Happy Friday,
“Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
John 13:34
In the Greek, “just” means “to the same degree” or “in the same way.” So, how and how much does Jesus love us? With a love that is sacrificial, unconditional, and proactive. Imagine a world in which everyone loved — and was loved — this way.
Question: What do you think was the biggest industry in America sixty years ago?
WOTW: Meriam Webster just released their second list of “beautiful and useless words.” There are a few on it that I like — e.g., roorback (a defamatory falsehood published for political effect), ultracrepidarian (giving opinions on matters beyond one’s knowledge), or novercal (of, relating to, or characteristic of a stepmother) — but they are not WOTW fodder. It’s no fair getting new and novel words from someone’s list of new and novel words. Only send me words you’ve bumped into in real life. With that in mind, honorable mention goes to quotidian (it means daily, ordinary, or mundane and is trending), and full honors go to Texodus. Not everyone fleeing IL is heading to the Lone Star State, but it’s no roorback to note the flight from Blue States to Red.
Without Comment: 1) This WSJ article notes that some colleges now offer scholarships for talented “cornhole athletes;” 2) This piece claims cybercrimes cost the US over $12B last year; 3) This article claims Millennials will inherit $90T, making them the richest generation in history; and 4) This piece claims a woman named Diot Coke was born 600 years ago. BTW: the oldest Gen Zers turn 27 this year, and 88% of Americans claim to be above-average drivers.
Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) “No constitution for self-government can save a people from voluntarily ending their own reign. ‘A republic, if you can keep it’ wasn’t just a foreboding turn of phrase — it was a statement of historical literacy.” Sarah Isgur; 2) “I see no hope for the future for people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today. For certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wild and impatient.” The Greek poet Hesiod 700 BCE.
IS2M: 1) Everyone knows the NYT bestseller list is only as credible as WWE wrestling, but many pretend otherwise; 2) Much changes when we realize that God is not just in the soul-rescuing business but intends to “reconcile all things to himself.” (Col. 1:19-20); 3) Not enough has been made about cancel culture’s takedown of non-judgmentalism. Those advocating non-judgmentalism always judged those who disagreed with them, but they pretended otherwise. Today, what we hear is that “some things are too important to be left to chance;” 4) The fact that children today are more likely to ask Google than to ask Grandpa (or Grandma) is a loss; 5) “Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done” remains a more revolutionary statement than anything Marx or Mao ever said; and 6) It’s odd watching people take to social media to decry social media.
I Got it Back: Two weeks ago, my ten-year-old Hyundai was stolen from the driveway of our home in Lake Bluff, IL (AKA, Mayberry RFD). Sheri and I — who are glad we parked the Bentleys in the garage — initially found the whole thing rather comical. (Someone wants the car I drive?) More recently, we have found ourselves mourning for the disordered soul of the person who stole it and thinking about Matthew Henry’s journal entry after he was mugged. In it, he wrote: “Let me be thankful. First, I was never robbed before. Second, although they took my purse, they didn’t take my life. Third, although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, let me be thankful because it was I who was robbed and not I who did the robbing.”
Answer: Earlier, I asked about the biggest business sixty years ago. In the early 60s, journalist Eric Sevareid argued that, “The biggest big business in America is not steel, automobiles, or television. It is the manufacture, refinement, and distribution of anxiety.”
Resources: In this sermon on Exodus 28, I explore how we can know God’s Will.
Closing Prayer: O Light eternal, surpassing all created brightness, flash forth the lightning from above and enlighten the inmost recesses of my heart. Cleanse, cheer, enlighten, and enliven my spirit with all its powers, that it may cling to you in ecstasies of joy. Oh, when will that happy and wished-for hour come, when you will fill me with your presence and become all in all to me? So long as this is not given me, my joy will not be complete. Amen (Thomas à Kempis, 1380 – 1471)