Words from a Branch

  Daniel 1             Babylon attempted to re-identify Daniel and company through a brutal program of brainwashing, not dissimilar in content to today’s programs of conformity. The key to successful resistance, as we see in this chapter, is to draw the line precisely at the point of obedience. Draw the line too early, and you have lost your witness by your absence. Draw the line too late, and you have lost your witness through compromise. The key to effective witnessing is to be in the world, but not of it. We must understand that the world is not so much a physical place; it is, in reality, a state of mind. Verses 1-4: the Ruin of Israel             Daniel’s home was completely devastated, and even the Temple was plundered. Babylon took the best and brightest, Israel’s future, and sought to turn them into Babylonians. Daniel has witnessed a catastrophe; he has see...

  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV             Our experience protest that it is not so, love is fickle, love is pragmatic, and doubtful, love gives-up. With mere human love it is so, and those tendencies endure even in the hearts of believers. It is a tragic situation, which results in tragic situations. Brokenness which produces brokenness, amidst a backdrop of idealistic virtue. Because we are in love, we feel betrayed, and so we are. We are betrayed by our own heart, our own lack of the true virtue, and our own acceptance of a counterfeit. We hurt ourselves as much as we are hurt by others. And as much as we are hurt, we also hurt others.             How to stop all of this hurting? If we are confined to a love that is something we experience there is no hope. Such a love is what it is and can...