them with intention and not by accident.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will today be guided to make good choices, and not bad ones. My prayer for you this day is that you also will today be inspired to choose to follow God’s Law, and to accept all the consequences that come, both pleasant and unpleasant. My prayer for you this day is that you also will be mindful of the outcomes that arise from your choices, that you will weigh all of them prudently and deliberately, that you may choose them with intention and not by accident.

Choice begets action. Action begets reaction. Reaction begets consequence.

This is the order of things.

Each day brings its own set of choices. Each day demands we choose which path we will take.

Choose carefully. Choose wisely.

Choices matter.

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And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1 John 2:3-6

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Faith is a binary proposition. One either believes or one disbelieves. There is not a third alternative.

Living according to faith is also a binary proposition. One either is living by faith or one is not living by faith. There is not a third alternative.

To believe in God is to accept God’s Law. To believe in God is to bend to God’s Will.

There is no exception to this. There is no gray area in this.

To believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is to accept both the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. To believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is to accept that, through Him, we are redeemed, the debt of our sins paid forever in full.

There is no exception to this. There is no gray area in this.

To accept God’s Law is to live in accordance with God’s Law. To bend to God’s Will is to act so as to further God’s Will.

There is no exception to this. There is no gray area in this.

There is, however, a problem: when we sin, we are not living in accordance with God’s Law. When we sin we are not acting so as to further God’s Will.

Should we therefore conclude that, if we sin, we do not really believe? If we are honest, we must admit that is at least a possibility.

We see the truth of that possibility everywhere. We see people hypocritically proclaiming piety and righteousness, while acting out venality and viciousness. At least for some people, they sin because they do not really believe.

Where does that leave me? I say I believe. I write weekly sermons about all that I say I believe. Yet I still sin.

Am I therefore a hypocrite? There are those who would say that I am. There are those who do say that I am.

What do I say? I say that I am a man. I admit that I am imperfect. I admit that I am flawed. I admit that I am fallen.

I say I need the forgiveness offered through Jesus because, being imperfect, being flawed, being fallen, I make mistakes. I screw up. I sin.

I am no more righteous, no more free from sin, than was King David. David sinned repeatedly. He was proud and boastful. He was at times lecherous.

Yet David knew his sins were sins. He knew when he had made mistakes, he knew when God had caught him out, and he owned his sins. He repented and asked God for mercy. He did not offer up excuses. He did not try to rationalize away his guilt.

David sinned—and yet David believed.

David violated God’s Law—and yet he knew when he had violated God’s Law.

David repented—because he knew he was in the wrong.

David was not perfect. David was every bit as flawed and as fallen as you or I. Yet despite his flaws and imperfections, David still trusted to God’s judgement and God’s mercy. Whatever consequences arose from his sins, David accepted that they were his consequences, and he bore them as best he could.

David reminds us of an important truth: Repentance does not make sin “okay”. We cannot sin on Saturday, repent on Sunday, and expect God to receive us kindly. Jesus Himself warned against being the superficial sort who mouths all the right words and does all the wrong things. Such people are not likely to be received into the Kingdom of Heaven, and it is easy to see why: if all they do is mouth all the right words, they do not actually believe what they pretend to believe.

Yet repentance is essential. We are going to sin on Saturday, and on Sunday, and on every other day of the week. That is the reality of being a fallen creature.

We are going to sin, but if we really do believe as we claim to believe, we know we have sinned. We know when we have not kept to God’s Law. We know when we have sought to defy God’s Will.

If we really do believe, we know we need to repent. If we really do believe, we know we need to change our habits as well as our thinking. If we really do believe, we know we need to be born again.

Most of all, if we really do believe, we know we can change, we can be born again. We know we are called to be constantly born again, transformed and renewed as Paul encourages us to be in Romans 12.

We know we have not followed God's Law, but we also know we can follow God's Law. We can turn from sin to salvation. We can turn from disobedience to obedience. We can turn from rebellion to righteousness.

My prayer this day is that I will always be guided to true repentance, true change, true transformation. My prayer this day is that I will be constantly be born again, constantly renewed by faith and by God. My prayer this day is that I will always turn from sin to salvation, from disobedience to obedience, from rebellion to righteousness.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will always be guided to true repentance, true change, true transformation. My prayer for you this day is that you also will be constantly born again, constantly renewed by faith and by God. My prayer for you this day is that you also will always turn from sin to salvation, from disobedience to obedience, from rebellion to righteousness.

If we really do believe, we know we need to repent. If we really do believe, we know we need to be born again.

If we really do believe, we know we can be born again.

To believe is to follow God’s Law. If we really do believe, we know we can follow God’s Law.

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And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

Luke 12:8-10

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I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth; And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.

So begins the Apostles’ Creed, one of the oldest Christian declarations of faith.

This is where my faith begins. These points are the “red lines” of my faith, points which are not open to debate or compromise. This is where I stand in my faith.

If you say that Jesus was a “good man”, you and I do not agree, and will not agree. Jesus was not a man. Jesus is the Son of God. Period. End of Sentence. End of Discussion.

If you do not acknowledge Jesus is the Son of God, you do not love Jesus.

If you do not acknowledge Jesus is the Son of God, you reject Jesus.

If you wrap that rejection in any sort of spiritual or religious guise, if you willfully depict Jesus as anything but the Son of God while pretending to Christian faith and devotion, you are flirting with blasphemy—the sin Jesus Himself warned was the one thing that could not be forgiven.

If you do this, I will tell you to your face you are doing this. If you do this I will tell you to your face you are wrong for doing this.

I will not apologize.

I will not feel guilty.

I will not back down.

Faith matters.

We must be clear about faith, about what we believe, because the modern world is awash with ideas that pretend to be accommodating of faith, but are in reality desecrations of faith. Scarcely a day goes by where we do not see some social media “influencer” making absurd claims about Jesus, about Christianity, about faith.

Recently, a media personality of some notoriety (who I shall not name because I will not give him any more platform than he already has), made the ludicrous suggestion that Muslims “love” Jesus because they “revere” Him as a prophet who will return to defeat the Antichrist. The person making the claim is purportedly a Christian, although that cannot be because his statement denies the Divinity of Jesus, which is a requirement for Christian faith.

There is no getting around that point. If we do not accept that Christ is the Son of God, who died on the Cross at Calvary, only to be raised from the dead three days later, if we do not accept both the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, then we cannot have been redeemed and we cannot claim to be forgiven. The Apostle Paul lays down that red line explicitly in 1 Corinthians 15.

If Jesus was merely a prophet, in the tradition of Isaiah and Jeremiah, then Jesus could only be a man. If Jesus was merely a prophet, in the tradition of Isaiah and Jeremiah, then Jesus could not be the Son of God.

To say Jesus was a prophet, even a great one, strips away His Divinity and denies that He is the Son of God.

That is not loving Jesus. That is rejecting Jesus. That is claiming Jesus is other than what and who He is.

Regardless of what the Quran says or does not say, regardless of what Muslims say or do not say, the notion that Muslims can “love” Jesus while denying that He is the Son of God is equal parts hogwash and horse hockey. That is a false idea. That is a false teaching. That is a blasphemous teaching.

I do not know why people make such claims, but I do know that such claims are false. I know that such claims cross that “red line” of faith.

Jesus is the only Begotten Son of God. He is not a man. He is not a prophet.

If you cannot truthfully say this, then you and I do not agree. If you cannot truthfully say this then you and I will never agree.

I will tell you that you are wrong. I will tell you that you are pursuing a false belief and heading down a false path. I will tell you that what you are doing is not going to end well for you.

I will not apologize.

I will not feel guilty.

I will not back down.

We are called to love our neighbor even as we love ourselves. We have always been called to this, just as we have always been called to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.

We are therefore called to approach all people with charity, with compassion, and with mercy. We are never called to approach anyone in anger, or with a vengeful heart.

But we are also not called to compromise faith. There can be no compromising of faith, for if we are willing to compromise on what we say we believe then we do not truly believe. There can be no compromising of faith, for when we compromise on what we say we believe we present a false witness and a false testimony to the world.

When we compromise on what we say we believe, when we lie while pretending to righteousness, surely that is the essence of blasphemy. If we lie about our faith, if we lie about God, we are desecrating Truth. I believe that because I believe God is the font of all Truth. We cannot revere Truth, we cannot love God, while bearing to anyone false witness about God, or about what we believe about God.

