Tag Archives: mercy

January 23, 2021 · 8:53 am

Concerning grace

24 And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it shall be measured to you; and more shall be given you besides.
25 “For whoever has, to him shall more be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”
(Mark. 4:24-25)

Be careful what you listen to. Skilled orators are good and working up a crowd. A great weapon in the hands of a skilled orator is fear of others. If a blog or a YouTube video or a Facebook post can skillfully roast the Repugnant Cultural Other, the author or speaker can expect a lot of clicks and kudos.

But Jesus said “Be careful what you listen to”. Tremendous hatred and intolerance can be whipped up in the echo chamber and wisdom sometimes dictates that we simply turn it off.

Politicians depend on the hatred and fear of their base against the “others”. Pastors build large churches by preaching “boldly” against the “others” who aren’t even there. Columnists and bloggers and radio hosts build great followings by reviling the “stupid” ones that vote the other way, act the other way, eat the other foods, speak the other language, have the other experiences…

And Jesus tells his followers “Take care what you listen to”.

Why? Because every single one of us needs far more grace and forgiveness and healing than we can even imagine. The cancer in each one of us will destroy us if God doesn’t come down to us and save us. We will die if he doesn’t pull us out of the miry pit. And all of us are in the same corruption, with the same great need, with the same desperation, under the same sentence.

All of us are the “other”. All of us are the “outsider”. All of us are hopelessly lost, unless God act.

So Jesus says that what measure we use will be measured to us again. So be careful what you listen to.

The yardstick that you use to judge your gay neighbor will be the one used on you.

The yardstick that you use to judge your liberal friend will be used on you.

The frenzy and rage that you feel after a particular rousing session with your favorite radio host will be turned against you.

The fury ignited after a podcast host tells you whom to fear will be turned on you.

If you judge by the law, the law will be used on you.

The scales that you used when you measured the worth of the single mother using food stamps to buy groceries will be used on you.

The envy that consumed you with the thought of the rich man, and the contempt at the plight of the poor man will be used on you.

Do you really want to be judged by your possessions?

Do you really want to be judged by your choices?

Do you really want to be judged by your financial situation? Your past experiences? Your weaknesses? Your physical health?

The contemptuous eye that you turned on the divorced women will be turned on you.

The sneer that you gave the man who didn’t dress or act the way you thought he should have will be given to you.

The person in the wheelchair, the one plagued by distressing mental illness, the chronic pain sufferer – do you not know that the Lord of Life can take away your health in a moment?

I, for one, wish only to be measured by the astounding grace of the Lord Jesus, for I am a great sinner. And I wish that all who I meet be measured by that same grace. I long to rejoice around the throne of the Lamb with all of you, if only you will accept that grace and lay down the weapons.

But, of course, since I am a great sinner, I also must check my heart continually.

“Lord have mercy on me, a great sinner. Teach me to look with compassion, to look for your image, to listen to that which is beautiful.”

This is a continual theme throughout scripture, and should cause us to pause and think about how we treat the others.

“He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be answered.” (Prov. 21:13)

“Judgment will be without mercy to those who showed no mercy” (James 2:13)

Condemnation, contempt, reviling and fear are popular and entertaining tools for the talk show, the radio, the podcast and the blog, but the end of the road is hell.

Be careful what you listen to. And be careful how you measure another.

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July 29, 2020 · 4:18 pm

Thoughts on God’s mercy

Last night, I woke at 2 AM, which is fairly typical. Last night was a bit different, though, because I was also attacked with an unrelenting darkness that buried me in a dense cloud of shame and worthlessness. That is more infrequent, but that particular dark cloud is not a stranger to my room.

The black cloud that envelopes me seems to whisper at me that I don’t deserve God’s compassion. It is for other people, not for me. I am outside of it looking in the window at God’s mercy to others, but it will never be for me. I’m too…useless, worthless. It’s hard to describe, but I would imagine that I am not the only one who gets attacked by this particular cloud.

The trigger for this particular cloud is that I had fairly intense pain for the last 5 days that there was no relief for. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t lie down. It wears on you.

I’m telling you this because one thing that chronic pain does is isolate you and make you feel like you are alone – hence, the black cloud. So I am telling you, if you struggle with chronic pain as well, you are not alone. And these thoughts you have are also not unique, nor do they put you outside of God’s compassion.

But let me go on.

I have learned that simply lying there in the dark staring at the ceiling is not an effective solution. So after trying for 30 minutes or so to sleep, I got up and opened my kindle paperwhite to a wonderful book by Dane C. Ortlund called “Gentle and Lowly.” (If you don’t have it, get it now).

He wrote something that stuck on me like a burr and won’t shake off. I want to share it with you so you can think about it with me. He wrote,

“Unlike us, who are often emotional dams ready to break, God can put up with a lot. This is why the Old Testament speaks of God being “provoked to anger” by his people dozens of times….But not once are we told that God is “provoked to love” or “provoked to mercy.” His anger requires provocation. His mercy is pent up, ready to gush forth. We tend to think: divine anger is pent up, springloaded; divine mercy is slow to build. But it is just the opposite.

