I was preaching on Psalm 103 and in verse 2-3 we are exhorted to forget "None of His benefits." Then King David begins to list the benefits of God and it begins with - "He pardons ALL our iniquities."

When preaching at the jail and the mission, it is a rough crowd and I always search for words that help visualize God's word. I ran across this quote and I plan to include it when describing our iniquities.   

"The band of outcasts were wandering from town to town in search of war or pleasure." Ruskin.

I was sent this message by a young woman who was horridly abused as a child; her innocence was violated and her childhood was robbed, and what can be almost worse, no one admitted it, nor did they repent, and everyone knew about it and left her alone without any support. This, of course, left her filled with anger, bitterness and anguish. But she’s always had a mustard seed faith, and as God has lovingly led her through this horror, He now has brought her to the next step, here’s her testimony --    

 "I have been thinking about forgiveness. I saw this post yesterday and it got me thinking some more. There is no reason at all to keep anger in me with people who hurt me. I forgive my mom, I forgive my brothers, my dad, my ex step dad, my grandpa. But most importantly, I forgive myself. I hurt myself in so many ways, I did not deserve that. I have no enemies, no anger is in me anymore. I choose peace and that peace is Jesus! He gives me a peace beyond anything. He gives me an everlasting love that no one can beat. I have a peace that I cannot understand in the moments where I feel lost. But I do know it’s my lord and savior. Jesus is so good. And my sin is so bad, yet, He still loves me as I am, and He meets me where I am always!

"The greatest of all the mysteries of life, and the most terrible, is the corruption of even the sincerest religion, which is not daily founded on rational, effective, humble, and helpful action. Helpful action, observe! For there is just one law, (Mk. 12:30-31) which obeyed, keeps all religions pure, but forgotten, makes them all false. Whenever in any religious faith, dark or bright, we allow our minds to dwell upon the points in which we differ from other people, we are wrong, and in the devils power. 

That is the essence of the Pharisee's prayer - "Lord, I thank you that I am not as other men are."

At every moment of our lives we should be trying to find out, not in what we differ from other people, but in what we agree with them; and the moment we find we can agree as to anything that should be done, kind or good, then do it." John Ruskin.   

 

The following quote was written during the Victorian era to young women of wealth and privilege. That being said, it has many useful applications for today's girls, and boys. Here is the abridged quote followed by the original. 

"You may see continually girls who have never been taught to do a single useful thing thoroughly; who cannot sew, who cannot cook, who cannot keep household accounts, nor prepare a medicine, whose whole life has been passed either in play or in pride: you will find girls like these, when they are earnest-hearted, cast all their innate passion of religious spirit, which was meant by God to support them through there daily toil, into grievous and vain meditation over the meaning of the Bible, of which no syllable was ever yet to be understood but through a deed; all the instinctive wisdom and mercy of their womanhood made vain, and the glory of their pure consciences warped into fruitless agony concerning questions which the laws of common serviceable life would have either solved for them in an instant, or kept out of their way. Give such a girl any true work that will make her active in the dawn, and weary at night, with the consciousness that her fellow-creatures have indeed been the better for her day, and the powerless sorrow of her enthusiasm will transform itself into a majesty of radiant and benevolent peace."

Original - 

"You may see continually girls who have never been taught to do a single useful thing thoroughly; who cannot sew, who cannot cook, who cannot keep household accounts, nor prepare a medicine, whose whole life has been passed either in play or in pride: you will find girls like these, when they are earnest-hearted, cast all their innate passion of religious spirit, which was meant by God to support them through there daily toil, into grievous and vain meditation over the meaning of the Bible, of which no syllable was ever yet to be understood but through a deed; all the instinctive wisdom and mercy of their womanhood made vain, and the glory of their pure consciences warped into fruitless agony concerning questions which the laws of common serviceable life would have either solved for them in an instant, or kept out of their way. 

Give such a girl any true work that will make her active in the dawn, and weary at night, with the consciousness that her fellow-creatures have indeed been the better for her day, and the powerless sorrow of her enthusiasm will transform itself into a majesty of radiant and beneficent peace."  

 

"Of all essential things in a gentleman's bodily and moral training, this is really the beginning - that he should have close companionship with the horse, the dog, and the eagle. Of all birthrights and bookrights - this is his first. 

To all good and sane men and beasts, be true brother; and as it is best, perhaps, to begin with all things in the lowest place, begin with true brotherhood to the beast: in pure simplicity of practical help." Ruskin.

Here is a poetic way of saying it - 

Let the gentleman’s dawn begin

astride the horse, beside the hound,

beneath the eagle’s sovereign wing—

his birthright, sealed in earth and sky.  First, brother to the beast:

in humble hand and heart,

lift, feed, and follow.

 Halloween and the good news of the Gospel 

“No curse can touch Jacob; no magic has any power against Israel.-Numbers 23:23

“I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! -Jesus (Lk 10:18)

“Laugh at the Enemy” - Martin Luther

"Every October I am reminded to laugh, throw a party, eat too many goodies all in the light of the goodness of the gospel of Jesus that triumphed over devils, dourness and dobetterism.