There are points of spiritual practice and theology on which I believe men of faith and good conscience can genuinely disagree. Much of what separates and differentiates Christian denominations from one another in large measure comes down to such points. These are theological realms where there is room for debate, where people of genuine faith can genuinely agree to disagree without compromising their faith.

Not all points of spiritual practice or theology can be approached with such equanimity. Where differences in spiritual practice or theology cross the red lines of faith, no agreement is possible, not even the “agreement” to disagree. When a person’s words or actions cross the red lines of faith, the only possible response is opposition. Then we are called to tell that person they are wrong. Then we are called to oppose whatever ideas they are spreading, to counter their lies with our Truth.

We have no second option in this. If we are sincere in our faith we have no alternative but faith. If we are sincere in our faith we have no alternative but to bear true witness to our faith, true witness about God.

If we declare Jesus is the Son of God, we are called to oppose all who say Jesus is anything other than the Son of God. We are called to meet every such false statement with a firm and unyielding “No.”

I declare Jesus is the Son of God. I believe He died on the Cross at Calvary and was raised from the dead three days later. I believe in the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

Jesus was not a man. Jesus is the Son of God.

Period.

End of Sentence.

End of Discussion.

My prayer on every day is that all people will hear the Truth about Jesus, and the Truth about God. My prayer on every day is that all people will embrace Jesus as their Lord and their Savior. My prayer on every day is that all people will joyfully embrace the Redemption and Forgiveness Jesus won for us all on that Cross at Calvary.

To those who, despite my prayer, say that Jesus is any other than the Son of God, I say simply that you are wrong. I say that you hold a false idea, and have embraced a false teaching. I say that you are being led down a path that will not end well for you. I urge you to get off that path, and I pray you find a path that leads you back to God.

But let there be no misunderstanding about faith, about Christian faith, about my faith. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus died on the Cross at Calvary, and was raised from the dead three days later. Through His Crucifixion and Resurrection, all who will but believe are redeemed from death, forgiven of all our sins.

This is where I stand. This is what I believe.

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In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 17:6

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This verse occurs a few times towards the end of the Book of Judges.

I frequently cite the instance that closes out Judges—Chapter 21 verse 25—when grounding an argument that we are individually called and individually accountable for how well or how poorly we carry out God’s Law.

I have cited this verse when arguing that if people will but follow God’s Law, man’s laws are made superfluous, yet if people reject God’s Law, man’s laws are made irrelevant.

Yet the closing chapters of Judges are a complex and fairly dark story about people choosing what they thought was right, acting on it—and reaping horrific consequences as a result.

We are called to decide for ourselves moral right and moral wrong, but the closing chapters of Judges are a study in our capacity to make not just the wrong decision, but the worst possible decision.

In Chapter 17 we read about a man named Micah, who retrieves by theft silver that belonged to his mother, who then uses the silver “to make a graven image and a molten image.” That is an odd choice of uses for the silver, as the commandment is quite clear: no graven images. Micah builds a shrine, and makes one of his sons a priest. There is no mentioning of Micah following the rites of ordination directed in Exodus 29. Later, a Levite happens upon Micah’s home, and is hired to be the priest instead of Micah’s son.

In Chapter 18, a group of Danites rob Micah, and persuade the Levite to join them. After attacking the city of La’ish, the group settles around that city, renaming it Dan. There they set up Micah’s graven image and install a descendant of Moses as priest.

In Chapter 19, we read of the Levite taking for himself a concubine—and even in the original Hebrew she is referred to as "concubine” (פִילֶ֔גֶשׁ) and not “wife”. She then tires of the relationship and returns to her father in Bethlehem. The Levite goes after her, and after many days, prepares to return back to his own home, with concubine in tow. On the way back the Levite and his concubine arrive in the city of Gib′e-ah, a city of Benjaminites, and end up spending the night there, the guest of an old man.

In the middle of the night, several young men gather around the old man’s house, demanding he send the Levite out to them to be assaulted (a scene which recalls the Sodomites demanding the same of Lot in Genesis). Instead of sending the Levite out, his concubine is put out to the mob instead, where she is brutally assaulted repeatedly and slain.

The following morning, the Levite gathers up her dead body, cuts her up into twelve pieces, sending a piece to each of the tribes of Israel, who then gather to hear the Levite’s story. Outraged upon hearing, every tribe except the tribe of Benjamin swears an oath to avenge the woman’s death. An army is raised, which goes back to Gib′e-ah, there to punish the Benjaminites, first for the sexual assault and murder of a young woman, and second for refusing to hand over the miscreant young men when challenged to do so.

Bloody civil war among the Israelite tribes follows, which the Benjaminites ultimately lose. Before losing, however, they suffer the loss of all of their wives and all of their children. Only some 600 of the tribe of Benjamin survive—all male.

This poses a problem for the victorious Israelites: if the Benjaminites are not able to take wives for themselves, an entire tribe of the Children of Israel, the chosen of God, will vanish forever. However, the tribes arrayed against the Benjaminites had sworn an oath that they would never give the Benjaminites any of their daughters in marriage. If they keep their oath, the Tribe of Benjamin will cease to exist, but if they violate their oath they go against God.

Their solution—allow the surviving Benjaminites to “steal” wives for themselves from the remaining tribes of Israel.

Let that sink in: the tribes of Israel were outraged that a Levite’s concubine was savagely attacked and killed, yet the war they wage to “punish” the young men guilty of the deed ends with the other tribes of Israel agreeing to allow the Benjaminites to “steal” wives for themselves among the daughters of the other tribes. A war fought over sexual assault ends with an agreement to allow sexual slavery.

The story adds an ironic subtext to the closing verse of Judges. The men of Israel were morally outraged by what had transpired, and were full of righteous indignation when they went off to wage punitive fratricidal war. They were doing what they thought was right.

Interestingly, God is conspicuous mainly by His absence in this narrative. God offers no encouragement, and He certainly does not command the war. He delivers only a few cursory directions before allowing the Benjaminites to finally lose.

The war against the Tribe of Benjamin was a choice made by men and men alone. God did not command it, yet God also did not stop it. Even though God’s edict to the Israelites in Leviticus 19:18 was to forsake vengeance among the Israelite people—and the war against the Benjaminites was undeniably a war of vengeance—God allowed the Israelites the freedom to walk down the path of vengeance they had chosen.

At the end of that path was the near destruction of one of the Twelve Tribes, forcing the remainder of Israel to make some very drastic decisions to preserve the Tribe of Benjamin.

The Israelites were free to choose right and wrong for themselves—and they got it wrong. Their choice, full of seeming righteousness and righteous indignation, turned into a consequence of vengeance and fratricidal slaughter, something God specifically told the Israelites not to do.

We are free to choose right and wrong for ourselves. We are called to choose right and wrong for ourselves. We are commanded to choose right and wrong for ourselves.

We are not guaranteed to get the choice right.

We are not guaranteed our choices will work out as we want.

We are not guaranteed God will make the choices for us and save us from ourselves.

We have to choose, and so it is imperative that we choose wisely, with deliberation and much reflection. That is our best hope—our only hope—for making the right choice, and even then we will get it wrong at least some of the time.

How many choices have we seen unfold in the world today where things did not go as expected, and carried consequences far in excess of what was anticipated? How many judgements of national leaders have led to wasting of blood and treasure? How many pronouncements of so-called “experts” have ultimately done far more harm than good?

How many times have we learned the truth of the aphorism that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions?

We are called to choose for ourselves how we will carry out God’s Law, but always there is a catch: we are not God. We are human. We are imperfect. We make mistakes.

Even if we believe in our hearts we are doing what is right, that is no assurance that what we are doing is, in fact, right.

Even small mistakes—small sins—left uncorrected can lead us into minefields where all choices become bad. The Levite started out allowing himself to be hired out as a rogue priest, where it is unclear he was ever properly ordained as commanded by God. Instead of marrying, he took for himself a concubine—what we might today describe perhaps as a “friend with benefits”. Being unmarried, the woman thought nothing of leaving when the relationship grew tiresome.

If the Levite had been more diligent in following the rules for priests, would he have entered into a sexual relationship outside of marriage? If the woman were his wife, would she have left just because of some dispute with him? If she was his wife and had not left, would they have found themselves in Gib′e-ah, at the mercy of a mob?

We do not know, nor can we, but the possibility cannot be denied.

If the Levite had buried the concubine in the proper funerary custom and not used her body as a brutal and ugly message to Israel, would the tribes themselves still have been triggered into vengeful fury, and moved to violence against their brethren?

