Martin Luther coined a Latin phrase that cuts to the heart of Israel’s spiritual condition and our own: incurvatus in se, curved in on ourselves. The image is of a person so bent inward, so consumed with their own situation, their own comfort, their own...
God’s answer to Israel’s doubt is, on the surface, a strange one. To prove his love for Jacob, he points to his rejection of Esau. Is not Esau Jacob’s brother? declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. For a people questioning whether God loves...
God’s opening statement in Malachi is not a rebuke. It is a declaration. Before he addresses Israel’s apathy, before he names their half-hearted worship, before he calls out their spiritual drift, he says four words: I have loved you. In the original Hebrew, the verb...
The word oracle in Malachi 1:1 does not merely mean message. In the original language it means burden, a heavy load. Before a single accusation is leveled or a single command is given, we are told that what God is about to say costs something to deliver. Malachi is...
Step back now and look at all four Beatitudes together as pieces of stained glass forming a single mosaic. You see someone who came from poor, insignificant circumstances. Someone who mourned deeply over the state of the world. Someone who did not throw His weight...
