“But let justice roll out like waters, And righteousness like an ever-flowing      stream.                                    

   Amos 5:24 (NASB)

We are all familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King’s work in the civil rights arena for trying to end segregation, and to improve voting rights for African-Americans. He helped to shine a light on the violent threats that Blacks faced in the Deep South, and indeed, he survived those same threats himself until his assassination in 1968.  

Less remembered is his strong witness against the war in Vietnam, and his work on the Poor People’s March, which was a diverse effort to point out the effects of poverty in America. While Dr. King met with and influenced President Lyndon Johnson, he did not hesitate to confront the President when he believed that Johnson must do more from his position of power. King was the model of speaking truth to power. Dr. King believed that he must live out his witness to Jesus Christ even though it meant unpopularity, and even more threats against him. Power was not his goal- justice was his goal.

Prophets have a responsibility to be a witness for justice. The goal of Christians should not be pursuit of power, but rather pursuit of justice. Dr. King embodied that goal, and that is why we celebrate his legacy later this month.

Prayer: Lord, give us the courage to always work for justice, not power, Amen

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.                                                                                                         Matthew 5:8

So, what does it mean to be “pure in heart”? It does not mean a “perfect heart”- that is not possible. It does mean that we have looked into our heart and we have seen it for what it is. It is selfish and pleasure seeking, if left to its own devices. Our job is to cut down on how often it is “left to its own devices”. In other words, we are to be stewards of an inherently selfish nature.

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet asserts “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be. Jeremiah 17:9-10

We are clear that we are not perfect in heart, but we can be pure of heart. We can do that by agreeing with God on it. He knows our frailties, and he detests the practice of trying to cover it up, pretending we are something that we are not.

The counseling principle of ownership of our innermost being frees us to become who we are truly meant to be. Truth in agreeing that we are sinners in need of a Savior is the step of freedom and change. It is the “moment of clarity” for those in addiction who now see the need for help in overcoming the addiction. It is the moment of salvation for those who see that they cannot solve the sin problem alone.

I have been fond of writing about the relationship of faith and science. Science can explain and solve many world problems. It cannot solve the sin problem. That is the work for faith.

Prayer: Thank you Father for the solution to our heart problems, your son, Jesus, Amen

The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.                 Matthew 13:22

By any measure, the United States is a wealthy country. No surprise there. In fact, the State of the Nation Project (see www.stateofnation.org) recently released a study showing that the United States outperformed 98% of the rest of the world in “Economic Output”. Here comes the rest of the story…

The United States outperforms only 70% of the world in current life satisfaction; 66% of the world in trust in the police; 33% of the world in belief in democracy, and only 11% of the world in depression and anxiety measures.

Are you surprised? Shocked even? I was not surprised by the “Life Satisfaction” results. I had seen those types of numbers before. However, the United States outperformed only 33% of the world in “Belief in Democracy”. Let that sink in- the trust measure for the world’s oldest and most successful democracy is in the bottom third of the world!

The United States is near the bottom of the world in the mental health measures of depression and anxiety. Nearly 90% of the world fares better in what I would call “measures of personal peace”.

As has been so clear for thousands of years, wealth and a sense of personal peace are not well related. In fact, in the case of the United States, they are almost inversely proportional!

Ah, but we already know that real peace rests in relationship with Jesus and trust in his care of us.  

Prayer: Lord, you are the source of real peace, and we are grateful, Amen

These are my two historical novels about a character named Joseph Shepherd. The first one is about a mysterious man who appears suddenly onto the earthly scene in the early 17th century. He travels the world with a partner, Luke Greene, and together they meet some of the giants of the century- Galileo, King James, William Harvey, Francis Bacon, Oliver Cromwell, and William Bradford, captain of the Mayflower, among many others.

Shepherd is an archetype of Jesus, placed into the earth once again. I won’t spoil the endings, because they hold the answer to his appearances. My thesis was that if Jesus came again to the earth, he would once again speak truth to power and he would run afoul of the powers of the day. In fact, he would once again be persecuted and possibly killed. Jesus is always a “lightning rod” for controversy since he pursues justice fearlessly. People in power in any empire will always work to retain power, and justice and mercy may be sacrificed as a result.

In the sequel, Joseph Shepherd once again appears, this time in the United States during the Civil War. He becomes a Union soldier (field surgeon), an advisor to several Presidents, and he is involved (and unable to stop) the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley.

