SMITCHing

Do you love mercy? In the Scriptures, the word sometimes translated "mercy" can also be rendered "steadfast love." So when I ask, "Do you love mercy?", I really ask, "Do you love love?" Specifically, the love that God offers. Before you answer too quickly, think about it. Jesus ate with sinners, and it hacked off the religious leaders of His day to no end. These were the guys who should've known better. They should have recognized Him. Some did, but most just couldn't get their arms around Jesus as Messiah. He touched the untouchable, accepted lavish worship from the sexually immoral, and dared to reckon the Samaritans (at best, considered heretics by religious Jews) among God's beloved. All of that lavish love earned Him derision and eventually death. Some would argue His death came as a political necessity. Sure, He was a radical, but not as a political reformer, as some hold. He simply loved radically. And He was hated for that...

It's not a terribly attractive image, is it? But it can be very instructive. A sieve separates desirable elements from unwanted material allowing one to pass and the other to remain. In the case of a liquid that you want to clear of solids, the solids remain behind as unwanted, leaving the liquid to pass through in a pure state. I want to be a sieve, where the pure love of God poured out in my heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) passes through me to others, leaving behind the still stubborn sin of my flesh. I think this is how Christianity is supposed to work. If you've ever been to a wedding where a Bible verse is read, chances are you have heard 1 Corinthians 13. It is a beautifully descriptive passage that teaches us to do all in love. It says that anything overtly religious (and even admirable) is meaningless is it is not done in love. I take that to mean that it is entirely possible to be very religious, to demonstrate an outward piety, and to have all of it be less than...