We do not know, nor can we, but the possibility cannot be denied.

If the tribes had not been moved to violence, would they have sworn drastic and intemperate oaths before God?

We do not know, nor can we, but the possibility cannot be denied.

The people of Israel did not leap all at once into fratricidal violence. They wandered there steadily, by degrees. The path began with small mistakes, slight deviations from the path of righteousness, and ended with the tribes of Israel very nearly wiping out a portion of their own people.

Yet at every stop along the path, there is no intimation that the people ever considered what they were doing was wrong, or that they had gotten God’s Law very wrong. At every step, they presumed what they were doing was right.

Only at the end, when consequence came crashing down on them, did it become clear that they had gotten the choice of right and wrong very wrong.

The closing chapters of Judges are a sobering commentary on hubris and human fallibility. They are not a tale of dark and evil forces, but of carelessness leading to corruption leading to cruelty leading to chaos.

We must judge right and wrong for ourselves. There is no one else who can judge for us. Yet always we must be mindful of our own capacity for error, our own facility for sin. Always we must be mindful that self-righteous indignation is never actual righteousness. Always we must be mindful that we are not God.

My prayer on every day is that I may always be mindful of this. My prayer on every day is that I may always be mindful of my own capacity for simple error, for making the wrong choice even when I am certain I am right. My prayer on every day is that I may always be mindful that I am but God’s creation, not God, and that my judgement is never perfect.

My prayer for you on every day is that you also may always be mindful of this. My prayer for you on every day is that you also may always be mindful of your own capacity for simple error, for making the wrong choice even when you are certain you are right. My prayer for you on every day is that you also may always be mindful that you are but God’s creation, not God, and that your judgement is likewise never perfect.

We are free to choose right and wrong for ourselves. We are called to choose right and wrong for ourselves. We are commanded to choose right and wrong for ourselves.

We are not guaranteed to get the choice right.

We are not guaranteed our choices will work out as we want.

We are not guaranteed God will make the choices for us and save us from ourselves.

We have to choose, and so it is imperative that we choose wisely, with deliberation and much reflection. That is our best hope—our only hope—for making the right choice.

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Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 12:38-40

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Three days after Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried, He arose and lived again.

Three days after descending into the earth, Jesus returned, left His tomb, and walked on earth once more.

Three days after descending into the belly of a whale, Jonah returned, was cast up on the shore, and walked on earth once more.

This was the sign Jesus promised the scribes and Pharisees. This was the only sign the “evil and adulterous generation” would receive.

Why this sign? What is significant about the prophet Jonah that his ordeal of being swallowed whole by a fish is relevant to the story of Jesus’ Resurrection?

There is the obvious similarity between Jonah enduring three days in the belly of a great fish and Jesus enduring three days in the grave. Is that the only similarity? Did Jesus choose the ordeal of the Prophet Jonah simply because of that easy parallel with His crucifixion and resurrection?

Consider the story of Jonah.

Ordered by God to travel to Nineveh and preach against their wicked ways, Jonah rebelled against God, fleeing in the opposite direction from Nineveh, taking passage on a ship bound for Tarshish. Yet Jonah could not escape God, could not evade God’s watchful eye, and could not avoid God’s judgement.

When the sailors on the ship cast lots to see who among them was accursed by God after a terrible storm threatened to sink the ship, the lot accurately fell on Jonah. Outed as the cause of the ship’s distress, he had the ship’s crew throw him overboard, giving himself up to the deep ocean in hopes that God would calm the storm, and allow the sailors to live. Jonah thus sank into the waters, offered up by the sailors that they might live.

But Jonah did not drown. Instead, he was swallowed by a “whale” (many translations will say “great fish”), which then dove down into the deeps, taking Jonah down and farther down into the ocean. At the bottom of the ocean, in the belly of a whale, Jonah prayed to God for deliverance. He submitted himself to God’s will, praying that he might yet be returned to dry land, even if he had to go preach to the city of Nineveh.

After three days and nights, God had the whale vomit Jonah back onto dry land. After three days and nights, God delivered Jonah from the consequences of his rebellion.

This ordeal is the sign Jesus promised to the “evil and adulterous” scribes and Pharisees.

After eating the Passover supper with His disciples Jesus was given over to the Romans to be crucified. Yet Jesus had not rebelled against God—quite the contrary, He was carrying out God’s Will. As the culmination of His ministry here on earth, Jesus gave Himself up to crucifixion and death, shedding His blood that Mankind would be redeemed, saved from sinful death, and given new and eternal life. After dying on the cross, Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, sealed in the belly of the earth.

After three days and nights, God rolled back the stone in front of the tomb, and Jesus emerged. After three days and nights, God delivered Jesus from death.

The “sign” that Jesus promised the scribes and Pharisees was that He would endure an ordeal like that of Jonah.

Yet this was not merely an ordeal meant to “prove” Jesus was the Messiah. It was an ordeal with a purpose.

Jonah rebelled against God, and for this a storm lashed the ship on which he was traveling. The sailors, upon realizing that Jonah had grievously sinned, offered him up to the deep ocean. The scriptural account does not show them repenting of their own sins, but they very clearly rejected Jonah’s rebellion against God and wanted no part of it.

Jesus was not rebelling against God. Quite the contrary, He was fulfilling the purpose given to Him by God. It is Mankind who has rebelled against God. It is Mankind who rebels against God even today.

Jonah accepted being sacrificed to the storm as consequence for his sins. He accepted that he had rebelled against God and went against God’s Will. He understood that there was consequence to be paid for his disobedience, consequence which came to Jonah in the form of a storm threatening a ship.

Jesus accepted being sacrificed as consequence for our sins. He accepted that Mankind has rebelled against God and went against God’s Will. He understood that there is a consequence to be paid for our disobedience, consequence which came to Jesus in the form of Crucifixion and Death.

Jonah took the penalty for his sins upon himself, accepting the consequences of his rebellion against God.

Jesus took the penalty for our sins upon Himself, accepting the consequences of our rebellion against God.

Jonah paid the penalty for Jonah. Jesus paid the penalty for us all.

After three days in the belly of the whale God brought Jonah back to dry land, back to earth. After three days in the belly of the whale God delivered Jonah from his sins.

After three days in the belly of the earth—after three days of death—God brought Jesus back out of the earth. After three days in the belly of the earth, God delivered not Jesus—who is without sin—but all of Mankind from our sins.

Jonah’s ordeal is a dramatic testament to the futility and self-destructive nature of rebellion against God. Sin at its core drives us away from God. Sin deprives us of freedom and ultimately of life. That most precious gift which comes only from God can only be sustained by turning to God.

In that deep, dark, belly of a whale at the bottom of a deep dark ocean, Jonah repented of his sin and turned to God for forgiveness. God granted him forgiveness and delivered him back into life.

Jesus went into the depths of the earth, into death itself, seeking not deliverance for Himself, but deliverance for us all. God delivered Jesus back into life, and all who will but believe in this Miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection are likewise delivered back into life, redeemed from the penalty of death that is the consequence for all sin.

On this Easter Sunday, I pray we may all ponder the sign of Jonah, its ordeal, and final deliverance from sin. On this Easter Sunday, I pray we may all strive to understand how Jesus, by enduring Jonah’s ordeal, redeemed and gave us all final deliverance from our sins. On this Easter Sunday, I pray we may all recognize and give thanks for the true Miracle of Jesus Christ, His Resurrection, through which the penalty for all our sins is paid.

After three days in the belly of the whale God brought Jonah back to earth. After three days in the belly of the whale God delivered Jonah from his sins.

Jesus went into the depths of the earth, into death itself, seeking not deliverance for Himself, but deliverance for us all. God delivered Jesus back into life, and all who will but believe in this Miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection are likewise delivered back into life, redeemed from the penalty of death that is the consequence for all sin.

Jesus is Risen, and we are saved. Thanks be to God.

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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on an ass,
on a colt the foal of an ass.

Zechariah 9:9

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Palm Sunday is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, Israel’s ancient capital and the center of Jewish religious life.

In Matthew 21, we read how Jesus sent two of His disciples ahead, searching for a colt, the young offspring of a donkey, that He might ride it into Jerusalem.

As Matthew highlights, this act fulfilled the prophecy from Zechariah, and established that Jesus was meant to be King of the Jews, and the Government of Israel was meant to be on His shoulders.

