Mission Faithwalk

                 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8) Three steps to the perfect Christian walk. Easy peasy. We just get the government to make people treat minorities as minorities want to be treated, sigh in empathy with people who are hurting (if they deserve it), and go about our day convinced that God is pleased with us. Right? OK, maybe you would put it a little differently, but it’s the same basic idea, and it demands little from us. After all, we are good, just, merciful people. We don’t cheat or misuse people; if we do, they deserve it, and extenuating circumstances make it necessary and OK.   Seeking justice may sometimes have to do with righting a wrong that person did to this person or to us, but I suspect that justice often has to do with your righting a wrong you did to someone ...

                 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, (Titus 2:11-12) The part of this passage that caught my attention was “It [grace] teaches us to say ‘No’…” When I was little, I learned a long list of things that were bad. At the moment, it doesn’t matter exactly what was or is on the list, but I’ll use “drinking alcohol” as an example. Somewhere along the line, I stopped “not drinking alcohol because it’s bad,” to not drinking alcohol because I don’t like the burn and have no interest. I can’t honestly tell people that I don’t drink because I’m a Christian. I don’t drink alcohol because I have no desire to do so. I don’t like the stuff. There are other things on the old list that aren’t on the current list because I have no desire to do them. That’s the reason...

             T herefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (II Corinthians 5:17)             We’ve made it one day into the new year. I’ve started my new “I shall come forth as gold” journal. And according to today’s passage, we are new creations. Woo Hoo New! Except we are like Eustace Scrubb in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader , trapped in the body of a dragon, and having to peal away layer after layer to free that new self. It can be a difficult and painful process, one that seems to us to take far too long. Part of the problem is that our focus quickly shifts from being new creations and releasing that new self to pain and disappointment because the change isn’t fast, painless, and complete and it is often unnoticed by the people around us. Worse yet, if they do notice, they might not be as encouraging and supportive as we’d like. ...

               “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the   wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:18-19)                  We’ve reached the imaginary divide. By the time you read this, we’ll have crossed it. May 2024 be a year of health, hope, happiness/joy, and growth for all of us. I’ve said that my theme for the year is “When I’ve been tried, I shall come forth as gold.” But I’m starting to think that it’s the year of the devotional. Someone gave me one, and I have purchased what I suspect are two more. If nothing else, they’ll serve as fodder for this blog.                With the new year, we want new things, but we cling to the old and we cling to our old plans that are functions of our old selves. Sometimes, this...

                 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ” (John 14:1-3)                  There’s a post being shared over the past few days about hoping that 2024 is as wonderful as 2023 was terrible. It’s a natural but unrealistic hope. That’s not a prediction that 2024 will be terrible. It’s a prediction that if, toward the end of 2024, things aren’t marvelous, wonderful, and better than could be imagined that it could be, we’ll finish 2024 saying that it was a miserable year and hope that 2025 will be better. For me, 2023 was a hard but good year. I can hope that 2024 will be even better, but I can’t jus...

                 If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.                Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:19-24)                  The first paragraph of today’s passage sounds like David was plucking away at his harp, praising God, and opened his eyes to see a group of evil men skulking about. It’s an ugly interruption to something beautiful. Yes, we’re supposed to hate evil, but it seems as if David got majorly tri...

                 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.   My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you. (Psalm 139:13-18)                “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” (Luke 8:25)                  Yesterday, I noted that the first...