Did you know that an observant Jew says a bare minimum of one hundred blessings per day? Those blessings cover the gamut of human experience. They offer a blessing before they eat, like many of us. But they also offer blessings during the meal for different tastes and smells. And after the meal is over—you guessed it—they offer a bookend blessing. Observant Jews bless God for a new day, a new article of clothing, and a new experience. And whenever they experience something pleasurable, it translates into praise. During the days of King David, a devastating plague is said to have claimed the lives of a hundred Israelites every single day. That’s when a council of Jewish rabbis prescribed the practice of reciting one hundred blessings per day to counteract the plague. According to tradition, the plague stopped immediately. I can’t promise that gratitude will cure whatever ails you (or stop the Coronavirus), but gratitude is a good place to start. And it’s where the double blessing begins. According to the Talmud, if you enjoy something without saying a blessing, it’s as if you have stolen it. “A man embezzles from God when he makes use of this world without uttering a blessing.” How many little blessings have you shoplifted? How many big blessings make you guilty of grand larceny? The way we make restitution is by recognizing that every good and perfect gift comes from God. Anything less is embezzlement. I try to live by a little maxim: “Whatever you don’t turn into praise turns into pride.” And there are no exceptions, which means there is no alternative. One of the simplest ways to position ourselves for future blessings is by praising God for past blessings! In fact, we’re not ready for the next blessing until we have adequately thanked God for the last one! The Batterson family has four values: gratitude, humility, generosity, and courage. Those values are the cardinal points on our compass, and they are not unrelated. Generosity rises or falls to the level of our gratitude. And gratitude is both an art and a science. A wide variety of well-substantiated studies have found that gratitude increases patience, decreases depression, replenishes willpower, and reduces stress. It doesn’t just lengthen life; it improves the quality of life. And if you want a good night’s sleep, don’t count sheep. Count your blessings! Most of us are good at praising God for the big things, but we fail to praise God for the little things. And we’re good at praising God after the fact, but not a second before. Gratitude is thanking God  after  He does it, and that’s great. But faith is next-level gratitude. Faith is thanking God before He does it. It’s prophesying your praise! Do you remember the ten lepers that Jesus healed? All ten were healed of leprosy, but only one of them was healed of a much worse ailment—ingratitude. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.  (Luke 17:15) Gratitude is a pilgrimage back to the foot of the cross. It’s giving thanks and giving glory to God. During this current crisis that we find ourselves in, it is more important than ever to tap into God’s Word. The good news? His grace is always on tap! www.markbatterson.com.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). “All the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever” (Joshua 4:24). Did you know you can have fear and courage at the same time? In Joshua 1, after the death of Moses, the Lord spent a full chapter encouraging Joshua not to fear or be dismayed. It's reasonable to assume that Joshua was somewhat fearful. He had spent his life following Moses. And when it came time to choose a successor, God chose Joshua. Isn't it interesting that the very thing that might disqualify a military commander, fear, was the very trait Joshua had lots of. Yet, at the same time, the Lord wanted Israel to have a healthy fear of God. God manifested himself to Israel by drying up the Jordan river before Israel so that they, “May fear the Lord your God forever.” God is a great God. And the fear of God accompanies salvation. Consider the story of Rahab in Joshua 2. She recited the great and terrible things the Lord did for Israel, then said, “For the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11). Her fear of God brought her into relationship with God and she was saved. Memory Verse “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Application Whatever you encounter today, have no fear, because the God who was with Moses and Joshua, and even Rahab, is with you, through Jesus. Step out in faith to share your faith that other may know and fear the Lord as you do. guywithabible.com

Have you ever thought of sleep as a gift? Symbolically, it means God the Father wants to teach you the rest you can experience by trusting in Him. Hebrews 4:9 “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from His own work just as God did from His.” The verse that follows is surprising—“The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” NIV   When we rest and listen to God, His Word helps us to understand who we are in Him. When you are in the throes of a big decision—and the car salesman or stockbroker demands an answer, the wise person will often say, “I’ll sleep on it.” Sleep gives us clarity and perspective. Sleep restores and rejuvenates us. Sleep is a gift. Neurologists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a study on sleep deprivation where several graduate students were kept awake for two consecutive weeks. At the end of the insomnia fest, all of the subjects were showing schizophrenic symptoms. Sleep is essential for our well-being. Stop squirming and start listening.   Isaiah 30:15   For thus said the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.   When is the last time you rested, quietly listening for God to speak? What did He say?

