Words from a Branch

  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...

Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. Proverbs 1:8-9 ESV             The overt meaning and intention of this verse has behind it a few important implications which setup the overt command. Sadly we can no longer take these implications of verses like this for granted. No, not even the mention of father and mother which implies a man and a woman joined in covenant marriage each with a respective role to play in the household and in the upbringing of the children. The family was the first social structure God introduced, and He built it on the union of one man and one woman in covenant. The implication of this verse is that the one man one woman marriage structure is beneficial for the children. As much as non-believers would like to dismiss this truth even their research continues to bear it out; as does real wo...