Like a Weaned Child with its Mother

 

Like a Weaned Child with its Mother.  Mother’s Day is the second Sunday in May, a national holiday since 1914 (five full years before the 19^th Amendment to the US Constitution gave women the right to vote in 1919). Father’s Day is the third Sunday in June, a national holiday since 1972. The establishments of these two holidays curiously follow the date that Hallmark® opened for business, January 10, 1910, fueling speculation that businesses caused a sympathetic itch in the American psyche which they then offered to scratch for a fee. Regardless of the endless loop of conspiracy theories, motherhood (and fatherhood) is sacred. Long before Hallmark® cards and federal holidays, God fundamentally shocked the ancient world when he wrote with his own finger (Exo. 31:18) the fourth commandment which demanded: “Honor your father and your mother” (Exo. 20:12). Fathers were ever esteemed, but God afforded equal status to mothers in the institution of family. This was nothing less than scandalous in an otherwise overtly patriarchal world.

But appreciating the softer side of motherhood does not require a rule etched in stone. Children usually, naturally, reach for Mommy long before they call out for Daddy. God, of course, is the supreme example for both genders being the direct Creator of each. While he intentionally and consistently assigns himself with the masculine pronoun and squarely takes the Father role in Scripture, he nevertheless exhibits all the tenderness we normally associate with motherhood, too. It is theologically imprecise and morally unwise to say that gender doesn’t matter to God since it was he who established the genders as distinct yet harmonious in his ideal created order, “Male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). This fact Jesus reaffirmed by quoting Genesis 1:27 in Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6. Even when Paul instructed that gender, social class, economic status, and ethnicity no longer apply to acceptance into the kingdom or unity with one another, “There is neither male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28), gender distinction was never unilaterally scrubbed from God’s ideal plan. Paul in the same passage continued to refer directly to distinctly female roles: “woman” (Gal. 4:4), “women” (Gal. 4:24), “mother,” (Gal. 4:26), and “wife” (Gal. 4:27).

However, David draws upon the honorable ministry of motherhood in instructing Israel to be content in the Lord. “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore” (Psa. 131:1-3). Notably, within David’s image, he calms and quiets his own soul as an expression of spiritual maturity and self-control. In life, the mother usually calms and quiets the weaned child, not through feeding but through relational bonding. The child does not want anything more than to be with Mommy, mirroring the mother’s calm and quiet temperament. The Lord is happy and unhurried; when we are content in the Lord, we resemble and reflect his nature in our nature.

Jesus Christ Is the Same

Jesus Christ Is the Same.  Variety is the spice of life, we say. Changing up the routine is healthy, we believe. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, we recite. While those statements are superficially plausible, are they theologically true? To answer that question, we must first navigate one of the chief distortions (i.e., deceptions) in the world of ideas, that sameness is boring. Its corollary is that sin is thrilling. An illustration of this chief distortion is the false view of heaven where each saint sits half-asleep on a cloud, strumming a harp forever. However, in view of the theological concept of God’s sameness, perfection is not monotonous but infinitely creative, joyful, blessed, and free. God is most free because he is most holy! Because he doesn’t change in his essence, he can change his activity as he wills.

Without divine help, since we cannot imagine perfection, the best we can do is enlarge our view of self, projecting it upon God. Because we get easily bored within our limitations, and since sin gives us a temporary sensation of escape, we naturally imagine a god within those finitudes. We make that god in our image, so to speak. Yet with divine help, we learn from the Scriptures that perfection is endlessly magnificent. “I, the Lord, do not change” (Mal. 3:16a). Thus, the sameness of God becomes the foundation for our assurance that the promises of God will play out exactly as foretold. “Therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6b). God’s sameness is solid, unmoving, trustworthy, a sure foundation. “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste’” (Isa. 28:16).

Sameness is one of the ways that God is unlike humans. Humans change, but God does not. Only God can be rightfully described as immutable, or unchangeable. Thus, when we read, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8), we learn that Jesus is God. Even though he became a man, suffered, died, and was resurrected, his essence never changed. His activities changed, but his nature did not. Therefore, our confidence in his promises is sure.

So then, is sameness boring? No! Sameness, if it is an expression of perfection, is never boring because perfection doesn’t improve and cannot decrease, a divine characteristic. If sameness is an expression of imperfection, then it is limited, flawed, and stunted, a human characteristic.

All in All

All in All.  The limitation of language meets the greatness of God in the study of systemic theology. God reveals his nature with inspired words, yet he exists essentially beyond the true words he uses to describe himself. His revelation is accurate but not comprehensive because God is categorically unfathomable (Rom. 11:33). To capture the infinite beyond-ness of God theologians have resorted to using words such as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent to explain God’s perfect attributes. God is all powerful. God is all knowing. God is everywhere present. Yet, these omni— words, too, are finite expressions of infinite attributes.

