RELEVANT has an article on Butchering the Bible out of Context by Josh Loveless; John Ortberg offers some thoughts on “Today’s Most Devalued Virtue: Why Is a Once-Honored Leadership Trait Now Despised?.” How about being careful about our expectations of technology: 4 Myths About Using Technology in Church. And along those same lines, the New York Times has info on new brain research, Hooked on Gadgets (wait a minute–let me grab my iPad). Skye Jethani offers this on spiritual growth: Babies Are Us: How to Guide a Church Toward Spiritual Maturity, and finally, some thoughts on righteous anger by Russ Masterson Jesus Isn’t Always Nice.
I thought Russ Masterson’s blog “Jesus isn’t always nice” was insightful. He described how righteous anger turns to action for the honor of God. It is more than strong feelings; it is God centered and Holy Spirit led. Our society is filled with angry people. Commercial cable television news channels feed that anger. In fact one could suggest that anger in America is being stirred up and used for commercial reasons. Broadcasters use and feed that anger to sell their commercials. I guess I see this sort of anger as something which tears us down.
In contrast righteous anger should lead us to pray and weep “tears of anger for things in this world aren’t as they should be”.