The prophecy itself says much about what sort of King the coming Messiah would be: triumphant, victorious, and yet humble, riding on a colt, a foal, the young offspring of a donkey. For all the Messiah’s successes and glories, the prophecy indicates as King He would be on the same level as the people of Israel.

With this imagery, the prophecy itself recalls the ancient Mosaic commandments for kings of Israel found in Deuteronomy: the king was to be from among the people of Israel, and no foreigner not of the nation of Israel was to rule; the king was to keep his own copy of the Law, and study it daily; the king was to remember he was as much under the Law as the rest of the people.

A king who failed in these duties would soon be removed as king.

King Saul was chosen by God to be King of Israel, and when his heart hardened and he turned away from God, God withdrew from him and he lost his throne to David.

David’s son Solomon at the end of his reign turned away from God, and while God had promised not to rend the kingdom during Solomon’s reign, as soon as he passed away his son Rehobo′am was confronted with civil war and the secession of ten of the Twelve Tribes.

Kings who are arrogant, who are hard of heart, who turn away from God’s Law, do not reign long as king over God’s chosen people Israel.

The prophecy in Zechariah also comes in a passage where Zechariah is detailing the redemption of the people of Israel: how God will strike down Israel’s enemies, and restore to Israel all the blessings promised to an obedient and faithful nation.

The coming of the Messiah is thus a moment of restoration and redemption for the people, a moment when the darkness is beaten back and the light of God’s Truth illuminates everything.

The coming of the Messiah is thus also a reminder that God has not forsaken His children. He will redeem. He will restore. He will gather us back to Him in His appointed time.

The prophecy from Zechariah is rich with promise and hope. As with earlier prophecies from Isaiah and Jeremiah, it stands as a reminder that, while God will punish unholy and unrighteous behavior, when the punishment is done, the transgression is wiped away.

When the King comes, we will be forgiven.

Jesus has come, and we are forgiven.

There is another subtle truth we can glean from Jesus sending His disciples ahead to fetch the colt: Jesus was deliberate and intentional in fulfilling the prophecy from Zechariah. Jesus apparently walked most everywhere He went during His ministry here on Earth; He could just as easily have walked into Jerusalem. Yet He chose to ride into Jerusalem, and to do so specifically on the young offspring of a donkey, the precise description of the animal given in Zechariah.

As Jesus was intentional in choosing to fulfill this prophecy from Zechariah, it necessarily follows He was intentionally choosing to signal to the people of Israel that He was indeed the Messiah, and He was indeed coming as the triumphant yet humble King. Most Jewish people, and certainly all with more than a passing familiarity with Hebrew Scripture, would have recognized the prophetic implications of Jesus’ choice, even before Matthew highlighted it in his Gospel account.

By riding into Jerusalem on a colt, Jesus was telling the people of Israel that He was choosing to be the Messiah. Not only was He choosing to be the triumphant yet humble King prophesied in Zechariah, He was also choosing to do what needed to be done to redeem God’s children.

By riding into Jerusalem on a colt, Jesus was telling the people of Israel that He would triumph over the greatest enemy not just of Israel but of all people everywhere: Death itself. Jesus would go to His death on the Cross at Calvary, and after the appointed three days would arise again, fully restored to life.

Through Crucifixion and Resurrection, Jesus would defeat Death. On the day of His Resurrection, Jesus Christ would save God’s children, just as Zechariah foretold in his prophecy.

By choosing to fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah, Jesus was choosing to tell the people that the moment of their salvation was come at last, that the Kingdom of Heaven was finally at hand.

Much as the days of Advent are rich in anticipation of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, Palm Sunday is rich in anticipation of Jesus’ ultimate triumph—His Resurrection and our Redemption. The people of Israel knew their moment of Redemption was at hand; they knew because Jesus told them the moment was at hand. Jesus told the people of Israel the moment of Redemption was at hand when He rode a colt into Jerusalem, to the praise and adoration of the people.

On this Palm Sunday, I pray we may all be mindful of the momentous miracle Jesus Himself says is coming, the Miracle of His Resurrection we celebrate each Easter Sunday, just one week from today. On this Palm Sunday I pray we may all reflect upon Jesus’ clear intention not merely to be a triumphant yet humble King of Israel, but one who would confront and defeat Death itself, ensuring eternal life for all those who will but believe. On this Palm Sunday I pray we may all appreciate the meaning and the message of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a colt, that the moment of our salvation is here at last, that the Kingdom of Heaven is truly at hand.

Jesus was intentional in choosing to fulfill this prophecy from Zechariah. He was intentionally choosing to signal to the people of Israel that He was indeed the Messiah, and He was indeed coming as the triumphant yet humble King. Not only was He choosing to be the triumphant yet humble King prophesied in Zechariah, Jesus was also choosing to do what needed to be done to redeem God’s children.

Through Crucifixion and Resurrection, Jesus would defeat Death. On the day of His Resurrection, Jesus Christ would save God’s children, just as Zechariah foretold in his prophecy.

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This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering—since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant rest with us to you who are afflicted, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10

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We know that consequence comes for us all. All that we do rebounds back on us, for better or for worse.

Anyone who has accumulated any life experience at all can surely attest to the truth of this.

If we have done well, if we have worked to obey God’s Law and to be an instrument of His Will, we are promised good things in the hereafter.

Jesus assures us of this in the Judgement of the Nations recounted in Matthew 25.

Revelation tell us that only those whose names are inscribed in the Book of Life shall enter the New Jerusalem.

God promised the Israelites in Deuteronomy 28 that He would bless them for all time, so long as they obeyed His Commandments.

These same passages promise trial, torment, and tribulation for all who disobey God, who reject God’s Commandments, and whose names are not inscribed in the Book of Life.

Nor do we necessarily need to wait for the hereafter to see consequence visited upon wicked and wise alike.

As we are reminded in Ecclesiastes 5, those greedy for money always lust for more, and are never at peace with what they have. Surely we have seen this play out in front of us many times over. Every person convicted of fraud, of embezzlement, of larceny, always sought to have “more”—more money, more wealth, perhaps more power, more fame, or more influence.

Is the man who always is restless for “more” able to pause and be grateful for what he has? No, he is not. At least he usually is not.

Is the man who constantly lusts after women able to be at peace in the company of just a single woman, in the fashion God ordained at the beginning of the world? No, he is not, and for much the same reason as with greed—eternal dissatisfaction with what he has, and constantly pursuing that (or whom) which he does not have.

Many of us were told as children that “virtue is its own reward”. A case can be made that vice is its own punishment.

Are such punishments “justice”? Are the evils men endure as a consequence of their greed enough suffering for the evils they have likely inflicted on others?

Most who have suffered at the hands of another are unlikely to say “yes”. When we are wronged, we want vengeance. We want to see the wicked among us suffer for their wickedness—and it is human nature that we magnify the suffering we endure while minimizing the suffering endured by others.

Certainly God decreed the standard of justice among the Israelites should be “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” This was the law they were to administer amongst themselves. In adjudicating matters they were to repay suffering with suffering in kind.

Yet not all evils are brought before the courts of men for adjudication and punishment. Greed, selfishness, and lust all lead to mistreatment and wrongs endured, yet such wrongs often remain outside the realm of human justice. Do they therefore go completely unpunished?

What we are told by God is to leave such matters to Him. In Leviticus 19:17 God commanded the Israelites not to hate one another, and in verse 18 He further commanded them to forswear vengeance, issuing what Jesus would later identify as the corollary to the Great Commandment, that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

This teaching is reiterated in Ecclesiastes 3, where we are reminded that judgment and the future of all men are entirely in God’s Hands, and never our own.

Whatever consequences a person receives, be they in the herenow or in the hereafter, are what God has decreed is the right and just measure for whatever they have done, be it good or evil.

If a man does what is right and suffers adversity apparently as a result, is that therefore justice? We must accept that it is.

We are not only told time and again that God will mete out whatever consequences He deems appropriate, but we are told specifically by Jesus that doing the right thing frequently means embracing the cross and crucifixion. If we do what is right before God we will frequently be persecuted by men. Not only does life experience tell us this happens, Jesus all but guarantees this will happen.

Is this justice?

Yes.

It must be, for regardless of how we apprehend the consequences we see befall good and evil men alike, we are compelled to realize that all consequences are whatever God hands down to further His purposes. We will not know what those purposes are, neither for our lives nor for anyone else’s. God does not give us all the details, nor does God give us His reasons for not giving us all the details.

