Wholemaking

Posted on September 16, 2021 by billtonnis
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“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi

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Listen to my song “Mercy Reigns” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 7:47

“The one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”

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Jesus had a habit of saying things that pulled the rug out from under conventional understanding.

I’m thinking that many people think the religious goal is to be morally perfect.

However, this type of philosophy turns a person down a path of never-ending-failure.

Perfectionism (of which I am quite familiar) is a curse.

But as a former mentor of mine use to love to say, “It can both help and hinder you.”

Trying to do the best job obviously can be a good thing, but when it becomes an obsession for absolute perfection, you end up miserable.

That’s because absolute perfection is impossible!

And when you think you have to be perfect, you have to pretend to be so.

This leads to being self-righteous and judgmental.

Besides, I don’t believe God is interested in us being perfect or trying to prove ourselves worthy.

Life is not about focusing on our private perfection or what Thomas Merton called “Our personal salvation project.”

We are called into the messiness of relationships.

We are part of a web-of-life whether we like it or not.

St. Paul called it the body of Christ.

Paul knew in his heart that all things are one in Christ.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible…all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17).

We are in-relationship-to-all-things and so forgiveness is vital.

It repairs any breaks in our unity.

I once had a dream in which I told someone that Judas was the most renowned in heaven because he was the most forgiven.

This had a profound effect on me.

Forgiveness transforms hearts and lives.

Grace is a gift of God. It’s not earned but freely given.

We are not here on a worthiness project but on a relationship-building project.

We are called to be whole-makers – diverse but unified.

To do so, we must learn love and compassion.

This takes humility, not hubris.

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Listen to the song of the day “Mercy Reigns” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Awestruck

Posted on September 15, 2021 by billtonnis

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“The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” – Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.

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Listen to my song “How Magnificent, Wondrous and Glorious” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Psalm 111:2-3

Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Majestic and glorious is his work.

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Take some time to gaze at the natural world.

If you are immersed in suburbia or the inner city, find some nature photos to look at without making any mental commentary.

If possible, take some time to actually walk in the presence of nature.

Sit somewhere and simply look at the magnificence of creation.

It is a web of life, all of it existing in relationship to all that is.

Science recognizes this fact.

Image by Fábio Almeida de Oliveira Adônes from Pixabay

As astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said, “We are all connected; to each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe atomically.”

When we are present to life, life is present to us.

Aliveness is all around us, in us and through us.

We are immersed in the Great “I AM” as God self-identified in scripture (Exodus 3:14).

How magnificent, wondrous, and glorious is it all!

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Listen to the song of the day “How Magnificent, Wondrous and Glorious” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Transform

Posted on September 14, 2021 by billtonnis

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“An obstacle is often a steppingstone.” – Anonymous

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Listen to my song “Changed” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Numbers 21:7-8

The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray to the LORD to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses: “Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover.”

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This is the story of the Israelites complaining to Moses about the harsh conditions in the desert after they had been freed from bondage to the Egyptians.

Their situation had taken a turn for the worse due to a lack of food and water, and then biting seraph serpents came upon them.

So they turned on the prophet who had been their savior.

Of course, it is not God who sends tragic situations to us but simply the twists and turns of life.

Challenges occur in this earthly realm and I think that is so God’s glory can be shown through how we deal with such challenges.

Jesus addressed this when his followers asked him who had sinned to cause a man to be born blind, “the man or his parents.”

But Jesus said, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (John 9:2-3).

When adversities come, it is God or Spirit who energizes and leads us through the struggle to transformation.

Just as the Israelites discovered through their encounter with the serpents, it was the very serpents, the curse itself, that became the blessing and cure.

It is a metaphor for what happens in life.

My ruptured appendix over 20 years ago was at first a curse, but that very ordeal became one of the greatest spiritually transformative events of my life.

As Jesus showed us, death is always followed by new life.

Always!

Trust in the process!

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Listen to the song of the day “Changed” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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From the Heart

Posted on September 13, 2021 by billtonnis

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“Compassion is an action word with no boundaries. It is never wasted.” – Prince

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Listen to my song “You’ll Lead Me” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 7:2-3

A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When (the centurion) heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave.

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Jesus definitely had a heart for the poor and the marginalized.

We see this throughout the gospels as he reached out to the sick and disabled, all who were cast-out of society.

Jesus joined them and brought healing to them.

Compassion spurred him to do this.

But in today’s scripture, we see Jesus being asked for help by a centurion, a commander in the Roman army.

This was a leading member of the army that was oppressing the Jewish people.

