Mission Faithwalk

                 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (I Timothy 5:1-2) Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39) Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,    and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” ( Matthew 20:25-28) We interrupt the regularly schedule blog post for this ra...

       My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for innocent blood, let’s ambush some harmless soul; let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; cast lots with us; we will all share the loot”— my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; for their feet rush into evil, they are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it! These men lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush only themselves! Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it. (Proverbs 1:9-19) One of the repeated themes of the book of Proverbs is “Don’t hang with bad characters.” It makes perfect, easy sense. You tend to become like those who are the focus of your attention. In today’s passage, the bad characteri...

                   The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.   The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:1-7)                 Going from Song of Solomon to Proverbs, while still reading writings of the same person, is like going from a rave to a cloister cell. One follows the excitement of a romance, which can be true, real, and good, but is still new and exc...

                 Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love. Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires . (Song of Solomon 2:7) The next section of Scripture covered is one that has been controversial. I’ve heard it described as Solomon’s only proper relationship. That doesn’t seem sufficient merit to include it in Scripture, and that is the basis of the debate. God isn’t mentioned, and what is described is a dialogue that is far too intimate for “proper” society. Instead, according to Ellen Davis in Getting Involved With God, what we see is a third comparison of the relationship between God (the King) and man/Israel/The Church (The Shulammite Woman). The first relationship is God,...

                 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.  For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:16-19) Again, this passage begins a familiar story. The thing God chooses not to hide from Abraham is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham tries to talk God out of it based on the number of the righteous in the city. What makes it such an important story is that it shows that God doesn’t fall apart when someone respectfully argues with Him. In fact, Abraham might almost b...

                 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.      Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”   Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.    He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (Genesis 22:1-5) I don’t need to include the whole narrative. If you don’t know what happened, you can go read the rest of the story in Genesis 22. This incident has been described as appalling. B...