In addition to the omni— words, the Lord is also … all good (Psa. 86:5), all glorious (Psa. 99:2), all faithful (Psa. 100:5), all kind and just (Psa. 145:9), all sovereign (Psa. 145:13), all righteous (Psa. 145:17), all wise (Rom. 16:27), all gracious (2 Cor. 9:8), “who gives life to all things” (1 Tim. 6:13). “Christ who is God over all, [is] blessed forever” (Rom. 9:5). He “who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23) is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Eph 1:21). He is “in everything … preeminent, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Col. 1:18-19). “Jesus Christ is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36).

And, in addition to all the all statements, the Lord is also called “a man of war” (Exo. 15:3). “The Lord is a God of knowledge” (1 Sam. 2:3). “God is a consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29). “God is a merciful God” (Deut. 4:31). “God is a righteous judge” (Psa. 7:11). “The Lord is a stronghold” (Psa. 9:9). “God is a refuge” (Psa. 62:8; Joel 3:16). “God is a God of salvation” (Psa. 68:20). “God is a sun and shield” (Psa. 84:11). “The Lord is a great God” (Psa. 95:3). “The Lord is a God of justice” (Isa. 30:18). “The Lord is a God of recompense” (Jer. 51:56). “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God” (Nah. 1:2).

Our Lord is all of that, and more, all the time. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).

The Love of God Is Folly

The Love of God Is Folly.  Well worth acquiring, though it may require a double effort to catch the meaning, is the traditional Pascale (e.g., Easter) greeting in France: “L'amour de Dieu est folie!” The love of God is folly. Wait a second, is that a good saying or a bad saying?

Were French people ridiculing the death and resurrection of Christ? No, they were not; they were celebrating the unpredictable, unthinkable path of redemption that Christ accomplished. So unpredictable, so unthinkable was the death of Jesus to deliver humankind from the grip of death that most people dismissed his great love as foolishness and absurdity. Sacrificial substitution seems nonsensical at first and unsophisticated to natural man. Surely, God would not die; how ludicrous! Yet, God’s so-called folie is man’s unlooked-for hope.

The world insists that nothing comes for nothing, that there is no such thing as free lunch; that you get what you pay for. To be fair, in this dog-eat-dog world such a conclusion is usually accurate. To believe otherwise would be foolish, they say. But Jesus didn’t come from this world. He came to this world, but he comes from heaven. This world is upside-down. The only right side-up part about this world is that God created it and loves us, despite our sin.

When Jesus arrived, humanity concluded since he seemed so backward that he deserved death, though it was we who were backward all along. When Jesus healed, humanity concluded that he must be in league with the devil. When Jesus spoke, humanity concluded that he must be a lunatic. When Jesus died, humanity concluded that he must be cursed by God. When Jesus rose again, just as he predicted, and “he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me [Paul]” (1 Cor. 15:5-8), humanity concluded that it was a hoax. If the love of God is foolishness, then count me a fool!

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, famously hated Christianity. Worse than folly, he labeled it a “psychological crutch,” a childhood neurosis and wish projection into the sky. But, as my Christology professor in seminary retorted, “If Christianity is a crutch, then give me two.” All that and more is wrapped up in the saying, L'amour de Dieu est folie! The love of God is folly. “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21).

The Lord Has Need of It

The Lord Has Need of It.  Underscoring Christ’s humility, who entered Jerusalem on a donkey instead of a war horse, is the easily overlooked detail that the donkey he rode was borrowed. His Majesty, King Jesus, could have legitimately confiscated any donkey or horse that he desired, since: “The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof” (Psa. 24:1). Or, Christ could have materialized inside any locked palace skipping all modes of travel. No, never—Jesus showed common courtesy to the donkey’s owner through his disciples: “If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately’” (Mark 11:3). It is apparent from cross-references that two donkeys were involved: mother and foal. Jesus wanted the young one (John 12:14), “on which no one has ever yet sat (Luke 19:30), and so arranged for the mother to join: “Untie them and bring them to me” (Matt. 21:2). Jesus’ head would have barely raised above the standing crowd.

“And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’” (Mark 11:4-5). Conceivably, the animal’s caretakers balked for many reasons: untying the (untrained) colt, potentially separating a baby from its mother, allowing a stranger to borrow livestock, and proceeding without a formalized contract. While it is impossible to determine the subtle tone of the dialogue about the donkey, since merely the summary of it is included in each of the four Gospel accounts, one thing remains clear: although Jesus was courteous, he was not technically asking permission. The most forceful factor for lending the animal(s) seemed to be the word of the Lord. “And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go” (Mark 11:6). Is Jesus asking? In that case borrow the animal, of course, right away!