“Conscience is what makes a boy tell his mother before his sister does.” ―  Evan Esar   “It is neither right nor safe to go against my conscience.” ―  Martin Luther “The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.” ―  John Calvin   Violating one’s conscience is serious. Sun-Oida , or sunedasis in Greek means “to see together.” The conscience is the interface between the soul (mind, body, emotions) and the human spirit (where God, the Holy Spirit lives). Every time we ignore God’s promptings, the wall gets thicker and God’s voice gets softer.   John MacArthur labels the conscience “God’s early warning system.” Adam and Eve didn’t have a “knowledge of good and evil” until they ate the wrong fruit. They exchanged knowing God for knowing better than God. (Genesis 3:22)   If I saw my heart as God sees it, I’d unplug the video feed. God in His glorious holiness sees every microbe of sin-my pettiness and poor choices, my ambivalence and arrogance. He shines His black light upon my heart and every disease-ridden microbe appears.   My conscience is enlivened and illumined by God’s light and God’s Word. However, every time I close my ears to God’s prompting or accept spiritual sludge into my brain, my conscience becomes callous and unresponsive.   Have you violated your conscience? Ask God to search you heart. Confess your sin. Allow God to show you Himself in all of His purity and holiness?

The truth is, we all have a sin problem. That’s why we need Jesus so much. But if someone you love is trapped in a pattern of sin or refuses to repent from sin, the stakes can seem sky-high. When I don’t know what to pray, I pray God’s Word. With that in mind, here are ten ways straight from Scripture to pray for someone stuck in sin. Pray for them to see their sin as God sees it. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear (Isa. 59:2). Pray for their hard heart to soften. “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26). Pray for them to recognize the kindness of God. Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Rom. 2:4). Pray for them to have a desire for God’s Word. But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). Pray for God’s Word to do surgery in their heart. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12). Pray for the consequences of their sin to become clear to them. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment (Ps. 51:3–4). Pray for them to be surrounded by people who will speak truth into their life. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:19–20). Pray for them to recognize that only God can satisfy their deepest needs. For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things (Ps. 107:9). Pray for them to know how much God loves them. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:17–19). Pray for them to repent. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). (Excerpt from https://liesyoungwomenbelieve.com/

Brokenness is a surprising road to happiness and fulfillment! Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” ( Matt. 5:3 )—i.e., the “broken ones,” those who recognize that they are spiritually bankrupt and poverty-stricken. God’s Word teaches that brokenness brings a number of blessings. First,  God draws near to the broken ones . He lifts up those who are humble, but stiff-arms those who are proud. Second,  new life is released through our brokenness . On the eve of His crucifixion, as He broke the bread and distributed it to His disciples, Jesus declared, “This is my body, which is broken for you” ( 1 Cor. 11:24 , kjv). His death on the cross released eternal life for us. When we are willing to be broken, His abundant life can flow through us to others. Third,  brokenness brings an increased capacity for love and worship . The “sinner woman,” who anointed Jesus’ feet with her tears and precious ointment, was a broken woman ( Luke 7:37–38 ). As a result, she was free to lavish her love and worship on the Lord Jesus, without restraint, without being bound by the opinions of those who watched. Some of us are not really free to love and worship the Lord Jesus with all our hearts. Perhaps that is because we are not broken. We are still more concerned about what others think than about the object of our devotion. Fourth,  