Once again, his upright and challenging stances conflict with the current powers, and he ends up being arrested and persecuted. Along the way his adventures bring him in contact with Thomas Edison, a young Henry Ford, Billy the Kid, John D. Rockefeller, Mark Twain, and a host of American luminaries.

My point through these books is that Jesus, no matter when or where he shows up, pursues peace, justice, mercy and healing – and he is often misunderstood and persecuted.

So, if Jesus were to show up again in a human body, how would he be treated today?

Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.

Psalm 71:18

There is a basketball term, used mostly in the past, called “dribbling out the clock”. That was when the team with the lead and possession of the ball would not attempt to score anymore- they would just kill the clock by dribbling the ball until time ran out.

I have used that analogy with people who are in retirement age who are trying to determine what the rest of their life looks like. Will they use retirement to start a second career? Volunteer their time to worthy charitable endeavors? Travel and spend time with grandchildren?

For me, the option of dribbling out the clock is a non-starter. Studies have shown that seniors who have continued to work, or to volunteer their time to the good of the community live longer and healthier lives.

We are not meant to shut things down at a certain age. Certainly, there are those who are physically unable to work or do many activities outside the home. Even people who are limited physically can still be vital in causes and activities that expand their mind, including life-long education programs.

So, dear readers, the question is do we live until we die or do we exist until we die?

I choose to live my life as vigorously as I am able- no dribbling out the clock for me.  

Prayer: Lord, I am grateful for the health and the desire to continue to contribute to the gift of life you gave, Amen

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.  For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.  I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 8:5-12

Time after time in the Bible, we see Jesus doing things that confounded his followers. Even his coming to Earth confounded people. Seeing the world from upside down is sometimes the best way to look at it. What do I mean by that?

We look at things through the eyes of logic and reason (mostly) and we have certain expectations of the world. The Jewish followers of Jesus expected that he came to save the Jews from an evil world (the Roman overlords), and to cast out those who were not rigid followers of the Jewish Laws set forth generations prior. All those who were not followers of Yahweh were to be avoided. Those religions were inferior and threatening to the religion of the True God.

Jesus confounded that thinking by giving examples of non-Jews who put rigid religious behaviors to shame. The Good Samaritan is a prime example. The Woman at the Well is another. The story from the passage cited above talks about the faith of a Centurion is another one of many.

Many religious people do much the same as the Jews did and try to make a relationship with God formulaic. Maybe having a formula helps us to feel better somehow, but rigid adherence to formulas isn’t the way that we can reach to God. He has already reached to us (another paradox) with Jesus, whose life was an example of loving those around him.

My point is that just when we think we have figured out a religious method and approach to God, he confounds us again. He says in so many words (if I may be so presumptuous as to put my words in God’s mouth!)

 “You all are overthinking this, folks. Love me by loving one another. Because I have forgiven you, and paid a high price to do so, forgive one another. Quit trying to reduce me to formulas- just go about loving one another and it will please me.”

Prayer: Lord, I trust in the simple approach to you and not tying you to formulas. Thank you for your love for us, Amen

“And so I am giving a new commandment to you now—love each other just as much as I love you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35 (Living)

First century Christians were known to rescue abandoned children who had been left exposed to the elements by parents who decided not to care for them. Often, those abandoned children had been born deformed in some way, and the parents were actually following Roman law about discarding children who would be unable to thrive or become productive Roman citizens.

That Roman practice, a form of eugenics (before that word was ever conceived), shows the thinking of hearts not yet transformed by God’s love. The concept of eugenics reached a peak in the 1930’s in Germany and the United States. Following the increased acceptance of Darwin’s theory of evolution, it took the concept of natural selection to an absurd end. It proposed that society could become better and better as those “weak links” (those with deformities, or those deemed to be “feebleminded”) were eliminated from the population.  

I would like to say that the concept of eugenics was never really embraced in the United States, and that it was roundly criticized and vanished quickly. However, I can’t say that. The idea of “cleansing” unwanted people from our midst never totally lost its luster.

As Christians, we are called upon, just like those first century Christians, to be salt and light in a world that desperately needs it. We are called to love and protect the most vulnerable people in our midst.

We can do that in different ways, of course, and we start with finding the people closest to us who need help and protection. They are all around us, we just need to be aware.  