We are reminded of this in Isaiah 55, when the Lord reminds Isaiah God has His own thoughts and His own intentions, which are not our thoughts nor our intentions.

Job’s friends, in their arrogance, reminded Job of this before hypocritically presuming to know God’s intentions for Job and the sufferings Job endured.

Thus we are counseled in Proverbs 3 to put our trust in God, and let His Will unfold however He chooses. We will not know the “why”, and we may only know a portion of the “how”, but we are to have faith that there will be a “what”.

We are to have faith, and in truth we have no other choice. With or without faith in God’s ultimate divine justice, we do not control the lives of others. We do not control the choices of others. We do not control the consequences which come down upon others.

We do not even fully control our own lives. We at most control our choices, and through our choices we have some say in what consequences will come down on us. That is all the control we have, and that is all the control we will ever have.

With faith in God, without faith in God, that is all the control we can possibly have.

Is this justice?

Yes. It is the justice God has ordained for the world. Consequences, both in the herenow and the hereafter, are God’s ultimate divine justice for us all. It matters not if we perceive them as just or unjust, because the choice of what consequences will come down on anyone is never ours to make.

My prayer this day is that I will always be mindful that judgment and the future are choices that belong only to God. My prayer this day is that I will maintain the grace and the presence to accept that God’s justice is whatever consequence God selects for any choice made by men. My prayer this day is that I will focus my mind on the choices that belong to me—choices about what I will do in my life—that I may make better choices for my life, so that I may live a better life.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will always be mindful that judgment and the future are choices that belong only to God. My prayer for you this day is that you also will maintain the grace and the presence to accept that God’s justice is whatever consequence God selects for any choice made by men. My prayer for you this day is that you also will focus your mind on the choices that belong to you—choices about what you will do in your life—that you may make better choices for your life, so that you may live a better life.

Whatever consequences a person receives, be they in the herenow or in the hereafter, are what God has decreed is the right and just measure for whatever they have done, be it good or evil.

All consequences are whatever God hands down to further His purposes. We will not know what those purposes are, neither for our lives nor for anyone else’s. God does not give us all the details, nor does God give us His reasons for not giving us all the details.

Is this justice?

Yes.

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Can I forget the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,

and the scant measure that is accursed?

Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales

and with a bag of deceitful weights?

Your rich men are full of violence;

your inhabitants speak lies,

and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Micah 6:10-12

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We are called by God to do the right thing.

We are called by God to do the right thing when we are at work, dealing with customers, clients, and coworkers. We are called by God to do the right thing when dealing with our neighbors. We are called by God to do the right thing when raising our children.

We are called by God to do the right thing—and all too often we do not do that right thing.

We only need to turn on the evening news to see the poverty, war, suffering, and injustice that abound in the world. If we are honest with ourselves we must admit we have been called by God to rise above such evils, to make decent provision for the poor among us, to make peace and not war, and to end injustice by treating those who are suffering with mercy and compassion.

That such evils persist in the world is the measure of our failure to do the right thing.

As people, as communities, and as nations, humanity has failed to do the right thing.

I have failed to do the right thing. You have failed to do the right thing.

This is the fundamental reality of the human condition. This was pointed out by the Apostle Paul in Chapter 3 verse 9 of his Letter to the Romans, that humans are flawed, that humans are imperfect, that humans make mistakes.

We want to think of ourselves as good people living good lives, but if we step back and look at our lives honestly and unsparingly, how many mistakes might we find?

How many moments of anger have we had, where we have said something cruel or unkind to another person? If we accept Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount such moments expose us to judgement and the “hell of fire.”

How many moments of lust have we had, where we have looked desiringly on another human being, reducing their humanity to the bits with which we might find our own physical gratification? Again, Jesus taught that was no different from actual literal adultery.

How many moments of greed have we had, where we have served Mammon rather than God?

We are imperfect. We are flawed. We are fallen.

This is what it means to be human.

We also live in a world where desire begets choice, where choice begets action, where action begets reaction, and where reaction begets consequence.

There are consequences which arise from doing the right thing. There are consequences which arise from not doing the right thing.

Jesus gives us some idea of those consequences in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, in which He describes the judgment to come down upon all nations. Those people and those communities who have cared for their poor, tended to their sick, and had mercy to those who were suffering, will be received joyously into the Kingdom of Heaven. Those people and those communities who have ignored the poor, abandoned their sick, and had no mercy for those who were suffering, will be cast out, tossed into the lake of fire for all eternity.

Consequences come for us all, whether we have acted righteously or unrighteously, whether we have chosen wisely or unwisely.

There should be no surprise about this. When we fail to do the right thing, God is hardly likely to be pleased by our failure. Just as we are not pleased when our children are disobedient, God is not pleased when we are disobedient.

Nor is God likely to be pleased if we permit disobedience to exist in our midst. As we are called to do the right thing, we are called to not stand silent when others do the wrong thing. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians Chapter 8, if we are tolerant and permissive towards the sins of others, our forbearance becomes a passive validation of those sins, and thus an encouragement for such sins to continue.

God does not want sin to continue, and we should likewise not want sin to continue. We should not only desire an end to our own sinful choices, but should encourage others to make an end to their sinful choices.

We are called to do the right thing, we are called to seek out a path of righteousness, and so we are called to encourage all around us to join us on that same path. Righteousness should beget righteousness.

As God will not overlook the merchant with wicked scales and deceitful weights, so we should not overlook that same merchant, but should call out his wickedness, and put ourselves apart from his wickedness. While there must always be grace for those who repent of their wickedness and aspire to rise above it, there must never be tolerance for those who are hardened in their hearts and persist in their wickedness.

Whether we are righteous or unrighteous, saintly or sinful, one reality will always persist: our communities will always be a reflection of who we are as individuals, and what manner of people we keep around us. If we tolerate bad behavior, our communities will be rife with bad behavior. If we insist on good behavior, we will on balance obtain good behavior.

We are called by God to do the right thing. We are called by God to call on others to do the right thing.

My prayer this day is that I will not only hear God’s call to do the right thing, but that I will inspire others to do the right thing as well. My prayer this day is that I will, in all righteousness, guide people onto their own path of righteousness. My prayer this day is that I will not only rise above my own sins, but that I will succeed in encouraging others to rise above theirs.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will not only hear God’s call to do the right thing, but that you will inspire others to do the right thing as well. My prayer for you this day is that you also will, in all righteousness, guide people onto their own path of righteousness. My prayer for you this day is that you also will not only rise above your sins, but that you will succeed in encouraging others to rise above theirs.

God does not want sin to continue, and we should likewise not want sin to continue. We should not only desire an end to our own sinful choices, but should encourage others to make an end to their sinful choices.

We are called to do the right thing, we are called to seek out a path of righteousness, and so we are called to encourage all around us to join us on that same path. Righteousness should beget righteousness.

We are called by God to do the right thing. We are called by God to call on others to do the right thing.

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Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.”

Daniel 10:12

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Do you pray every day?

Do you pray in moments of crisis or doubt?

I don’t pray every day—but I should. I know I should pray, and I know that prayer makes living life easier in ways large and small. I know I should pray, but too often I allow myself to be distracted, to get caught up in the moment, and to be too undisciplined to keep my focus where I know it belongs—on God, and on what He wants.

Why should I pray? Why should you pray?

We know prayer is a good idea because Jesus Himself took the time to teach us what a good prayer looks like and sounds like in Matthew 6. Jesus reiterates the importance of prayer in Luke 11. There is no doubt but that Jesus wants us to understand that prayer is a good thing, something we should do often.

Jesus also reminds us in these same passages that prayer is our communion with God. Prayer is how we turn our hearts and our minds to Him. Prayer is how we open ourselves up to hearing—sensing, perhaps just feeling—what it is He wants from us in any given moment.

Prayer is not so much us asking for forgiveness, or blessings, or bountiful things, but an answer to a simple yet important question: “Lord, what should I do?”

If we are sober and serious in how we live our lives we already know we should “do the right thing.” We already know we should seek to uphold God’s Law and carry out God’s Will.

Knowing that is the easy part. The hard part is translating that—translating God’s commandments to us—into discrete actions. The hard part is figuring out specifically what we should do, specifically what we should say, and specifically where we should go.

So we must pray. We must pray to focus our minds on God. We must pray to calm the chaotic voices and thoughts which swirl around inside everyone’s head, that we might hear God, that we might listen to what He has to say—and if we take the time to listen we find that God always has something to say.