brokenness brings increased fruitfulness,  for God uses things that are broken. When Jacob’s natural strength was broken down at Peniel, for example, God was able to clothe him with spiritual power. When the young boy’s five loaves were broken, they were supernaturally multiplied and became sufficient to feed a multitude. And when Jesus’ body was broken on Calvary, eternal life was released for the salvation of the world. Finally,  the fruit of brokenness is seen in revival —the release of God’s Spirit through our personal and corporate brokenness. During the Welsh Revival of 1904-05, the song that was heard frequently from the lips of broken, contrite hearts was, “Bend me lower, lower, down at Jesus’ feet.” We must come to see God as He really is, for the closer we get to God, the more we will see our own need in the light of His holiness. In the fifth chapter of Isaiah, the great prophet pronounces well-deserved woes on the materialistic, sensual, proud, immoral people of his day. Over and over he cries out, “Woe to  them  . . . .” But then Isaiah comes face-to-face with the holiness of God, and his next words are, “Woe to  me !” ( Isa. 6:5 , emphasis mine). The broken man or woman is more conscious of the corruption in his own breast than in the heart of his neighbor. Having seen God for who He is, we must cry out to Him for mercy. Learning to acknowledge and verbalize our spiritual need to God is essential to a lifestyle of brokenness. The broken person does not blame others. His heart attitude is, “It’s not my brother nor my sister, but it’s me, oh, Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” The broken person is able to verbalize his needs to others, as well. There is no brokenness where there is no openness. Almost without exception, the greatest victories over sin and temptation that I have experienced have been won when I was willing to humble myself and confess my need to a mature believer who could pray for me and help hold me accountable to obey God. Ultimately, brokenness is a matter of surrendering control of our life to God. The heart that has been emptied of itself and broken of its willfulness is the heart that will experience the filling and the reviving of our glorious, holy God, who humbled Himself, that He might lift us up. www.reviveourhearts.com .

The twelve apostles included "Matthew the tax-gatherer" ( Matt. 10:3 ). Never lose your sense of awe over Christ’s forgiveness. Matthew describes himself as "Matthew the tax-gatherer" ( Matt. 10:3 ). He is the only apostle whose name is associated with an occupation. Apparently Matthew never forgot what he had been saved from, and never lost his sense of awe and unworthiness over Christ's forgiveness. This is how he set the scene of his own conversion:  Matthew 9:1-8  tells us Jesus forgave the sins of a paralytic man and then healed him of his paralysis. When the Jewish scribes accused Him of blasphemy for claiming to have the authority to forgive sins, He said to them, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, and walk'?" He wanted them to know His miracles testified of His deity. As God, He could as easily forgive sins as He could heal diseases. Immediately after that account, Matthew gave the account of his own call. It's as if he wanted his own salvation to serve as an illustration of Christ's ability to forgive even the vilest of sinners.  Matthew 9:9  says, "As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' And he rose, and followed Him." When the Pharisees questioned Jesus's practice of associating with tax-gatherers, He said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. . . . I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (vv. 12-13). The Pharisees were sick with sin but thought they were healthy. Matthew and his associates knew they were sinners who needed a Savior. Do you share Matthew's humility and sense of awe at receiving Christ's precious gift of forgiveness? I pray that you do and that you are continually praising Him for it. Suggestions for Prayer Thank God for the wonder of forgiveness. If you have lost your sense of awe over God's forgiveness, perhaps you're taking His grace for granted. Confess your apathy and ask Him to give you a deep appreciation for the enormous price He paid for your salvation.