It’s the time of year that I come to the realization that too many Christians still live under the law. I see it clearly in the way people start getting the jitters, begin judging or feel compelled to justify themselves during Halloween. Christians hiding their love of spooky things, the constant rebranding of everything that has a hint of frivolity and Frankenstein. The constant plungering of churchianity as it frantically seeks to unclog our culture of anything it perceives to be too worldly or wicked.

There’s an underpinning of anxiety and overtheshoulderism that haunts people who are living lives under the all seeing Eye of Sauron instead of the glorious grace of Christ. They are frightened by people without and people within the church having been whackamoled into submission to false ideas of sanctification and God honoring. They are less witnesses of the good news of Jesus and more testimonies of the terrors of hyper-fundi religiosity.

It’s a fascinating time to observe the conflicted and the condemning nature of so much of evangelicalism. This amazes me, in light of the fact that the reformation produced evangelicalism and that reform struck a pretty hefty blow to boogieman of superstition, man-pleasing and suffocating legalism. How could the sons and daughters of reformers like Martin Luther become so thin-skinned, pensively paranoid and hyper-guilty? When did bold and courageous freedom get exchanged for knee-jerk judgmentalism, persnickety piousness and cranky christianity?

One thing that Luther surely helped restore was the gift of satire and laughter to an institution that had grown so pompous and exalted in it’s own eyes, that it took a jolly, jesting, farting Monk to poke holes in its inflated ego. Luther’s antics, extremes and scathing hilarity helped dethrone saintly sourpussness and helped spring saints from their prisons of dead religious tradition and the heat lamp of breathless self-examination and self-loathing.

Martin Luther said: “A poor man, entangled in sin, death and hell, cannot hear anything more comforting than this precious, dear message of Christ. His heart must laugh deeply and become joyful about it...Sadness is hereditary to us, and the devil is the spirit of sadness, but God is the spirit of joy, who saves us.”

One of the main things that should be celebrated by those who have discovered the gospel is the joy of the defeat of Satan. Believers can be bold in their laughter, because Christ has set us free from the fear of death and evil!

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” -Hebrews 2:14-15

We have nothing to fear! Not the devil, Hell, Judgment for our sins or the tribunal of other people’s religious troubles, trifles and tantrums. Christ triumphed over all of them and set us free to live lives full of righteous liberty, festival and frivolity as only people set free from sin and death can.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them through the cross.” -Colossians 2:13-15

Evangelicals always seem to have to find a reason to justify having fun, as if God is not the author of laughter, giggles and the creator of all our toe-tingling endorphin pleasures. At the root of the problem is we don’t truly believe the gospel. We believe we are saved by what we do or don’t do or ‘how well’ we do it. We claim Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth and that according to Jesus “the prince of this world was cast out” (Jn 12:31) but then live in superstitious fear and missional anxiety about days, foods and a host of other things.

Colossians 2: 16,20-21 “So don’t let anyone stand in judgment over you and dictate what you should eat or drink, what festivals you should celebrate, or how you should observe a new moon or Sabbath days...You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?

To sum it up, Christ has set us free from the hamster wheel of trying to gain acceptance with God by being good enough or not bad enough. We have died to that way of life and have been born again into an abundant life of pardon, piety and pleasure!

“...if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” -Galatians 2:21

Such a path leads not to ungodliness but to Godwardness that produces people consumed with the wonders of Christ not swamp of self-introspection of brother bashing.

But unfortunately not everyone really understands the ‘good news’ of the gospel and many are still living in the shadows of a great deliverance, thinking they are still slaves to religious systems, the hammer of a distorted sin consciousness and fear of devils, destinies and diets!

1 Corinthians 8:4-7 “So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords.

But for us:

There is one God, the Father,

by whom all things were created,

and for whom we live.

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through whom all things were created,

and through whom we live.

7 However, not all believers know this.

Martin Luther said: “Laugh at the enemy and find someone to whom you can talk... or drink more, or make a joke, some merriment or any other joyful thing. Sometimes one must drink more, play, make merriment and even risk a sin during all this, in order to show abhorrence and disdain to the devil, so that he is not given any opportunity to make a thing of conscience out of small matters...If only I had something like an obvious sin, just in order to annoy the devil, so that he realizes that I do not recognize, and am not conscious of, any sin!”

I know that reading that paragraph almost seemed sacrilegious to some still in the grip of the law and under the heel of a religious spirit that has them pinned to the ground in fear of fragile faith. They still think they are their own saviors and that their right standing with God is based on their own works instead of the grace of God. They think freedom is a license to sin, which in reality just exposes the false front of righteousness that hides their own lurking lusts inside. The law exposes and punishes sin, it doesn’t liberate or loose you from it. Often those who wail the loudest against sin or the dangers of it are the one’s in it’s grip the most. They see evil all around because their religious mindset is rooted in justification by performance and pacification of other people’s courts of conscience instead of the mercy and love of God.

“Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.” -Colossians 2:18-19

Paul goes on to discuss how to navigate people and their issues, their lack of knowledge about the full freedom of the gospel and how to know what to ‘keep to yourself and God” and what to refuse to ever submit to for the gospel’s sake. (Romans 14:9-10,14,22-23, 1 Corinthians 8:9-12 and Galatians 2:5).

