Sharing for its relevance to the issue of criticism. In "Go Forward in Love: A Year of Daily Readings from Timothy Keller" here is the reading for January 11th which I just read today. Grace Makes Us Servants "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43-44 Jesus conducts a major critique of religion. His famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7) does not criticize irreligious people but rather religious ones. In his famous discourse the people he criticizes pray, give to the poor, and seek to live according to the Bible, but they do so in order to get acclaim and power for themselves. They believe they will get leverage over others and even over God because of their spiritual performance ("They think they will be heard because of their many words"--Matt. 6:7). This makes them judgmental and condemning, quick to give criticism, and unwilling to take it. They are fanatics. [. . .} The God of Jesus and the prophets, however, saves completely by grace. He cannot be manipulated by religious and moral performance--he can only be reached through repentance, through the giving up of power. If we are saved by sheer grace we can only become grateful, willing servants of God and of everyone around us. The Reason for God (I gather that is the title of the book the quote is taken from.) My comments--please don't take this as an intended "prophetic word" from me applying to anyone. I should not think that. I'm sharing because of its proximity to the teaching from Sunday about criticism. If the Lord does any prompting, don't take it personally from me. Take it personally, but not from me :) The Lord loves you, as many as the Lord shall call. Almen. He loves you!

Posted by John Fullerton at 2025-01-14 17:42:45 UTC