Happiness happens when we give it away. Be the family member who offers to wash the dishes after dinner. Be the colleague who serves the staff by arriving on time for each meeting and listening attentively. Be the church member who supports the pastor with prayer and notes of encouragement. Be the neighbor who mows the grass of the elderly couple.  Can you imagine the joy-giving benefits of these decisions? Contrast the situation of Moe and Joe. Moe expects everyone to serve him. The moment he awakens he thinks, Is someone going to bring me coffee? He leaves the house thinking, The traffic better be good. If the service of the convenience store attendant is slow, Moe is mad. If the parking lot attendant forgets Moe’s name, Moe grumbles. If the employees at work need more time than Moe want to give them, Moe lets them know. Moe has high expectations of the world. He expects to be served. He expects people to cater to his plans, meet his needs, and reward him. Consequently, Moe is seldom happy. The service is too slow, the commute takes too long, and the employees don’t remember his name quickly enough.  Moe, miserable Moe. Joe, on the other hand, measures the success of his day with this standard: Who can I help today? Since there are always people who need help, Joe is insanely successful. He serves his wife her morning coffee. He serves the convenience store clerk with a smile. He serves the parking lot attendant with encouragement. He keeps a positive attitude at work. Bad weather? Snarly traffic? No problem. The world doesn’t exist to take care of him. He exists to take care of others. Circumstances do not affect him. Joe goes to bed with a smile on his face. Moe is unhappy and makes people frown.  Joe is happy and makes people smile.  Which one are you? Moe? Joe? Or a little of both, Mo-Jo? Maybe it’s time to look at life differently. Make your happiness dependent upon how others serve you, and you will always be disappointed. Find happiness in serving others and… well, you can complete the sentence! www.maxlucado.com.

Lazarus and Dives: How to Live and How to Die People have differing ideas about what happens when we die. All of these confusing opinions must seem rather strange to Jesus. He does not speculate. He knows. In Luke 16 He pulls back the curtain on eternity in the story of two men—one rich, the other poor; one in Heaven and the other in Hell. LUKE 16:19-21 Which person (Dives or Lazarus) is more like you? You are probably stumped.
We are conditioned always to look up the ladder of wealth. We seldom look back down the ladder at all the people below us.
The evidence of our inner spiritual life is demonstrated by how we share our possessions with the poor and needy around us (1 John 3:17; James 1:27; 2:15-17). LUKE 16:22 Jesus certainly believed in Hell. “Gehenna” was the fire-burning-garbage-dump word He utilized most often for Hell. He used it a recorded twelve times to describe Hell’s horrors. The Bible clarifies exactly what happens to us at death. Look at the CHART on the back of this insert. Avoid the second death at all costs (Revelation 20:10-14). LUKE 16:23-24 How could God stand by as people suffer in the most horrendous torment ever described? The answer lies in our failure to understand just how much God is mortified and offended by our sin. Our sin sent Jesus Christ to the cross. Fortunately anyone can avoid Hell—by grace. Hell is a place of burning fire (Mark 9:43); intense thirst (Luke 16: 24-25); darkness, depression, isolation, weeping and utter anguish (Matthew 25:30); a place of torment (Luke 16:23-24) and a place of sorrow and remorse (Luke 16:25, 27-28). While Hell has multiple levels, the ground at the foot of the cross in Heaven is perfectly level.
God never intended for anyone to go to Hell (Matthew 25:41). In fact, the Bible teaches that Hell was enlarged to make room for all the humans who were choosing to go there.
As horrible and tragic as Hell is, so Heaven is mercy, forgiveness, comfort and love (Revelation 21:1-5). LUKE 16:25-26 By the way, this passage provides multiple insights into what life after death is like. Clearly and unmistakably, we are still alive; conscious of being ourselves; remember our former experiences and are not all going to have the same destiny in the unseen world. Almighty God in His grace gave this rich man every opportunity to be saved. God spoke to him through material blessings, through Lazarus and through a man's death...and he wouldn't listen. LUKE 16:27-31 The rich man prayed from Hell three non-answerable prayers:
1. The rich man prayed for mercy;
2. The rich man prayed for water;
3. The rich man prayed for a special resurrection testimony to his brothers. The sad thing is that even today the rich man is still thirsty ... and he will always thirst. THE APPLICATION