And I thought about that. It occurred to me that this is a difference between the gods of the pagans and the God of the Bible. The settled state of the gods of the pagans is either anger or indifference. They have to be provoked out of it. This is why they had to eventually offer their children as sacrifices – to try to convince the gods to pay attention to them. It is why Cain offered the sacrifice that he offered. It is why so many churches are full of so many people trying to get God to listen to them, to pay attention. “If only we worked harder, did more, loved more, gave more money, purged ourselves from sin, did better….”

But the settled state of the true God is love. Mercy. Compassion. He must be provoked to anger. And that takes a long, long time. In fact, he is reserving his wrath for the day of judgment. The reason that he delays is that he is not willing that any  should perish, but that all should repent and believe the gospel. The goodness of God should lead us to repentance. He is so good to us that he did not come in judgment as soon as mankind deserved it. He first sent his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I had everything backwards under my 2 am cloud. I still tend to view God as my earthly father. If I accomplished enough, did enough, made no mistakes, worked hard enough, and found the right formula, then perhaps I can get him to at least notice that I am here.

But God is not my earthly father. He is my Heavenly Father. His settled state is compassion. I don’t have to provoke him to love. His love is already there. It was his love that provoked him to provide a sacrifice for our sins, to speak in human terms. It was his love that caused him to send his only begotten Son into the world, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

My Christian walk is not about trying to appease God’s anger or indifference. It is about resting in his love through faith in His Son, who gave himself for me. In that rest, I can turn outside of myself and my accomplishments and simply love and serve those whom God has placed around me.

It is God’s anger that is provoked, not his love. And that changes everything.

Think about it.

A pagan god – indifferent or angry. Must be provoked to pay attention.

The Covenant God of Abraham – full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger, plenteous in covenant faithfulness and love.

OH – and get Dane Ortlund’s book.

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
(Rom. 5:8-10)

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March 16, 2018 · 10:45 am

Loss and Grief

Some of you might have noticed that I haven’t published anything for a couple of months. I’ve sat down to write a few times but could think of nothing to say. I think I am grieving. It’s an unfamiliar emotion. I don’t know how to analyze it.

In our culture, we learn very quickly to not grieve, especially if you are male. Grieving itself is viewed as a weakness. I think this is changing. But I’m not sure.

I know that in my own upbringing, weeping was a sign of weakness. Big boys don’t cry.

So I’m trying on this new feeling for me. Grief. Sometimes loss is just a bit overwhelming. Sometimes I wish I could just experience what they call the “ugly cry” but I don’t think I’m able to. Too unseemly. I have too much of my father in me I guess. But I still grieve.

I am grieving for lost youth. I wasn’t ready for middle age. I wasn’t ready for old people problems. I wasn’t ready for cancer. I haven’t finished being young yet. I wish that I hadn’t squandered my youth with childishness. But now that is gone.

My fingers cramp now when I type. My knees hurt when I walk. The arthritis gets my joints when it rains. I haven’t learned the third movement of the Waldstein sonata yet. There was always a part of me that knew it would always be a little beyond my reach, but now I say goodbye to the dream. It’s a strange feeling. Some days I don’t know who I am.

I am grieving things that I cannot speak of, for they are not my stories to tell. I am grieving the missed opportunities, the lambs that have wandered, the words unspoken, the good deeds left undone.

It’s hard to explain. I don’t know if this is what grief feels like. I know what being sad is, but it isn’t really exactly like that.

It a sigh, it’s a reset of the brain. The remembrance of things past.

I think it is like this: There have been moments in life when a grand buffet table was within your grasp. You tasted it for a moment, but it was taken away before you were finished with it.

Maybe this is how the grass feels. Just when it starts to bloom, the mower cuts it down. Always growing, always becoming, always cut short.

But then I remember that God remembers that we are grass.

13 As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.

14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.

17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting (Psa 103:13-17 NKJ)

I am fading.

It wasn’t meant to be like this. I was made to live forever. But now, I fade and die.

To grieve that loss is to be human, I think. But to be a child of God is to try to remember that God knows that.

I am tired of saying goodbye. I am tired of saying goodbye to youth, goodbye to dreams, goodbye to friends, goodbye to family.

I’m tired of it. But God remembers that we are dust. And I try to remember that I will never, ever have to say goodbye to God’s mercy.

God’s mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. You don’t have to say goodbye to the one who doesn’t change.

“O thou who changest not, abide with me.”

Some days I forget to remember that God’s mercy is from everlasting. But God doesn’t ever forget.

Some days, I am in the valley of the shadow of death, and I forget to remember that God is with me. But he doesn’t forget.

He doesn’t leave me behind and forget that he has a child. He doesn’t forget his little lamb.

I think that is astounding.

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