The View from the West Mesa

Sin. Such a small word but with huge ramifications and not really understood. There are various definitions of sin available for various purposes ranging from "missing the mark," to "breaking the Law." All the available definitions are appropriate in their contexts but all are themselves a bit off the mark. If we are made to be cosmic, world-class, YHWH-image Lovers, then sin it seems at its core, is not-Love. In other words, anything that is done (intentionally) against the wellbeing of the other, against the building up, the glorifying of the other is not-Love or sin. To get a better picture of sin, we can look at its opposites in YHWH's revelation. We are told that the fruit of the Spirit is akin to a laundry list of good character attributes. We might start in Galatians 5, but that is not the only place we find the fruit of the Spirit. So then, patience, kindness, gentleness, even self-control are descriptors or evidence of the sort of Love we are after...

John tells us that YHWH is Love and Jewish Scripture reiterates that that He as and extends steadfast love toward people, especially those who He has called to be His people. This love though is not what we often call love. It isn't romantic, emotional, or even familial love as we know them and yet, it is all of them. To have divine Love is to express that Love and to do so willingly and fully. Love, even as we experience it in its specific essence is self-giving for the good, the benefit, the building up of the other. Love in its positive, self-giving aspect is to glorify the other person. When we say that we are to glorify YHWH, we mean that we are to laud, to give ourselves for Him, to point others to His Love, mercy, and kindness. We glorify YHWH by the ways we live, the reasons we give for what we do, the value He has in our lives and the potential He has in others' lives. YHWH's complaints about Israel is that she has not done this, routinely. She not only has ...

Have you received a gift that was particularly special? Maybe it was something you had been wanting for a long time, or perhaps something you had been needing and for which you had been hoping, or maybe even something you did not expect but once you had it, it seemed the perfect gift. These sorts of gifts go beyond themselves and impact more areas of your life than what might seem at first blush their purpose. Perhaps it was someone offering you a job out of the blue that set you back on your feet. Maybe it was someone who came along beside you during one of your darkest moments and lifted you out of that space, empowering you to move forward. Or it could have been a note, written on a small card that arrived in the mail telling you that you hadn't been forgotten in the morass of life. None of those appear to the greater world as anything special. None will fuel an economy, end a war, or cure a disease. But to you they might have meant more than the world itself. B...