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Archive for the ‘textures’ Category

no regrets: 2 Corinthians 7

Posted in textures, tagged , , on September 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

To tell the truth is often difficult and occasionally excruciating. People of good will do not love the ‘hard conversations’ that life thrusts upon us. Rather, we endure them. We sometimes abhor the anticipation of them, frequently tremble through them, and with some regularity second-guess our execution of them. (more…)

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what goes around … : Proverbs 21

Posted in textures, tagged , , on August 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

YHWH hears the cry of the poor. So must you.

This, in a nutshell, is the utterly realistic instruction of one core feature of biblical wisdom. Occasionally, self-interest is invoked.

Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered. (Proverbs 21:13 ESV)

One unanswerable query that can be directed at the biblical ethic is this: Are we to understand that YHWH supernaturally intervenes to enact the consequences of generosity and stinginess upon the life of their perpetrator? Or are we to accept that we are all constructing culture where the practices we employ will in time circle back to bless us or crush us? (more…)

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core and flex: 1 Corinthians 9

Posted in textures, tagged , , on August 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Knowing precisely who we are is the key to spiritual versatility.

A solid core renders possible myriad accommodations without sliding over into hypocrisy. The apostle Paul was so seized by his encounter with Christ, so anchored ‘in Christ’, that he could walk the walk and talk the talk of all kinds of human beings.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:20–23 ESV)

Perhaps followers of Jesus worry overmuch about ‘acting out of our gifting’, of ‘being true to ourselves’. (more…)

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quick turns: Proverbs 20

Posted in textures, tagged , , on August 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Early or instant wealth lies heavily on the shoulders of those who acquire it.

Something venomous lurks in abundance without labor, status unearned, riches without long-sown tears.

An estate quickly acquired in the beginning will not be blessed in the end. (Proverbs 20:21 NRSV)

It is unclear whether the Proverbialist’s words ‘quickly acquired’ suggest an inheritance too hotly pursued by a young man who should have remained content to wait or, alternatively, fortune that simply falls unexpected upon its recipient. Odds favor the latter, for this interpretation does not require more precision than the words themselves offer up. (more…)

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doing battle: Romans 15

Posted in textures, tagged , , on August 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

You could call the apostle Paul mad, but you cannot call him soft.

Paul’s understanding of his life’s purpose prioritizes struggle. Not for Paul the vague notion that ‘I know that I am doing what God wants because I have peace.’ One wonders whether he would scoff at such palaver, roll his eyes, or simply move kindly and firmly to correct the person who speaks it. (more…)

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‘not a viable candidate’: Romans 9

Posted in textures, tagged , , on July 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

None of us is a viable candidate.

I recently heard a man with a track record for diligence and quiet composure dismissed as a candidate for promotion as ‘not a viable candidate’. His critic may or may not have been clear-eyed about his verdict, but the words have lingered in my soul.

It strikes me that, when evaluated as candidates for kudos in this world and the next, each of us could be summarily dismissed with that same condemning sentence: not a viable candidate. (more…)

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YHWH short on cash: Proverbs 19

Posted in textures, tagged , , on July 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The Bible’s Old Testament hints subtly in the direction of incarnation. Just one example: there may be no straight line between the book called Isaiah’s depiction of YHWH speaking in the dialect a responsive servant—’Behold, here I am!’—and the New Testament’s delineation of the risen Christ who at one time ‘took the form of a servant’. But between these two points lies at the least a winding path.

The Hebrew Bible’s occasionally daring portrayals of YHWH as a humble figure can take the slow reader’s breath away. (more…)

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wrong seat on the bus: Proverbs 19

Posted in textures on July 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

We may balk at the social stratification that the biblical wisdom anthology is prepared to accept, and even to endorse.

Understandably, we admire the social fluidity of a true meritocracy, even if it falls usually to voices from outside our own cultural perspective to point out how flawed we are in the execution.

Despite these caveats, surely we can appreciate the Proverbs’ appreciation for what is ‘appropriate’.

It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes. (Proverbs 19:10 ESV)

When a fool comes into big money that allows him to live both lavishly and loudly, we are repelled by the sight. We hope he doesn’t move in next door. Something deeper than aesthetic preferences is in play. We sense not only that something is inconvenient in this picture, but also simply wrong with it. (more…)

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power of God: Romans 1

Posted in textures, tagged , , on July 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Having just finished rereading the New Testament’s Acts of the Apostles, it strikes me that the apostle Paul was supremely ‘confident in the gospel’ of Jesus Christ. His own words, in another place, say so.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ (Romans 1:16–17 ESV)

It strikes me that there is not one way for a Christian to be ‘ashamed of the gospel’, but rather many. (more…)

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misattribution: Proverbs 19

Posted in textures, tagged , , on July 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

We often require no help in order to pave the path to our own ruin. This lamentable task plays to our strength. I can do it all by myself.

The fool is equally adept at locating a scapegoat for the disaster he has brought upon himself. Too often he fingers YHWH for the crime.

One’s own folly leads to ruin, yet the heart rages against the LORD. (Proverbs 19:3 NRSV)

A deep irony of our human condition lies in our tendency to seek our Maker only when things have gone badly. We turn to him in anger and blame after the fact, rather than with our trust and our hunger earlier on.

The wide gaze of biblical wisdom does not imagine that human folly is always the cause of disaster. Life is subject to multiple causes. Yet wisdom knows that we who are foolish often cause our own destruction. The truly foolish then compound their ruin by blaming God.

How different a response is given by repentance and the humility that creates a space for it. If there is ‘rage’ in repentance, it is the dying embers of self-condemnation, not the retrograde misattribution of our pain to YHWH’s doing.

Then—often, if not always—comes fresh air, new light, soft rain, rebirth.

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