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Don’t Just Survive
Today I'm happy to have as my guest Mary DeMuth, my dear friend who's an author and speaker. Her desire is to help people live “uncaged,” freedom-infused lives. She’s the author of fifteen books, including six novels, a memoir, and most recently The Wall Around Your Heart, from which today’s column is adapted. (It appeared in similar form at Crosswalk.com. I read the book and endorsed it.) After church planting in Southern France, Mary, her husband, and their three young adult kids now live in the ‘burbs of Dallas. To find out more about Mary, visit her website, facebook, twitter, or wallaroundyourheart.com, Some of us cope with relational pain by choosing to live in survivor…
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God Hates Divorce—But He Did It!
Often when we talk about a biblical view of divorce, we quote Malachi: “God hates divorce” (2:16). And it’s true. He does. But does that mean God hates the actions of anyone who initiates a legal divorce? God himself said he divorced Israel (Isa. 50:1; Jer. 3, and possibly Hosea). And of course God is God, so he can do whatever he pleases. Nevertheless, many wonder…if God hates divorce, did he hate his own actions? To answer this question, we need to look at the context of Malachi’s statement. God’s words, “I hate divorce,” follow an accusation against husbands who chose to do violence to their covenant marriages by divorcing…
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Why Our Expectations of God Are Unrealistic
In my last blog post I talked about “Unrealistic Expectations” and promised to explore some of the reasons our expectations of God are unrealistic (and thus why we get frustrated or even furious with Him). I mentioned several ways in which we think God should act. Here are my responses to why those expectations are unrealistic. • Show the same grace to all of us by treating us all the same No child ever has to be taught about fairness. The heart’s cry for justice is part of our design. But we are broken in our understanding of so many things, and we usually equate fairness with equality. We want…
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On the Use and Abuse of Power
Some years ago I took a course in the historical books of the Bible. One of my assignments was to make a chart of the kings of Israel and Judah. I listed whether they were good or bad and in what ways they were weak. With only a handful of exceptions, I noticed that even kings who started out great usually fell hard later. Hezekiah served the Lord faithfully, but at the end of his life, he bragged about the treasury. David felt like he needed a fling while all the warriors were out working, and he spent months hanging on to unconfessed sin. Solomon was beloved of God, but…