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    Emancipation from Reputation

    “Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow,” says Abraham Lincoln. “The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.” This truth journeys across generations to reach a global culture fixated on shadows. God's character, described in Scripture as chesed, or “sacrificial mercy," never shifts like shadows (Jam 1.17). In the Old Testament God expresses his chesed through creation, each covenant, the Mosaic Law, and his prophets. He then commands his people to display sacrificial mercy so that the world may know him. Boaz sacrifices the sides of his fields to the poor (Ruth 2.1-3; Lev 23.22). Ruth sacrifices the security of her…