Surely Jesus would rebuff him and ridicule him, right?

Wrong.

Jesus heals the man’s slave.

Compassion spurred him to do this.

Of course, the slave will eventually still die.

We all do.

And, the centurion will have to come to grips some day with being a member of a system that is oppressing fellow human beings.

Could Jesus’ act of compassion have led to a conversion of heart in the centurion?

Scripture does not tell us.

But in the re-telling of this story, I’m betting many hearts have been moved.

How about yours?

What if today we stopped demonizing those whom we disagree with and instead saw their common humanity?

What if while still standing for the truth as we know it with our limited brains and limited information, we tried to remain in relationship with those we vehemently disagree?

Let’s face it: all of us are acting out of some degree of ignorance and bias.

May we each become more humble and compassionate.

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Listen to the song of the day “You’ll Lead Me” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Grateful

Posted on September 10, 2021 by billtonnis

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“For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.” – St. Augustine

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Listen to my song “Lift Up Our Voices” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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1 Timothy 1:12-14

I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant.

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St. Paul is such a testament to grace.

He was perhaps the least deserving person to be selected as a minister of the gospel.

Paul, who was first known as Saul, was persecuting the first Christians and most certainly was responsible for many of their deaths.

It was during this time when Saul thought he was doing good in ridding the world of followers of Jesus that he was selected.

Some type of mystical encounter happened when Saul was traveling.

He heard a voice asking, “Why are you persecuting me?”

When Saul asked who was addressing him, the voice stated: “I am Jesus, who you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4-5).

Saul found out that he was persecuting Jesus himself in persecuting his followers.

This was a profound revelation to Saul which led him to the understanding of being a part of something bigger than himself.

He realized we are all part of one body and responsible for each part of it.

Do you see yourself in Saul?

I see many similarities between Saul and me in the ways I have changed.

Many old beliefs have been rocked by the grace of new discovery.

I have felt the tender love of God through all the twists and turns.

We are all works in progress.

We are not on some private journey of moral perfection, but on a communal journey to experience Love and share that love through our own unique creative gifts and talents.

We are living in a sea of Grace.

Amen and alleluia!

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Listen to the song of the day “Lift Up Our Voices” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Big Picture

Posted on September 9, 2021 by billtonnis

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“There is no ‘them and us.’ There is only us.” – Greg Boyle, SJ

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Listen to my song “All Are One” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 6:27-28

“To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

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Ah, here it is, perhaps the most often ignored teaching of Jesus.

Not only is it ignored, the opposite is many times heralded.

I recently saw this insightful quote from Christian activist Shane Claiborne: “There is a version of American Nationalism that’s trying to camouflage itself as Christianity. But it doesn’t look like Jesus, or sound like Jesus. It exchanges the cross for a gun, and contradicts nearly every word of the Sermon on the Mount.”

The Sermon on the Mount is often referred to as The Beatitudes.

It features such lines as: “Blessed are the merciful” (Matthew 5:7) and “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9).

Jesus’ teachings are hard for a person who is operating through an either-or mentality, people who think Jesus is saying to let the guilty go off Scot-free.

Why is it so hard to operate through a both-and mentality?

You can both hold someone accountable and treat them with mercy.

If someone has done harm to another, they must suffer the consequences in some way, but the way can be tempered with compassion and the aim of restoration.

This is the way of Jesus.

This is why St. Paul was able to state: “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving on another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do” (Colossians 3:12-13).

Paul went on to say, “Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body” (Colossians 3:15).

This is the key: one body.

As Richard Rohr puts it, “Our holiness lies in participating in the wholeness of the Body of Christ.” 

We simply must get out of our little-protected-ego-selves, and see the Bigger Picture, the reality of our Oneness in God, in whom we all “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

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Listen to the song of the day “All Are One” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Grace Happens

Posted on September 8, 2021 by billtonnis

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“And all shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of thing shall be well.” – Julian of Norwich

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Listen to my song “Radically Okay” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Romans 8:28-30

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified.

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What a comforting passage this is from St. Paul!

He knew that he knew that he KNEW that all things would work for good when you are loving God, which means acting out of love for all things.

This is our purpose in each moment which is the only moment we’ve got.

It’s the only time that is real: right now.

When we act out of compassion and love, the Spirit will use all the good to overcome the seemingly bad.

The rest of this passage is simply beautiful.

God foreknew each of us and predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

Let me repeat that:

God foreknew each of us and predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

Jesus is the blueprint in each of us, and we will be eventually conformed to the image of Christ.

Each of us is called by God and are already justified and glorified by God.

