Category: Scripture

I had lost something

Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition. But I had lost something, too. I had lost something which could never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry had gone out of the majestic river!

Twain, Mark. Life on the Mississippi (AmazonClassics Edition) (p. 74). Kindle Edition.

My hunger for knowledge about God,
my obsession with doing what was right,
what would leave me blameless
before any accuser,
even God himself
(myself another Job),
all but devoured my chance,
my only chance,
to experience ‘the grace,
the beauty, the poetry’
of the Majestic River
of Life.

I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Revelation 2:3-4

Harper Bibles. NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (Kindle Locations 88055-88057). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Grace and peace to you…
dw

Photo by Stephen Walker on Unsplash

Tags Life on the Mississippi, loss, loving God, Mark Twain, Mississippi River, revelation, river of life

freedom hope Scripture truth

Perfect freedom

Freedom is perfect when no other love can impede our desire to love God.

— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island, Sentences on Hope

From John’s gospel, Chapter 8:

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Harper Bibles. NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (Kindle Locations 79992-79998). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Grace and peace and freedom to you…

Photo by Ferdinand Stöhr on Unsplash

Tags freedom, Jesus, loving God, No Man is an Island, sentences on hope, sin, slavery, Thomas Merton, truth

Other Writings Scripture

Profound joy

Post author By dw
Post date June 30, 2019
4 Comments on Profound joy

CHRISTIANS MUST ALWAYS NOURISH in their hearts the fullness of joy. Try to do that, sisters and brothers. I have tried it many times, and in the most bitter situations, when slander and persecution are at their worst, I have united myself intimately with Christ as my friend, and I have tasted a sweetness that all the joys of earth cannot give. It is the joy of God’s intimacy, the profoundest joy the heart can experience, even when people don’t understand you.

Romero, Oscar. The Scandal of Redemption (Plough Spiritual Guides: Backpack Classics) (p. 35). Plough Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith— being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire— may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:6-9

Harper Bibles. NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (Kindle Locations 87282-87287). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash

Tags 1 Peter, Bible, faith, fullness of joy, God, Jesus Christ, Oscar Romero, persecution, slander, trials

Scripture

Disapproved

Post author By dw
Post date December 2, 2018
4 Comments on Disapproved

The Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes those we don’t approve of and eats with them.”

And Jesus told them…”I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one person you don’t approve of who repents than over ninety-nine people you approve of who need no repentance.”

Luke 15

* My paraphrase, substituting for the words ‘sinners’ and ‘righteous persons’.

We who are disapproved are prized by the One who was disapproved.

We who are approved (and thus one with the disapprovers) miss out on the joy of heaven.

Lord, have mercy on us!

p.s. My friend Samuel, one of the disapproved, is safe in Mexico with people who love him and care for him , including his son (!). God’s loving-kindness knows no borders and no bounds.

Tags approval, disapproval, Jesus, joy in heaven, Pharisees, righteous, Samuel Oliver Bruno, scribes, sinner

hope Scripture

Happiness leading to sorrow

Post author By dw
Post date October 14, 2018
7 Comments on Happiness leading to sorrow

There is a false and momentary happiness in self-satisfaction, but it always leads to sorrow because it narrows and deadens our spirit.

— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

This follows from last week’s post and reinforces the connection with addiction.

It brings to mind the scripture

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

–Matthew 7:13-14

Harper Bibles. NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (Kindle Locations 74929-74932). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

The bitter irony is that the path that seemed so wide at first narrows quickly and imperceptibly until we find ourselves trapped in the dark, narrow place named Addiction. The seeming freedom of choice leads to enslavement; the habitual self-satisfaction to self-loathing; the exhilaration to despondency; the life-enticing to death-dealing. Our life narrows to the one thing that sucks life out of us.

The impossibly good news is that, in that narrowest of places, there is a narrow gate. Always. And it’s open. It’s just wide enough for us, but too narrow for our addiction. And there’s a gatekeeper, a good Shepherd, who calls us by name:

Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me.
See! On the portal he’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.
“Come home, come home. Ye who are weary, come home.”
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, “O sinner, come home.”

— Will L. Thompson, 1880

He will get us through the gate, if we ask.

“But the gate is so narrow, and the way seems so hard.”

That narrow gate leads, over time, to the widest of all paths, broad enough to accommodate us all, to lead us to life with no death mixed in, to a place that is more “home” than any place we’ve ever known.

Do we hear him? Dare we ask?

Photo by Federico Lancellotti on Unsplash