Not Machiavelli's Prince

(continued from yesterday...)  The rich and powerful will always be rich and powerful.  Only fools give away privileges.  Only the weak are merciful.  

Except that this is a lie.  God is rich, and powerful, and he is merciful and gracious.  Eternally generous.  In the middle of Ismael’s sermon this past Sunday on Nehemiah, he invited us to look up 2 Corinthians 8:9.  It is a powerful, captivating verse, one of perhap few verses in the Bible that contain so much beauty and truth it is indeed a challenge to take it all in.  “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

Jesus had it all.  A mansion with a view.  Constant, adoring friends.  A sprawling masterpiece of a universe.  He experienced perfect, loving community with the other members of the Godhead.  He had an awesome retirement program, and a sterling reputation.   But he saw something that broke his heart, and changed the course of history.

He looked down and saw me hungry.  You were beside me.   There was lostness reflected in your big, brown eyes, and my stiff mouth belied a lack of hope and an absence of love.  We were orphans, you and I, and there were tears in our eyes.  One day we looked up, and the Almighty took note of our plight.  He would come, and become us, and adopt us, clothing us in a purple robe that was ripped off of him at the cross. 

The weak are not merciful.  Fools are not strong enough to sacrifice.  Only those recognizing the vanity of living for these brief tabletop moments are strong enough to give what they cannot keep in order to gain what they cannot lose.  That person is no fool.   

God have mercy on this country.

Quote of the Day: "Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees."
           - J. Hudson Taylor