This phrase keeps getting me through today. “Thy loving kindness is better than life.” I’m also catching up on some study and have heard and read a few things worth a mention.
I have a new life verse(s). It is something I am not very good at. James 1:19, 20, 25-27. In part, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But let every one be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God”. That is one quick and two slows. How this applies to me is that I form opinions quickly and why hold an opinion unless you think you are right? It is vain to think I am usually right and I will defend those ideas to the extreme by, maybe, writing the same thing over and over? Verse 25 is clarifying that being good is not a behavior. How do we teach our children to not be selfish and self-centered? Our nature is to bust boundaries with pride because, of course, a two-year-old is the center of the universe in his/her mind and most of us never outgrow that version of reality. Looking at the perfect law should result in our appreciation for Jesus who kept it all for us (impossible for anyone but Him). What is in our heart should translate to what our hands do and that is true religion (see vs 27). If we merely make lists of things-to-do that is legalism. Matt 5:5, reads, “Blessed are the meek (gentle/humble), for they shall inherit the earth (everything)”. Psalm 37:11, “But the humble will inherit the land, And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity”. We should trust that promise.
How does the local church stay open? I saw an article today about a local market that was set to shutter its doors (and windows) but then the following mantra reversed the decision. “It’s the little things” that make this market a gem. For 34 years the goal has been to keep prices affordable, and keep doing the things that make customers happy. Unfortunately, the church is never called to make customers happy. The truth takes priority and the price is always the same – belief in Jesus. The local church has one option – to teach the Word of God as accurately as possible.
Lastly, today, I found this in the Bible I took to YWAM in Switzerland from 2022-2023. This is before I started studying Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings. Today I sat in a message by Pastor John at Canyon Hills from Philippians 2:1-11 on humility. Paul wrote from prison. Dietrich wrote from prison. Since I don’t know Paul’s last name, and proper writing suggests that the writer reference a source by last name, going forward, I won’t follow the rule. Dietrich Bonhoeffer will be Dietrich. I will show the translation next but notice that this martyr writes, “Death is not bitter if we are not embittered. Death is grace, God’s greatest grace, which he gives to people who believe in him…death beckons with heavenly power if we only know that it is the gate to home”.
