Christian forgiveness is a revolution. It does what revolutions always do: it overthrows the old, decaying order and replaces it with something new. Political revolutions bring change by way of violent struggle, but God’s revolutions bring soul-altering change by way of spiritual renewal. Forgiveness is a revolution, yes, but only for those who choose to let go of resentment and hatred and live a new life. In the hands of torturers Jesus knew what He was doing when He made... Read more
A nun who is a long-time friend of mine wrote me an email the other day with no message except this arresting subject line: “Please continue to pray for my protection, I know I am under attack. Thanks.” Wow. Forget the details. I don’t know and I don’t care what this is about. Her distress call was all I needed to blast into action. My response: “I’m on it, Sister!” The scenario reminds me of that magnificent story of the... Read more
In my moments of deepest introspection I have to admit that I think of God as a character from a Dickens novel: Scrooge. I’m not being facetious. Way down in the subconscious mind, somewhere in those murky depths of personality, my image of God is that of a guy who sits on a pile of gold and hoards it. My complaint goes something like this: I keep asking. It’s like I have to convince Him of what I need and... Read more
How would you react to meeting an angel who descended to earth like lightning before your very eyes? If you were superhuman or supremely holy you might sit down and have a conversation with him or check out his “dazzling robes” as the Gospel of Luke describes them (Luke 24:4), but you would be the only person in history ever to react that casually to an angel. From the evidence of scripture, most human beings who meet angels fall down... Read more
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