Assistance to walk the two miles between Jerusalem and the villages of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives was not why Jesus borrowed the colt. He had walked that path many times before in his life; footing it seemed to be what Jesus did most in his three-year public ministry. The donkey had another deeply symbolic and significant role to play that day. Precisely because it was less than a horse (Deut. 17:16), a mule is what both David and Solomon rode into Jerusalem when their time came to present themselves publicly as king (1 Kings 1:38). Yet different than a mule, a young donkey is lower still. As a sign, the Messiah will ride into Jerusalem explicitly on a donkey when his time comes to present himself publicly as king (Zech. 9:9), accompanied not by soldiers but by singers and children. Jesus will not need the donkey twice that day, or ever again! Next time he will ride “a white horse” (Rev. 19:11).

Ponder the Path of Your Feet

Ponder the Path of Your Feet.  The scene is tender; a wise father distributes advice to his young son long before he needs it (Prov. 4:20-27). Generalities are sufficient to illuminate the way ahead since no child is a specialist … not yet. The ABCs and 123s of walking the path set before that son in the ancient past are the same principles for any son or daughter today. “My son, be attentive to my words” (Prov. 4:20a). In this case, Solomon’s words are God’s words. Solomon links walking the wise path to using the physical body skillfully: “incline your ear” (vs. 20), “let them not escape your sight” (vs. 21), “keep your heart” (vv. 21, 23), “put away from you crooked speech” (vs. 24), “let your eyes look directly forward” (vs. 25), “ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure” (vs. 26). “Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil” (vs. 27).

It is rare genius to extract life lessons from common sense. Wisdom usually flows from the known to the unknown. In this case, physical walking informs spiritual walking. Solomon does not instruct his young son, ponder your feet on the path; rather, ponder the path of your feet. The destination determines the path. Watching our feet ensures stumbling. Look ahead to stay upright!

Approximately every quarter we ponder the path of our feet, like re-centering our location on the GPS map. We look ahead for the purpose of staying upright. Watching our spinning feet ensures our spectacular stumbling. Where are we going? Our destination determines our path. How will we know we are on the right path? We will “incline our ear” to the word of God.

Our church is one of those hidden gems that embodies the saying: strategically small, intentionally simple. As such, we are generalists, not specialists. Every person plays his or her part, but his or her part is always in flux according to the needs of the many. During some seasons, some people will clean the church. In other seasons, they will teach children. In a pinch, they will advance the slides for the worship songs. Pondering the path of your feet, to extend the metaphor, might mean going south for a little while, across the river, to proceed east. Service of others is the perennial need in the strategically small and intentionally simple church, not necessarily a sense of personal fulfillment in ministry. We are all utility players here. But this is not a chore; it is a gift! We all get to play a part! Every member has a ministry. 

The Man Behind St. Patrick's Day

The Man Behind St. Patrick’s Day (The Voice of the Martyrs, devotional, 3/11/2026). On March 17, many around the world will celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. The real Patrick was a bold evangelist who lived during the fifth century and was persecuted for his faith while sharing the gospel among the Druids in Ireland. Later, shamrocks and mythological leprechauns would creep into the holiday celebrations of Saint Patrick’s Day.

Patrick’s life was spent in hardship. Just before he turned 16, his family’s holiday villa in Britain was raided by Irish pirates who kidnapped Patrick and sold him into slavery in Ireland. Though raised in a Christian home, Patrick came to faith in Christ during his time in slavery. In his autobiography, he wrote, “The Lord opened my senses to my unbelief, so that … I might remember my many sins; and accordingly I might turn to the Lord my God with all my heart.”

Patrick was forced to be a herdsman, but his faith in God grew as he prayed while shepherding flocks. After six years as a slave, Patrick escaped his slaveholders, returning to Britain and his parents. As he settled back into his home, he studied to become a priest. But one night he had a dream of a man carrying a letter with the words “The Voice of the Irish,” and he heard the voices of the men he had worked with shouting for his return.

Patrick planned to return to Ireland, but his parents as well as church leaders opposed this idea as they did not think the Irish people were worth saving; additionally, the Druids in Ireland were known to torture runaway slaves. At the risk of his life, Patrick returned to Ireland and shared the gospel with his former slaveowner, who refused to hear it.

That was just the beginning of Patrick’s challenges as he spread the gospel across Ireland. The Druids tried to poison Patrick; a barbarian warrior speared his chariot driver to death in an attempt to kill him; and he was often ambushed at his evangelistic events. He was even briefly enslaved again. However, Patrick faithfully shared Christ throughout Ireland until his death on March 17 in A.D. 461.