There have been many times in my day job where I have felt an oppressive weight of conflict, where I have had to have awkward and unpleasant conversations with either clients, or colleagues, or supervisors.

In many of these awkward moments, I have stepped back, bowed my head, and prayed.

When I have stepped back, bowed my head, and prayed, I have heard a small voice in the back of my brain telling me what I must do, and even what I must say.

When I listen to that small voice in the back of my brain, the awkward moment becomes less awkward.

Is that small voice God speaking to me? Certainly there is not something so supernatural as a burning bush, nor as terrifying as a voice from the clouds, nor as dramatic as a lightning flash to accompany that voice from the clouds. There is not a chorus of angels amplifying the message and giving it a divine majestic feel.

Yet that small voice gives good counsel. That small voice puts my mind at ease and helps me function better in difficult moments.

That small voice is always there. I don’t always listen—I don’t always even try to listen—but when I do listen, that small voice has something to say.

Is that small voice God speaking to me? I believe that it is.

That small voice does not tell me what I want to hear. Usually, what that small voice tells me to do is something that is difficult and challenging. Perhaps that small voice reminds me to be diligent in grounding myself in the facts surrounding a particular problem. Perhaps that small voice instructs me to take a clear stance on principle. Perhaps that small voice reminds me to be sober, judicious, and above all professional in my choice of words, so as to avoid saying something for which I will need to apologize later.

That small voice is always reassuring. That small voice is constant. That small voice is reliable.

Is that small voice God speaking to me? I am sure that it is.

That small voice is how I know that, when I pray, God will hear. That small voice is how I know that, when I pray, God will answer.

Why should I pray? Why should you pray? We should pray that we might hear that small voice. We should pray that we might listen to God answering.

We should not look for God to answer our prayers with either a “Yes” or a “No.” We should not look for God to deliver a miracle, or to give us whatever it is we think we want. We should not pretend that God will attend upon our wants, or our desires.

Rather, we do well to remember that we are to attend upon what God wants—that we serve God, and not the other way around.

We do well to remember that God will tell us what we need to hear that we might do what He wants us to do.

We do well to remember that God commands and we obey. That is how God created the world, and that is how God created mankind.

We should understand that if God puts a task before us, He means for us to accomplish that task. He means for us not only to finish, but to succeed.

If we will but listen, God will tell us what we need to hear that we might do all that He has put before us, that we might achieve all that God wants us to achieve.

If we will but pray, God will hear. If we will but pray, God will answer.

My prayer this day is that I will always hear that small voice in the back of my brain. My prayer this day is that I will always heed what that small voice has to say. My prayer this day is that I will listen when God is telling me what I must do, and that I will actually do it.

My prayer for you this day is that you will always hear that small voice in the back of your brain. My prayer for you this day is that you will always heed what that small voice has to say. My prayer for you this day is that you will listen when God is telling you what you must do, and that you will actually do it.

We should pray that we might listen to God answering.

We should not look for God to answer our prayers with either a “Yes” or a “No.” We should not pretend that God will attend upon our wants or our desires.

We should understand that if God puts a task before us, He means for us to accomplish that task. He means for us not only to finish, but to succeed.

If we will but listen, God will tell us what we need to hear that we might do all that He has put before us, that we might achieve all that God wants us to achieve.

If we will but pray, God will hear. If we will but pray, God will answer.

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I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
“Smite the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people;
and what are left of them I will slay with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away,
not one of them shall escape.

“Though they dig into Sheol,
from there shall my hand take them;
though they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.
Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search out and take them;
and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
And though they go into captivity before their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them;
and I will set my eyes upon them
for evil and not for good.”

Amos 9:1-4

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If there is one ironclad law by which the universe operates, it is that for every action there will be reaction, there will be consequence.

For all that we do, we will eventually answer. Consequence will come for us in its time. Consequence always comes for us in its time.

Yesterday, the United States and Israel visited consequence on the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a coordinated series of air strikes, several of Iran’s major cities were severely damaged.

Most significantly, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was apparently killed.

Khamenei’s leadership of Iran was marked chiefly by one phrase: “Death to America”. For most of his 35 years in power, his hatred and opposition to both the United States and Israel was implacable.

The man who made “Death to America” his country’s policy found “death from America” the consequence of that hatred.

Iran had built bunkers and bomb shelters to protect their leaders when attacked. They did not keep Khamenei alive.

We do not know if Khamenei attempted to hide in one such shelter, but we do not need to know. As he is dead we can conclude that Iran’s bunkers and bomb shelters were of no use to him. After 35 years of virulent hatred for America, there was no hiding place for him when American consequence rained down on Tehran.

We should ponder what Khamenei set in motion by his hatred: funding Islamic fundamentalist terror militias, under his leadership Iran helped Hamas carry out their barbaric and genocidal attack on Israel in 2023. That brutal act, tantamount to a declaration of war against Israel, had the direct consequence of Hamas’ leadership being hunted down and exterminated.

There was no hiding place for Hamas when Israel visited consequence on them.

Israel’s zeal in that quest, and what some would call their excesses, has had the direct consequence of Israel receiving a considerable measure of condemnation in many parts of the world. Whether the condemnation is appropriate or not, it is what Israel has received for prosecuting its war against Hamas. There has been no hiding place for Israel when the world visited consequence on them.

Yet it is in no small part that because Iran has played a role in Israel’s wars with Hamas, with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, and even the Houthi rebels in Yemen, that Israel came to see Iran as an existential threat.

It is in no small part that because Iran has sponsored terrorism around the globe that the United States government came to see Iran as an eternal threat to global peace and security.

It is in no small part that because Iran inspired these fears and concerns in Israel and the United States, Israel and the United States concluded now was the time to deliver proper consequence to Iran, while also encouraging the Iranian people to rise up and topple the Islamic Republic regime of Ayatollah Khamenei.

This is exactly what the prophet Amos warned the Israelites would happen: there would be consequence for their wickedness. There would be no defense to shield them. There would be no means of escape. There would be no hiding place.

When God decided it was time for Israel to receive consequence for its actions, for turning away from God and wallowing in sin and depravity, consequence would come—and did come. As the immortal first verses of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 remind us, everything has its time, including God’s wrath.

Does this mean the US and Israeli attacks on Iran are akin to a holy war—a crusade? No. There is nothing holy about war, and this war, brief as it has been, is no exception.

It does mean that the US and Israel are but instruments of the consequences God has decreed for Iran.

It also means that consequence will eventually come for the United States and Israel as well. No matter how righteous the intent, no matter how certain each nation is that its actions against Iran are right and righteous, the United States and Israel will each receive its due measure of consequence in its time.

There was no hiding place for Khamenei. There will be no hiding place for Israel. There will be no hiding place for the United States. As consequence came for Khamenei, consequence will come for Israel in its time. As consequence came for Khamenei, consequence will come for the United States in its time.

Whether that consequence is to be an expression of God’s Wrath or God’s Mercy only God will ever know—and God never lets us know.

We can see consequence at work also in the fratricidal war which nearly eradicated the Israelite tribe of Benjamin in the final chapters of Judges. From the questionable behavior of a Levite to outrageous behavior by a group of young Benjaminite men, sexually assaulting the Levite’s concubine until she died, to the war of vengeance sworn by the other tribes of Israel against the Benjaminites, at every turn there was consequence for actions taken.

When that war was over, and the tribe of Benjamin all but extinguished, the other tribes of Israel were faced with more stark consequences, horrible and bad no matter which path was chosen. They could allow the surviving Benjaminites leave to kidnap their daughters, that they might have wives with which to replenish the tribe of Benjamin, or they could cut off the tribe of Benjamin from the nation of Israel for all time.

Such were the consequences of fratricidal war, a war marked as much by excess as by martial prowess and valor.

As consequence came for the tribes of Israel, consequence came for Ayatollah Khamenei.

As consequence came for Khamenei, consequence will come for you and I, in its time.

For all that you and I do, consequence will come for us, always in its time.

If we are wicked and sinful, and turn away from God, God’s wrath will come for us in God’s time.

If we are mindful and righteous, and turn towards God, God’s mercy will come for us, again in God’s time.

Whether we are sinful or righteous, this much is certain: we will have consequences. We cannot shield ourselves from consequence. We cannot run from consequence. We cannot hide from consequence.

For all that you and I do, there is no hiding place. There is no hiding place from consequence. There is no hiding place from God.