Too good to be true?

St. Paul knew this at his core after he himself was radically changed by the Grace of God.

Once you know your innate belovedness, what is there to fear?

As St. Paul went on to say: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Nothing!

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Listen to the song of the day “Radically Okay” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Sacred Silence

Posted on September 7, 2021 by billtonnis

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“Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.” – Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

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Listen to the song of the day “Turn Off the Noise” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 6:12-13

In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles.

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Once again, we see Jesus give us the example of going to a quiet place to pray.

He modeled the instructions that he gave his followers: “Go to your inner room” (Matthew 6:6).

As St. John of the Cross wrote in the 16th century: “Silence is God’s first language.”

I have no doubt that Jesus prayed through some form of meditation.

It was a wordless communion with God who is among and within you.

It is the God in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

From this place of deep inner-communion, Jesus knew who to select for his apostles.

And who did he pick?

Quite a motley crew!

They were diverse, not educated, not very organized, and not the most likeable bunch.

Included in this group of the select was Judas, the one who would betray Jesus.

Jesus did not pick only people who thought like him and acted like him.

And, let’s face it, it wasn’t just a group of men.

Women were a part of this little traveling commune.

How scandalous!

And included in this eyebrow-raising-brood – was Mary of Magdala.

She stood by Jesus: at the cross; when his body was taken down; and when he was entombed.

She was also, by several accounts, the first to meet the resurrected Christ and the first to tell others.

Outside the four canonical gospels, there are other gospels that show Mary was actually the one who understood Jesus’ teachings the most and was then summarily snubbed by the men.

(Could this account for her complete and baffling disappearance from the writings of the men who wrote the letters that follow the canonical gospels? That is for another discussion.)

But what we do know is that Jesus operated from a deep and abiding inner-communion with God or Love itself (1 John 4:8), and that he nourished that communion through regular meditative prayer.

This led him to reach out to and include any and all who wished to follow him.

It led him to respond in truth but through non-violence and compassion – even to his persecutors.

May we do the same.

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Listen to the song of the day “Turn Off the Noise” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Consider Empathy

Posted on September 6, 2021 by billtonnis

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“Until you have real compassion, you cannot recognize love.” – Bob Thurman

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Listen to my song “I Stand in the Light” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 6:6-7

On another sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.

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Whatever happened to empathy?

I’m thankful that there are those in the world who are empathetic, but more are sorely needed.

In today’s scripture verses, we see that the religious leaders of Jesus’ time were so focused on carrying out the rules of their religious tradition, that they would do so instead of doing a loving act.

Jesus saw the man with the withered hand and was moved with compassion.

He knew the rule against working during the sabbath, but he put it aside in favor of doing what was compassionate.

Jesus asked the religious leaders, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9)

When Jesus heals the man, the scribes and Pharisees are enraged.

Jesus made it quite clear that the most important of all commandments was to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40).

Love is what takes precedence.

Jesus also said, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition!” (Mark 7:9)

This practice continues today with many choosing the strict and blind adherence to laws without any thought to compassion and the clear teaching of Jesus himself.

Thought for today: Am I choosing compassion over rules and the need to be right?

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Listen to the song of the day “I Stand in the Light” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Be Renewed

Posted on September 3, 2021 by billtonnis

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“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need.” – Tao Te Ching

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Listen to my song “Pour Me Out” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 5:37-39

“No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

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Jesus knew that human beings don’t like change.

They like the feeling of security that doing-it-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it gives them.

The problem is, it is a false security.

Nothing exciting happens in your comfort zone.

And certainly no growth.

We are surrounded in creation by death and renewal, but for some reason we think we can ignore it and pretend that it’s not happening to us.

But this death-and-renewal-process is the key to God’s creativity.

This is what God is doing in evolution.

That’s why Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).

You must die to yourself, as in your ego-generated false self, so that your true self can emerge.

This is the true you that is always there at your core, the eternally loved you that God created.

This same philosophy needs to be applied to all the structures we create including religion.

Just as medical science has changed and advanced from when Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth, so too must religion change and advance.

God is continuing to create.

The mind-bogglingly-large universe continues to expand.

And it’s all “in Christ” as St. Paul states.

He tries to explain this mystical idea: “For in (Christ) were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible…all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).

God is in the business of renewal.

As St. Paul put it, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (1 Corinthians 5:17).

All things are being made new, but humans have the free will to ignore this renewal.

The process of dying-and-rising is all about us.

New wine is being poured.

Fresh wineskins are needed.

What needs to be let-go-of so that new life can begin?

What do you need to let-go of?

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Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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