by David Anderson
lives in a meritocracy. He’s in debt to the tune of ten thousand talents, an astronomical sum that would take the average worker of that era 150,000 years to repay. Following the custom of the day, the king decides to sell him into slavery, along with his whole family, to try to recoup at least […]
by David Anderson Leave a Comment Filed Under: Conversion, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Lent, Mercy, Repentance, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
is one more explosive revelation we have safely turned into a children’s Bible story. When God asks Jonah to go preach to the Ninevites—to repent and find God’s forgiveness—Jonah refuses. He’s afraid God will forget all those passages in the Torah about how gentile nations are anathema, and only Israel is God’s choice. Jonah knows […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Anger, Belief, Change, Conversion, Forgiveness, Grace, Lent, Mercy, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
discovered that no one could steal his essential blessing. It’s been twenty years since Jacob tricked his near-blind old father Isaac into giving him the blessing to which the firstborn Esau was entitled. He stole it, the little momma’s boy, and ran away to escape the wrath of his swarthy hunter brother who could have […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Abundance, Anger, Conflict, Family, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Lent, Mercy, Uncategorized
just schooled the Messiah. She came out of the crowd, a Canaanite, begging Jesus to heal her daughter afflicted by a demon. The disciples tell Jesus to get her out of here, “for she is crying after us.” At first Jesus tries to dodge the whole scene. “I was sent only to the lost sheep […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Change, Forgiveness, Lent, Suffering, Uncategorized
lived in a world without a past to go on. First Woman. She had no predecessors to look to. Imagine this. Eve appears one day in a lush garden, having no idea where she came from. There’s only one other human, a man, and he is her husband. She reaches for too much of this […]
by David Anderson Leave a Comment Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Family, Forgiveness, Grace, grief, Healing, Hope, Lent
knew how to turn. That’s why he is a model for us on Ash Wednesday, a day that calls us to turn in a new direction. I mean Peter’s famous vision of a sheet descending from heaven filled with all the animals he was—by law—forbidden to eat (Acts 10: 1-48). A voice from heaven says, […]
by David Anderson 14 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Belief, Bible, Change, Discernment, Forgiveness, Grace, Lent, Repentance, Surrender, Transformation
Matthew 3:1-12 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is comingafter me . . . he will baptize you with fire.” One of the truest rock ‘n roll songs I know is AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” It’s an anthem of excess that screams, If “livin’ easy, livin’ free” lands me in hell, […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy, Salvation
It’s hard to get people to kill other human beings—unless we can convince them that the enemy is not really human. The history of war shows us over and over the campaigns countries wage to dehumanize their enemies so that it will be possible to kill them without sadness, remorse or shame. Most of us […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Discernment, Forgiveness, Healing, Justice/Peace, Mercy