For all that you and I do, we will answer. Of that there is no doubt. From that there can be no escape.

My prayer this day is first and foremost for the ordinary people of Iran, that the consequence which comes to them will be freedom from oppression. My prayer this day is also with the Israeli and American soldiers charged with bringing war and consequence to Iran, that they will all come home alive.

My prayer this day is also that I will be forever mindful and watchful, always apprehensive of consequence, always seeking the consequence of God’s Mercy rather than the consequence of God’s Wrath.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will be forever mindful and watchful, always apprehensive of consequence, always seeking the consequence of God’s Mercy rather than the consequence of God’s Wrath.

Whether we are sinful or righteous, this much is certain: we will have consequences. We cannot shield ourselves from consequence. We cannot run from consequence. We cannot hide from consequence.

For all that you and I do, we will answer. Of that there is no doubt. From that there can be no escape.

For all that you and I do, there is no hiding place. There is no hiding place from consequence. There is no hiding place from God.

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Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David, as preached in my gospel, the gospel for which I am suffering and wearing fetters like a criminal. But the word of God is not fettered. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with its eternal glory.

2 Timothy 2:8-10

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We are called to bear true witness to the world in all things. Of this, there can be no doubt.

The Ten Commandments include an explicit prohibition against lying.

Moses celebrated God as the God of Truth in his final message to the Israelites.

We are reminded of the importance of truth multiple times in Proverbs and again in the Psalms.

The prophet Zechariah reminded the Israelites of their obligation of honesty.

Long before Jesus came into the world, God's Will and God's Law were plain for all to see: always bear witness to the truth.

When it comes to what we say and how we say it, there is no more important quality than that our words be true.

When it comes to what we say and how we say it, there is no greater challenge than ensuring that our words are true.

Truth very often means telling people things they do not want to hear. Truth very often is greeted with anger rather than joy. Truth very often triggers retribution and violence, unjust though it may be.

People rarely want to hear the truth, especially when it is not good news for them. How often do we hear responses like “Don't say that!”? How often do we cringe when we sense someone is bearing us less than glad tidings?

Despite that challenge, we are still called to bear true witness in all things.

Why does truth matter so much? Why is it imperative that we bear true witness in all things?

Consider: What else could God be but the culmination of all Truth? What else would we make of our Creator but that He is, above all, the God of Truth?

God made the Heavens and the Earth. God created all the living things on this Earth. God is by definition the author of our past, our present, and our future.

God created all that we call “reality”. To apprehend the world around us is to apprehend God. By definition this must be so.

How can reality be anything but true? It cannot. Whatever is real by definition is true.

As God is the author of reality, He is therefore the author of Truth. As a simple matter of forms, He cannot be anything but the author of Truth.

If we are to serve God well, we must therefore be diligent in our honesty. We must bear true witness in all things.

Fail to do that and we fail to serve God. Reject truth and we reject God.

It matters not what consequences we endure. It matters not that we may suffer as a result of being true in our witness to the world. The Apostles Peter and Paul were assaulted and imprisoned for preaching the truth to the world. All of the Apostles endured martyrdom, all but John of Patmos dying in cruel and horrific ways, in direct consequence of their insistence on preaching the truth to the world.

Truth is no guarantor that our lives will be easy or comfortable. If anything, Truth is a guarantor that our lives will be neither easy nor comfortable.

Yet when we preach the truth to the world, we shine God’s Light into the world. When we preach truth to the world we give to all who listen a measure of hope, a promise of future goodness.

We cannot do that if we are dishonest. We cannot shine God’s Light anywhere if we reject Him by rejecting Truth in anything.

If we are sincere in our desire to love God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our souls, we will strive to be true in all things.

If we are sincere in our desire to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we will strive to bear true witness in all things.

We owe God no less than this. We owe our neighbors no less than this. We owe ourselves no less than this.

My prayer this day is that I will rise to the challenge of bearing true witness to the world. My prayer this day is that I will not let fear of pain or privation deceive me into being less than truthful before the world. My prayer this day is that through true words I may lift up those around me, filling their lives with hope and promise of future goodness.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will rise to the challenge of bearing true witness to the world. My prayer for you this day is that you also will not let fear of pain or privation deceive you into being less than truthful before the world. My prayer for you this day is that through true words you also may lift up those around you, filling their lives with hope and promise of future goodness.

When we preach the truth to the world, we shine God’s Light into the world. When we preach truth to the world we give to all who listen a measure of hope, a promise of future goodness.

If we are sincere in our desire to love God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our souls, we will strive to be true in all things.

If we are sincere in our desire to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we will strive to bear true witness in all things.

We owe God no less than this. We owe our neighbors no less than this. We owe ourselves no less than this.

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The saying is sure: If any one aspires to the office of bishop, he desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, dignified, hospitable, an apt teacher, no drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and no lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way; for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil; moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders, or he may fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

1 Timothy 3:1-7

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Christians are, as a rule, disposed to thinking of priests, pastors, deacons, bishops, and all those involved in church governance and administration as being especially devout and particularly pious.

Church scandals—of we we have seen many—are notorious in large measure because they put the lie to this notion. In every church, in every denomination, those who lead are every bit as sinful, every bit as fallen, every bit as human as those who sit in the pews come Sunday morning.

Leaders are people, and it follows that good leaders are generally good people, and bad leaders are generally bad people.

How can that be if leaders are as imperfect as followers, if leaders share the weaknesses of followers?

As with all things in life, it comes down to the choices we make. We are all sinful, we are all fallen, we are all imperfect, but we all still make every choice in our lives. When we sin, it is through our choices. When we rise above sin, it is through our choices.

Good choices move us away from sin and closer to God. Bad choices move us closer to sin and away from God.

When we speak of people being “good”, we do well to apprehend that we are ascribing to them a tendency to make more good choices than bad, and when we speak of people being “bad”, we are ascribing to them a tendency to make more bad choices than good.

It really is as simple as that. Read through any text on leadership, dissect all the models and modalities proposed for leadership, and at their core the basic premise remains: good leaders are good people who make generally good choices, and bad leaders are bad people who generally make bad choices.

If one wishes to lead, practice making good choices. If one wishes to lead, make good choices a habit.

This is a challenge I suspect we too often overlook in evaluating the leadership potential in people. Do they exhibit the signs that good choices are truly a personal habit of theirs?

The Apostle Paul lays out the signs of a habit of making good choices in his listing of qualifications to serve as a bishop within the early Christian church: A man must be “temperate”; he must be “sensible”; he must have only one wife and not be greedy or gluttonous. Taken together, these qualities in a man’s personal life show discipline, restraint, and deliberation. A man who maintains an orderly household is a man who is providing a safe and healthy environment for all who dwell within that household.

A man who exhibits such traits is a man who may be said to have chosen a good path for his life, a path leading to righteousness and closer communion with God.

From Paul’s list we may also discern something else about the habit of good choices: it cannot be confined to any one part of a person’s life. As with all habits, the habit of good choices permeates the entirety of one’s life or it does not exist.

I like to think of myself as a rational man. In all my writings, even my sermons here, I lay out the reasons for my thinking, and invite people to agree or disagree. I bring such facts as I have at my disposal to support my reasons.

This is true even in my day job as an accountant. I am frequently asked questions about a variety of things, and in every instance I make a point to respond with facts, with details, with documented evidences of things. If there is a question about prior communications, I will present what I have said and what others have said in response.

This habit of factual responses has won me a measure of respect as a source of factual information. My knowledge not just of accounting facts but also of where to find vital information has let to my being asked to mentor others, and share bits of that understanding, to strengthen others in the course of their work. Even my supervisors will come to me to cross check their own thinking.

That is not a boast. That is merely what happens.

This habit of factual communications has won me my following here, and it has won me a measure of acclaim in my regular day job. It is the same habit, built on the same principles of striving for honesty and bearing true witness to others.

I will not claim to be a paragon of virtue, for I am not. I will not even claim to be an ideal choice for leading anything. I will claim that, any time I am tapped to lead anything, the quality of my leadership will be the direct result of the habits in choosing that I already possess.

Nor is this a novel teaching from Paul or anywhere else, for when God instructed His People Israel on how they were to choose a king for themselves in Deuteronomy 17, His formulation was structurally not much different from Paul’s: a would-be king must not seek after horses, or wives, or gold. A would-be king must be restrained, disciplined, and pious, daily studying God’s Word and always seeking to understand God’s Law. The Mosaic formulation is not of a king who is mightier than his subjects, or morally superior to his subjects, but merely a man who has risen to leadership because of the quality of his choices.