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength to love people right where we find them, Amen

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.                              Hebrews 11:1

Recently I have been thinking about our notions of certainty and how that affects our world view. What are the things of which we are certain?  For example, I am a person of faith, and as such, I have my own notions of security, my own certainty, based upon a relationship with God who loves me. I also think that the world God created is amazing, and to think it randomly evolved to this level of exquisite complexity would, in my mind, be ludicrous.

At the same time, I do not think that the world was created in 7 days about 7,000 years ago, although there are some Christians who do. I do not know the processes that God used to bring   this world, this universe, into existence- that is a mystery to me. I am perfectly comfortable stating that position. I can live in some ambiguity quite nicely, without a need to have precise explanation of how the world came into being. There is a level of uncertainty in that.

For centuries the organized Church had “certainty” about how the universe works. The sun and other planets revolved around the earth. It must be that way. It was certainty. Anyone who taught otherwise faced the considerable wrath of the Church. Gradually, science facts became irresistible, and the Church finally acknowledged the scientific certainty of a heliocentric universe.

Unfortunately, the Church’s need for certainty about the universe led to a wholesale departure from the Church as a source of truth, as science became the accepted standard for determining truth.

The Age of Enlightenment came to be and gradually, the spiritual truths of which the Church was guardian, became hopelessly entangled in science, politics and governance. The role of faith was now labeled as an anachronism, an old remnant of a long-abandoned way of seeing the world.

Fast forward to the 20^th century where the theoretical physicists of the age were the new guides to the universe. Werner Heisenberg was one of those brilliant physicists in the early 20^th century. In his study of quantum physics, he came up with his “uncertainty principle” which states that one cannot measure with certainty both the location and the momentum of a particle. Further, the act of measuring actually changes the result. This causes us to make “good educated guesses” about the movement of particles which make up all matter.

For some, this accelerated the movement away from all certainty, and it spilled over into all areas of life. It was as if some portions of society were saying, “We can be certain of nothing, so let’s simply take down all the old barriers and beliefs”.

In terms of faith, I think the idea of mystery is not only acceptable, but important. How can we force an almighty God into the limited box of our understanding? If we know that God loves us, and sent His son to die for us, isn’t that enough to understand?  

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the certainty of your love for us, Amen

I remember my first “turn of the decade” New Year. It was the end of the 1950’s and the start of the 60’s. I was 9 years old, and so very excited for the highly anticipated 1960’s. It promised to be a decade of technological advances, labor saving devices, space exploration, and the emergence of that new “baby boomer” generation coming into its own as they entered high school. We did indeed also see many cultural changes, including civil rights protests, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Beatles, the Vietnam War and so much more. 

Now we approach a new year, 2026. It is not the start of a new decade, but every new year brings with it the hope that it will be a fresh start. It is a good time to both look forward and back. I am grateful for so much in this past year. I trust that the new year will bring my readers health and peace, and a renewed commitment to making the world around them just a little better.

I reflect also on my gratitude for my readers, both here in the United States and around the world. I want to recognize those readers from around the world, including Ireland, Sweden, China, Indonesia, Japan, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, Peru, Mexico, Australia, Nigeria, and occasional visits from other unknown friends around the world.

So, my blessings to all this New Year. May it be your best ever!

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye                                                                Matthew 7:1-5

Projection: the attribution of one’s own ideas, feelings, or attitudes to other people or to objects Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Jesus was able to clearly outline the mechanism of projection long before more modern psychology had a name for it. The process of ascribing an attribute in ourselves onto someone else, then judging it, has been a part of the human condition since- well, forever.

Jesus correctly called upon people to clear their own eyes before they can accurately assess the problems with someone else. If we have a speck in our own eye, it actually, due to its close presence, looks, and sometimes feels, like a “plank”. It inhibits us from seeing things very well. We are not in a position to be able to see something amiss in another person’s eye, or heart as it may be, to offer a remedy. We need to get our own sight better first. Jesus went on to suggest that once we deal with our own problems, we may well be able to help a brother or sister with the same affliction.

My typical discussion with clients is the need to find personal healing by sharing their story for the benefit of someone else going through the same or similar problem. In this way, we get out of the pity, as well as the projection problems that can beset us, as we work to help another person.

But first, we need to see clearly in order to do that. We own our problems, work to deal with them, then we share our story for the benefit of others.

First step- we get the plank out of our own eye.

Prayer: Thank you Father for the wisdom of Jesus on human nature. He knows us better than we know ourselves, Amen.