1. Share Christ with others. Our chance to share the gospel is over when we die.
2. Today is the day to decide for Christ. Our Heaven or Hell destiny is set in concrete the day we die.

How do we live in peace? James teaches us why we fight and how we make peace: “Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats. Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results  only  if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. James 3:14-18 MSG So how do we become peacemakers? How do we resolve conflict in our own lives? Once we begin the hard work of making peace on a personal level, then we will see greater peace on earth. If you view conflict as something that shouldn’t happen, something that harms relationships, it becomes negative. And then you avoid it and hope it will go away. But if you see conflict as a fact of life, an opportunity to strengthen relationships, you have a way of resolving conflict by turning it into something creative. Try these Ways to Resolve Conflict.” 1. Agree on a mutually acceptable time and place to discuss the conflict. 2. State the problem as you see it and list your concerns. Make “I” statements. Withhold judgments, accusations, and absolute statements (“always” or “never”). 3. Let the other person have his/her say. Do not interrupt or contradict. Do not allow name-calling, put-downs, threats, obscenities, yelling, or intimidating behavior. 4. Listen and ask questions. Ask fact-based questions (who? what? where? when? how?) to make sure you understand the situation. Ask exploratory questions (what if? what are you saying? is this the only solution to our problem? what if we did such and such? are there other alternatives to this situation?). Avoid accusatory “why” questions (why are you like that?). Use your own words to restate what you think the other person means and wants. Acknowledge the person’s feelings and perceptions. 5. Seek common ground. What do you agree on? What are your shared concerns? Pray for God to give you a forgiving heart today. And then pray for an opportunity for a reconciliation.

Insensitivity makes a wound that heals slowly. If someone hurts your feelings intentionally you know how to react. You know the source of the pain. But if someone accidentally bruises your soul, it’s difficult to know how to respond. Someone at work criticizes the new boss who also happens to be your dear friend. “Oh, I’m sorry—I forgot the two of you were so close.” A joke is told at a party about overweight people. You’re overweight. You hear the joke. You smile politely while your heart sinks. What was intended to be a reprimand for a decision or action becomes a personal attack. “You have a history of poor decisions, John.” Someone chooses to wash your dirty laundry in public. “Sue, is it true that you and Jim are separated?” Insensitive comments. Thoughts that should have remained thoughts. Feelings which had no business being expressed. Opinions carelessly tossed like a grenade into a crowd. And if you were to tell the one who threw these thoughtless darts about the pain they caused, his response would be “Oh, but I had no intention…I didn’t realize you were so sensitive!” or “I forgot you were here.” Listed under the title of subterfuge is the poison of insensitivity. It’s called subterfuge because it’s so subtle. Just a slip of the tongue. Just a blank of memory. No one is at fault. No harm done. Perhaps. And, perhaps not. For as the innocent attackers go on their way excusing themselves for things done without hurtful intention, a wounded soul is left in the dust, utterly confused. “If no one intended to hurt me, then why do I hurt so badly?” God’s Word has strong medicine for those who carelessly wag their tongues. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 1 He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. 2 He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. 3 When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. 4 The message is clear: He who dares to call himself God’s ambassador is not afforded the luxury of idle words. Excuses such as “I didn’t know you were here” or “I didn’t realize this was so touchy” are shallow when they come from those who claim to be followers and imitators of the Great Physician. We have an added responsibility to guard our tongues. These practical steps will purge careless words from your talk: 1. Never tell jokes that slander. 2. Never criticize in public unless you: have already expressed your disappointment with the other person in private, have already taken someone with you to discuss the grievance with the person, and are absolutely convinced that public reprimand is necessary and will be helpful. 3. Never say anything about anyone in their absence that you wouldn’t say in their presence. Insensitive slurs may be accidental, but they are not excusable. 1 James 3:6 2 Proverbs 21:23 3 Proverbs 13:3 4 Proverbs 10:19

