Lenten Devotional (32) & The Tragedy of Nashville

His Mercy Endures Forever

But the fruit of the Spirit is kindness…”

It’s possible that you live in fear wondering if Jesus is at the right hand of the Father scheming to make your life miserable. Or, it is even possible that somehow you have bought into the thinking that Jesus is ready to crush you like a bug, take away your baptismal rights and give you a bag of filthy rags to carry around for the rest of your life.

You may think Jesus is there at the right hand of the father, saying: “Yes, I cannot wait to ruin you because you sinned against me or you were seduced by false gods or because of your low self-esteem.” But this is not the case.

Like Pharaoh’s daughter showed kindness to Moses, like Rahab to the spies, like David to Mephibosheth, like Joab to Absalom, like Elisha who restored to life the woman’s son, like Joseph to Mary, the centurion to his servant, John to Mary, Paul to Onesimus, God’s kindness flows to you day after day after day after day. In God’s economy, no child of God is damaged goods. None. His hesed, his steadfast love, and his kindness endure forever.

Prayer: Bless us, O Lord, for we too often believe that we are less than you say we are. We embrace false narratives forgetting that the story you wrote for us is unchangeable. Be kind unto us, for we constantly doubt your promises. Remind us daily of your steadfast love through Christ our Lord, amen.

~~~

Notations:

*I finally completed an eight-part series through Proverbs 10 for our Vespers’ services. Proverbs 10 is a re-telling of Genesis. Like father, like son. The unrighteous sons act like their fathers. Their father is the great pervertor of history. Their father lied to Adam and Eve to overthrow God’s order and bring destruction. The sons of the Evil One, who is also called the Slanderer, have never learned their lesson. They have not given up on their quest, though they know their destiny is the same as their father’s. Jesus, the last Adam, silenced the preeminent perverse tongue.

**My dear brother, Dr. George Grant, writes about the tragedy that killed six persons:

Grief gripped the entire Nashville community. In shock, as pundits and politicians attempted to make sense of the senseless, across our presbytery men and women gathered in their homes, schools, and churches to pray. We did not need to ask, “Why did this have to happen? Why did this have to happen to us?” We know why. It was for precisely this sort of calamity that Jesus came in the first place. He came to deliver us from our sin and the corruption of this valley of tears. Moreover, He comforts us in our pain and sorrow.

***We have not shared the platform, but Aaron Renn and I met each other once in Miami, and I have followed his sociological work for some time now. I cherish his substack, and I am often gifted a little sample of his paid material. His recent stuff on men and relationships is quite good. Here is an excerpt:

Friendship, especially for men, comes from simply spending time together and shared experiences or shared projects. Obviously, there’s an element of personality or shared values that makes it easier to become friends with people. But even with people we might seem to have nothing in common with or even be incompatible, simply spending time together engaging can work its magic. That’s why if we need a friend, we shouldn’t get too hung up on all these various criteria.

I have also addressed this issue in my article Loving Men Like Men. I spent three chapters developing the theme of friendship in my doctoral work, and especially the relationship among men. This is a crucial topic that will require much development in the days and months ahead since most men affirm that they lack friends altogether.