We can see in the errors King Solomon committed at the end of his reign what happens when a man fails to make good choices. Solomon choose to seek after wives, and had multiplied considerable gold for himself over the course of his reign. He gave in to greed and gluttony, and those choices led him away from God, leading him to erect altars to the foreign gods of his foreign wives. Solomon’s private errors led to wars for the Kingdom of Israel, and ultimately produced civil war when his son Rehobo′am ascended the throne, thus beginning Israel’s slow decline.

Good leaders are good people who make good choices. Bad leaders are bad people who make bad choices. People who start out making good choices and being good leaders can succumb to making bad choices and becoming bad leaders.

This is not to say that all who attain positions of leadership and authority do so because they make good choices. The downfall of Israel, and the fall of nations and empires since, contain ample proofs of people who secure positions of leadership for themselves despite their proclivity for bad choices.

This is to say that all who attain positions of leadership and authority will turn out to be good or bad leaders according to their habits of making good or bad choices.

This is to recommend to all who aspire to positions of leadership, be it in their church, their job, or elsewhere, to cultivate a habit of making good choices. This is to recommend to all who aspire to positions of leadership to be worthy of leadership by first cultivating a habit of making good choices.

This is to recommend to all who are already in positions of leadership to be worthy of that leadership by cultivating even now a habit of making good choices.

My prayer this day is that God will always strengthen my own habit for making good choices, and that I will make far more good choices than bad ones. My prayer this day is that whatever leadership I will be called upon to show will be defined by my good choices, that it may survive my bad ones. My prayer this day is that I will always be worthy and ready to lead because I have succeeded in making more good choices than bad ones.

My prayer for you this day is that God will always strengthen your habit for making good choices, and that you will make far more good choices than bad ones. My prayer for you this day is that whatever leadership you will be called upon to show will be defined by your good choices, that it may survive your bad ones. My prayer for you this day is that you will always be worthy and ready to lead because you have succeeded in making more good choices than bad ones.

All who attain positions of leadership and authority will turn out to be good or bad leaders according to their habits of making good or bad choices.

All who aspire to positions of leadership, be it in their church, their job, or elsewhere, do well to cultivate a habit of making good choices. All who aspire to positions of leadership do well to be worthy of leadership by first cultivating a habit of making good choices.

The foundation of good leadership is simply this: If one wishes to lead, practice making good choices.

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Then let us no more pass judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean. If your brother is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.

Romans 14:13-15

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Is a Roman Catholic more “Christian” than a Protestant?

Are Evangelicals more “Christian” than Presbyterians?

Perhaps the better question is “who decides?”

Who on earth today is qualified to decide whether a person is a genuine follower of Christ or not?

I am not speaking of people whose words, actions, or stated beliefs clearly contradict what is clearly stated in Scripture. People who revel in hatred can hardly claim to be following Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” People who put things like wealth, or a career, ahead of doing what is right and righteous are indisputably serving Mammon and not God.

A person who rejects or ignores Christ’s teachings by definition cannot claim to be any sort of “Christian.” There is no real debate to be had on that point.

What about those who claim that women should not be pastors or lead churches, and can argue the point with Scriptural support? Are they “Christian”?

What about those who make a point of using “Yeshua” rather than “Jesus”, arguing that such a transliteration of the original Hebrew name is more respectful than the anglicized version of the Greek transliteration of the original Hebrew name? Are they “better” Christians than those who use “Jesus” to refer to the Son of Man?

My honest answer to such questions is simply this: I don’t care.

I really don’t care about abstract theologies. Debates over ideas such as “dispensationalism” do not interest me in the slightest.

My priorities are how to live out God’s Law and God’s Will in real life. The description I give “Peter’s Proverbs” is exactly that: one man’s thoughts on Christian living. There is especial emphasis on “living”.

I do consider myself to be a Christian, although there have been more than a few people who have told me I am not, usually in a fit of self-righteous indignation. Frankly, I also don’t care about their opinions of me.

As a Christian, my goal is simple: I want to live a good life. I want to do the right things, focus on the right things, aim for the right things. When the Son of God comes again to judge the world, as Jesus foretold in Matthew 25, I want to be among those placed on His right hand and not on His left. I want to inherit the Kingdom of God. I want to enter Paradise.

Does that make me a “good” Christian? Does that make me a hypocrite?

I have no idea. I know I have been called both by people firmly convinced they were in the right.

I also know that other people using “Yeshua” rather than “Jesus” has no bearing on how I pray, how I worship, or how I make moral choices about my life. I know that people who will not attend a worship service led by a woman have no involvement in my choice either to attend or not attend such a worship service.

What other people believe is simply not relevant to what I believe. Regardless of whether we agree or disagree, what I believe is what I believe, neither more nor less. The lessons I take from Scripture are what I take from Scripture, neither more nor less. My ideas on how people can put those lessons into practice are my ideas, neither more nor less.

The same holds true for others. Their beliefs, their apprehensions of Scripture, and their ideas are theirs, neither more nor less. If someone presents me with an idea that resonates, I will incorporate it into my own view of things in whatever manner seems fitting, but that choice of mine neither alters nor validates their ideas. It merely means I choose to embrace an idea. I might just as easily choose to disregard that idea.

No matter what any of us believe, it is incumbent upon each of us to decide how to act on our beliefs. It is incumbent upon each of us to make choices, to determine for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. As the closing verse of Judges poignantly reminds us, no one can make our choices for us. We might make good choices, we might make poor choices, but we are required to make our own choices. There is no second option in that.

As everybody has to choose for themselves, it is inevitable that we are going to disagree with each other’s choices. No two people will always agree on everything.

What should I do when someone makes a choice with which I disagree? At what point does that disagreement command me to call out their choice as evil, and to publicly oppose that choice?

What should I do when disagreement does not command me to call out their choice as evil?

In all cases, I have to choose when doing the right thing means calling out other people’s evil choices and when doing the the right thing means remaining silent and refraining from unnecessary conflict.

At work I may encounter people’s lifestyle choices I personally believe are sinful. In spite of what I believe I still have to work with those people. There are those at work I find superficial and even annoying, and while I would not choose to be around them outside of work, at work I have an obligation to work with them in order to do my job.

In or out of work, in or out of church, I am called—as we are all called—to love my neighbor as I love myself.

In or out of work, in or out of church, I am called—as we are all called—to show mercy, grace, and compassion to others.

Even when we disagree with someone, we are called to give them grace. We may not like their politics, their lifestyle, or some particular of their religious practices, yet we are still called to give them grace. Giving grace is not an option. Giving grace is a duty, a duty we owe both to God and to ourselves.

While we are called to choose right over wrong, and good over evil, we are also called to choose peace over war. So long as we are not being compelled to accept that which is morally wrong, we are called to be reconciled to one another.

This is where we should draw the boundary: so long as a person’s choices do not seek to coerce bad choices from us, we should not seek conflict with them. So long as we remain free to choose right and wrong for ourselves, there is little cause for war. To retain that freedom, we must allow others the opportunity to choose right from wrong, and to do right or wrong.

So long as we are not being ourselves compromised, we are well advised to look for compromise and cooperation.

That is the only way people can ever come together to form healthy and sustainable communities. That is the only way people can ever build a healthy and sustainable society. That is the only way people can ever honor God and put God’s Law into daily practice.

My prayer this day is that I will always find ways to give others grace despite our disagreements. My prayer this day is that I will not let disagreement become a stumbling block to extending mercy and compassion to everyone. My prayer this day is that I will always look for peace rather than war.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will always find ways to give others grace despite disagreements. My prayer for you this day is that you also will not let disagreement become a stumbling block to extending mercy and compassion to everyone. My prayer for you this day is that you also will always look for peace rather than war.

So long as a person’s choices do not seek to coerce bad choices from us, we should not seek conflict with them. So long as we remain free to choose right and wrong for ourselves, there is little cause for war. To retain that freedom, we must allow others the opportunity to choose right from wrong, and to do right or wrong.

So long as we are not being ourselves compromised, we are well advised to look for compromise and cooperation.

That is the only way people can ever come together to form healthy and sustainable communities. That is the only way people can ever build a healthy and sustainable society. That is the only way people can ever honor God and put God’s Law into daily practice.

People will believe as they will believe. I believe as I believe. We will not always agree with one another, but we are always called to give grace to one another.

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