Going back to well before 2016, chunks of my meditation have revolved around God’s warnings.
For example: Paul’s prophecy on "Perilous times and perilous men." Those remarks are prefaced by the definition of the essence of approved and disapproved workers.
And so here is the view from "across the river," to borrow the analogy.
A core failure of Evangelicalism is numbness – insensitivity, lack of compassion and empathy. The result is the erosion of spiritual essense – Humble passion and heart-felt compunction.
In our lifetimes, the church has grown callously busy in works – addicted, really – to Power, prosperity and perfection. The deception is that measuring visible temporal progress has merit.
Why numbness? It’s so much easier. Ask any addict. "We are what we are when nobody is looking" ~ Marcus Aurelius.
Ultimately faith is an inside job, and if the inside is right the outside will bear witness. I’m crushed that Jesus loves me just the way I am and not the way I should be. Ah! Grief. If only I could live like Him toward others.
Fortunately the hurdle so much less than such perfection. "This is the work, that you believe…"