We are called to love other people because love is higher than law, but true love, does it’s best to help others understand the beauty and benefit of the Gospel of Jesus. That means love might look outrageously obnoxious at times for the sake of the truth. It means freedom may call on you to laugh at the very things that pretend to exert such terror among us. Love may trespass where others cringe in perpetual deference to everyone else’s neurotic religiosity.

So this Halloween, let’s dare to laugh at the devil and all his lies. Let the celebration of Christ and His glorious gospel drown out all the barking, clucking and snorting of those who seem to be heralds of humorless holiness and the joyless Jesus of dogooderism.

“If you are moody, you shall remember that the Father now smiles at you.” -Martin Luther

Now go throw the best Halloween or Holywhatchamacallit party your pagan or pious friends have ever experienced and do it all for the glory of God!

 

Can you understand this quote?  

“Box your own lad’s ears the first time you see him shy a stone at a sparrow; and heartily, too; but put up, you and mother—(thank God for the blessed persecution),—with every conceivable form of vermin the boy likes to bring into the house,—and go hungry yourselves rather than not feed his rat or rabbit." 

This is a quote by George Elliot (1861) urging parents to discipline their children severely every time you see any form of cruelty to animals. 

"Shy a stone" means targeting a small, harmless bird. In rural 19th-century England, killing songbirds was seen as wasteful and morally wrong (sparrows were protected by custom and later by law).

But, recognize that having pets, of any kind, is a crucial part of childhood because it teaches them to love, to care and to nurture. So allow the child to explore nature, even if it means dirt, smells, and pests in your home including all kinds of creepy-crawly or dirty creatures (rats, mice, snakes, beetles, toads, etc.) And go hungry yourselves rather than not feed his rat or rabbit." 

 

"O Lord, take my heart

for I cannot give it;

and when Thou hast it, oh, keep it,

for I cannot keep it for Thee;

and save me in spite of myself

for Jesus Christ's sake." 

Fenelon. 

 

"He erred, no doubt, perhaps he sinned; 

Shall I then dare to cast a stone? 

Perhaps his blotch on a garment white,

Counts less than the dingy robes I own." 

George Houghton. 

 

"Not all who seem to fail have failed indeed; 

Not all who fail have therefore worded in vain;
For all our acts to many issues lead; 
and of of earnest purpose, pure and plain, 
Enforced by honest toil of hand or brain,
The Lord will fashion, in His own good time,
Such ends, as to his wisdom, fittest chime
With His vast love's eternal harmonies. 

There is no failure for the good and wise;
What though they seed should fall by the wayside
And the birds snatch it! - yet the birds are fed;
or they may bear it far across the tide,
To give rich harvests after thou are dead."
Charles Kingsley. 

The poem offers a hopeful and spiritual perspective on failure, suggesting that no sincere effort is truly wasted. Even if immediate goals aren't achieved, honest work contributes to a greater purpose, whether by benefiting others, aligning with divine will, or producing results beyond one’s lifetime. It encourages perseverance, faith, and trust in a larger plan, particularly from a perspective rooted in religious or moral conviction.

 

"Jesus didn’t heal everyone.

I’ve wrestled with that truth in the quiet places no one sees, in the hospital hallways where prayers echoed unanswered,

in the graveside silences where I begged Him to come late like He did for Lazarus…

and still believed He could.

He didn’t always stop.

He didn’t always speak.

Sometimes… He just walked by.

And that truth used to ache in me like a wound I couldn’t name.

I had this idea that if He could, He should.

That if He was near, He would fix what was broken. That if He loved me, He’d rescue me, quickly, publicly, visibly.

But He didn’t.

And yet… He loved me still.

I used to think miracles were the evidence of favor. Now I see, sometimes, the silence is.

Sometimes the “no” is just as holy as the “now.”

Sometimes the waiting is more sacred than the wonder.

Because the truth is, Jesus didn’t heal everyone.

Not every lame man walked.

Not every blind eye opened.

Not every storm was stilled.

Not every grave was emptied.

But He saw every ache.

He felt every cry.

He wept at every tomb.

Even the ones He didn’t raise.

I’m learning that His love is not proven by how quickly He answers,

but by how faithfully He stays when He doesn’t.

He didn’t always heal the body.

But He always touched the soul.

He always restored what mattered most.

And He always walked in love, even when His hands didn’t move the way I hoped.

So here I am, years into a prayer I’m still waiting on. Holding the tension between faith and fatigue.

Still believing He can.

Still trusting Him even if He doesn’t.

Still finding Him in the places I didn’t expect,

the long nights, the dry spells, the closed doors, the empty hands.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s the deeper healing.

Maybe He walked past them so He could walk with me.

Maybe He withheld the miracle to give me more of Him.

Maybe the greatest healing isn’t in the answer,

but in the nearness of the One who holds me while I wait.

He didn’t heal everyone. But He never passed by the brokenhearted.

And I know now, He has not passed by me."

Gwen Brewster.