“They do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34 Thirty-seven years old. Thin, almost frail. Balding and bespectacled. An electronics buff. Law-abiding and tired. Certainly not a description you would give a vigilante. But that didn’t bother the American public. When Bernhard Hugo Goetz blasted four would-be muggers in a New York subway, he instantly became a hero. It’s not hard to see why. Bernhard Goetz was an American fantasy come true. He did what every citizen wants to do. He fought back. He “kicked the villain in the nose.” He “clobbered evil over the head.” This unassuming hero embodied a nationwide, even worldwide anger: a passion for revenge. People are mad. People are angry. There is a pent-up, boiling rage that causes us to toast a man who fearlessly (of fearfully) says, “I ain’t taking it no more!” and then comes out with a hot pistol in each hand. We’re tired. We’re tired of being bullied, harassed, and intimidated. We’re weary of the serial murderers, rapists, and hired assassins. We’re angry at someone, but we don’t know who. We’re scared of something, but we don’t know what. We want to fight back, but we don’t know how. And then, when a modern-day Wyatt Earp walks onto the scene, we applaud him. He is speaking for us! “That-a-way to go, Thug-buster; that’s the way to do it!” Or is it? Is that really the way to do it? Let’s think about our anger for just a minute. Anger. It’s a peculiar yet predictable emotion. It begins as a drop of water. An irritant. A frustration. Nothing big, Just an aggravation. Someone gets your parking place. Someone pulls in front of you on the freeway. A waitress is slow and you are in a hurry. The toast burns. Drops of water. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Yet, get enough of these seemingly innocent drops of anger and before long you’ve got a bucket full of rage. Walking revenge. Blind bitterness. Unharnessed hatred. We trust no one and bare our teeth at anyone who gets near. We become walking time bombs that, given just the right tension and fear, could explode like Mr. Goetz. Now, is that any way to live? What good has hatred ever brought? What hope has anger ever created? What problems have ever been resolved by revenge? Yet, what do we do? We can’t deny that our anger exists. How do we harness it? A good option is found in Luke 23:34. Here, Jesus speaks about the mob that killed him. “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Have you ever wondered how Jesus kept from retaliating? Have you ever asked how he kept his control? Here’s the answer. It’s the second part of his statement: “for they do not know what they are doing.” Look carefully. It’s as if Jesus considered this bloodthirsty, death-hungry crowd not as murderers, but as victims. It’s as if he regarded them not as a militant mob but, as he put it, as “sheep without a shepherd.” “They don’t know what they are doing.” And when you think about it, they didn’t. They hadn’t the faintest idea what they were doing. They were a stir-crazy mob, mad at something they couldn’t see so they took it out on, of all people, God. But they didn’t know what they were doing. And for the most part, neither do we. We are still, as much as we hate to admit it, shepherdless sheep. All we know is that we were born out of one eternity and are frighteningly close to another. We play tag with the fuzzy realities of death and pain. We can’t answer our own questions about love and hurt. We can’t keep ourselves out of war. We can’t even keep ourselves fed. Paul spoke for humanity when he confessed, “I do not know what I am doing.” 1 Now, I know that doesn’t justify anything. That doesn’t justify hit-and-run drivers or kiddie-porn peddlers or heroin dealers. But it does help explain why they do the miserable things they do. My point is this: Uncontrolled anger won’t better our world, but sympathetic understanding will. Once we see the world and ourselves for what we are, we can help. Once we understand ourselves we begin to operate not from a posture of anger but of compassion and concern. We look at the world not with bitter frowns but with extended hands. We realize that the lights are out and a lot of people are stumbling in the darkness. So we light candles. As Michelangelo said, “We criticize by creating.” Instead of fighting back we help out. We go to the ghettos. We teach in the schools. We build hospitals and help orphans…and we put away our guns. “They do not know what they are doing.” There is something about understanding the world that makes us want to save it, even to die for it. Anger? Anger never did anyone any good. Understanding? Well, the results are not as quick as the vigilante’s bullet, but they are certainly much more constructive. 1 Romans 7:15