Grundy's Blog

God's Mercy I have had the mistaken notion that by the time I entered my golden years, I would be full of wisdom, and would no longer sin. I realize how silly this may sound. I have fallen short of the glory of God for seven decades; why in the world would I think that my last years be any different? This past weekend I lied to my grandson, to my son, and to my daughter in law. It was a small, inconsequential   lie (my way of minimizing the lie). Even in my seventies I am good at rationalizing sin. My good friend Henri Nouwen writes, "the older we become the more we realize how limited we are in our ability to love how impure our hearts are, and how complex our motivations are. And there is a real temptation to want to look inside of ourselves and clean it all out, and become people with a pure heart, unstained intentions and unconditional love. Such an attempt is doomed to failure and leads us to ever greater despair. The more we look into ourselves and try to figure ours

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matt. 5:6) I have been working my way through the Beatitudes of late. In this fourth Beatitude Jesus draws us into the major theme of what it means to be human. In his treatise of the Beatitude, Darrell Johnson makes sure that we are hearing Jesus clearly. "Jesus is not saying , Blessed are those who feel righteous. Jesus is not here saying, Blessed are those who are on their way to being righteous. Jesus is not saying Blessed are those who are declared righteous. Jesus is here saying, Blessed are those who, although knowingly unrighteous, are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. They and they alone, shall be filled." My propensity is just the opposite—I desire those things that temporarily satisfy my thirst and hunger, and for the most part, they are the materialistic commodities of this world. So what does righteousness mean? Old Testament scholar Gerhard von Rad helps us to un

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. What is the kingdom of God? And where do I find it?  According to Dallas Willard, the kingdom of God is God in action and we find the kingdom of God everywhere . But in order to find the kingdom of God, we must first  seek it.  Interestingly, Jesus doesn't say "Go find the kingdom of God." When I lose my keys, the first thing I do is to seek where I might have misplaced them. I seek to find my keys everywhere . Similarly, we are told by Jesus to seek God in action—the kingdom of God— everywhere .  When I examine my daily life, I see that for much of the day, I seek other things. I seek comfort, I seek harmony, I seek friendship, I seek wisdom, I seek stimulation. These are not "bad" things in themselves, but when they take precedence over seeking the kingdom of God, they elude me. Why is this? Why am I unable to find peace? Why am I unab

Suffering Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you  As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;  That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend  Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.  I, like an usurp'd town to another due,  Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;  Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,  But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.  Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,  But am betroth'd unto your enemy;  Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,  Take me to you, imprison me, for I,  Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,  Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. —John Donne In “Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God,” John Donne begs God to capture his heart and save him from a relationship with Satan. According the poet, the primary means by which this happens is to employ God to violently “batter, [his] heart; to break, blow, and burn“ to make [him] new, to free

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.” Joel 2:25 Very few films stay with me, but the 1975 film, Day of the Locusts , is one that I have never forgotten. The film is about three wannabes and desperadoes who are sucked into the Hollywood system of sycophants, diggers, and parasites. They listen and fall victim to Hollywood’s sirens: glamor, money, fame, sex, and adoration. I want to say that I have never succumbed to such voices, that I never “crossed to death's other Kingdom,” (T.S. Eliot) but truth be told, I have wasted many of my sixty-six years. Those years nearly cost me my children and my wife, who will tell you that I not only changed spiritually but physically—my eyes were vacuous gray, my skin jaundiced-like.   Satan had his way with me. Locusts ravaged my life and the lives of my family.   How does one get to a place where nothing matters but the satiation of selfish appetites? It begins with seemingly inconsequential sins. In Bruce L. Bake

“Rend your hearts, not your garments.”—Joel 2:13 An “army” of locusts has come into Judah, devastating the land.   The reason for such devastation is the sin of indifference, of being “neither cold or hot.”    John Piper writes: “ The ultimate aim of God in sending the locust horde against his people is to secure their undivided allegiance: ‘You shall know that I, Yahweh, am your God, and there is no one else.’ Evidently, the cause of the locust plague had been the people's half-hearted allegiance . Some of their affections had gone after things other than God. He was not their all-consuming love. So he fought against his own people. For few things are more dishonoring to God and dangerous for us than love to God which is only half-hearted.” Half-heartedness is a subtle sin that unlike overt sins —murder, adultery, gluttony, gossiping—it quietly creeps into our lives, appearing like a “false friend.” The sin of indifference veils spiritual emptiness.   We go to church, at