Digging in Deeper: Hosea 4:6

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“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as my priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.” (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Nations fall for one of two reasons. They are conquered either by forces from without or forces from within. What I mean is, some nations fall to conquest by other nations, while other nations fall to their own internal crumbling. Sometimes, though, both are at fault. The nation’s core begins to crumble, weakening them externally, which invites another nation to come and conquer them. In this case, what looks like the reason for their destruction on the outside is really just a symptom of what was already happening on the inside. This is what was going on with Israel and there’s a message here for all of us if we’ll listen carefully. 

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Irreducible Complexity

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With one more week to go in our series, Being Useful, we are starting to get a lot more clarity on what the picture of a life that is useful to Jesus looks like. And what does it look like? Love. This week and next we are going to wrap up this powerful series by talking about the role love plays in the church and in the life of a follower of Jesus. Don’t miss a single part of it.

Irreducible Complexity

Some of the fiercest and most significant debates happen in places where nobody sees them.  These are often inner-disciplinary debates among scholars on a single topic.  And the stakes for these are a lot higher than it would seem.  For instance, a debate among mathematicians about the best way to solve certain kinds of math problems may look from the outside like a bunch of geeks arguing about esoteric philosophies that have nothing to do with the daily lives of normal people.  But, the winning side may very well have their ideas appear in textbooks—do they even use textbooks anymore?—and curricula for elementary students and, all of a sudden, a whole new way of thinking about math will be planted in the culture.  All of a sudden, what was once abstract academic jargon begins to have a profound impact on the lives of regular people who are far removed from the ivy-covered campus buildings of elite universities.  Hello: Have you tried helping your kids with their math homework lately?  Case in point. 

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Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 8:13

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“To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.” (CSB – Read the chapter) 

God is love. That’s what John told us. That’s not some kind of an interpretive spin on what he said either. It’s a direct quote: God IS love. It’s the essence of His being. It defines more surely than almost anything else (with the exception of justice and holiness which together form the core triad of His character) who He is. Jesus told us that we are to be known by love if we are to be known as His followers. If that’s the case, then we shouldn’t hate anything, right? So what’s going on here? 

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Morning Musing: Hosea 2:14

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“Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

One of the ideas about the Scriptures that has been around a long time is that the God of the Old Testament is not the same as the God of the New Testament. The picture of God presented in the pages of each is so different that it’s not the same person. The primary source for this supposed contrast is the judgmental God the prophets describe versus the God of love and mercy and compassion found in the pages of the Gospels, especially if we are going to accept that Jesus really is God. My take? Try actually reading it. Then you’ll see a bit more clearly. 

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Digging in Deeper: Hosea 2:5

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“Yes, their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought, ‘I will follow my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.’”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Have you ever used graphic language when you were upset? It’s easy to do. When we get sufficiently upset, we begin working to find the words to adequately express our rage. When we’re angry enough, that can be a bit of a tall order. When we fumble enough, eventually we just use extreme words because we can’t find any others that will work. That’s a little like what’s going on here. 

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