Greetings!
Hope your week has gone well, and I again thank you for taking the time to read this week’s DHD.
Let’s get to it!
- Continue sharing what God has been doing
Last week’s DHD featured my inquiry with Facebook friends about what they have seen God do recently. I shared about my friend who is grieving the death of his wife and how he saw move through that heavy experience.
This week, I wanted to share what another friend experienced while being in the ER:
“Had to go to ER in April, I was left in Hall for number of hours because they were treating virus patients,” she shared. “I did not know what was wrong just knew I had problem and no one else could be with me. There was a Dr. on call that recognized my stress and he checked me out to find Kidney stones but also found I had inflammation in blood and had gone septic. Had to stay in hospital for 6 days and then sent home. He said if I had been sent home or 12 more hours past I would not be here today. I thank God for putting the right Dr. on call that night to help me. I know God was there with me even if my family could not be.”
Yes, God does work through medical personnel at just the right time. I’m so relieved for my friend, and I praise God for bringing that doctor to my friend in her time of great need.
Have you spent time this week thanking God for how He is working?
- Separating the statement from the organization
It would benefit you to read Kelvin Cochran’s column “Black Lives Matter? Embracing the proclamation or the organization.”
Cochran is the former fire chief in Atlanta who lost his job because he wrote a discipleship book that mentioned his views of marriage being a biblically-based union. What he shared in his column is important as he clearly distinguishes the difference of accepting the popular rally chant “Black Lives Matter” and accepting what the organization of the same name believes and promotes.
“The proclamation’s intent,” Cochran wrote, “was not to suggest that other lives do not matter, but rather to declare that the historical, systemic and institutionalized wrongs that have persisted toward Blacks must come to an end. This proclamation erupted out of generations of humiliation and is expressed with utter frustration and righteous indignation. ‘Black lives matter!’”
Cochran then describes the organization Black Lives Matter.
“By its own description, the organization ‘Black Lives Matter’ has a message that subtracts from the fervent and righteous message of the proclamation. The message of the organization and the message of the proclamation are not the same… The message of the organization is rooted in ideas that have redefined the original pure message of the proclamation. The organization values the ideologies of moral relativism and pluralism… The message behind the organization is one of retaliation and condemnation that segregates and divides, even people of color.”
I appreciate Cochran’s direct message. Support the proclamation “Black Lives Matter,” but separate yourself from the dangerous, destructive and demoralizing philosophies of the organization.
- Dealing with coworkers’ foul language
Russ Gehrlein offers a great practical approach for Christians who work with people who use foul language. Check out “What Should I Do When Coworkers Use Bad Language?”
Gehrlein’s approach is excellent, especially when differentiating between unbelievers and those who profess being Christians.
“(R)emember that you are accountable to God only for your own language. Even while you may have some success in cleaning up your coworker’s bad language, it is the state of your heart, and theirs, that matters most.”
- Commending Jonathan Isaac
Last week, Orlando Magic basketball player Jonathan Isaac made the news for not kneeling with his teammate during pre-game ritual of the playing of the National Anthem.
I am not a fan of kneeling during the anthem, but more than I want to express my disagreement, I appreciate how Isaac is using his refusing to kneel to express his faith in Christ Jesus.
I learned a lot about Isaac in the last week. I found out his is also an ordained minister. He shares many Gospel messages on his Twitter account @JJudahIsaac.
Soon after he gained attention from his decision to stand during the national anthem, Isaac experienced a season-ending knee injury. Here’s what he tweeted:
“IT IS WELL!!! 2 Kings 4! Thank you for all of your prayers and concerns I’m encouraged. Remember our God is not just a God of the hills but a God of the valleys! (2 Corinthians ch 4 vs 9!) MY COMEBACK WILL BE GREATER THAN MY SETBACK!!!! I STILL STAND IN JESUS NAME!!!!”
- The Briefing is back
Albert Mohler took the month of July from doing his podcast The Briefing. He came back this week loaded with much commentary on many current issues. All episodes this week were great.
I point out his Thursday podcast and the concern he expresses about the platform of the Democratic Party:
“Consider the fact that if you were,” Mohler said, “to hand this party platform draft of the Democratic Party in 2020 to virtually any major democrat, just say eight or 12 years ago, they would deny it. The Joe Biden who’s going to be the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate is going to be holding positions that the Joe Biden, even as Barack Obama’s vice president, would not have embraced and politically probably could not have embraced. There’s that fundamental shift, at least amongst a large number of Americans, especially on the left.
“The daunting issue for Christians committed to a biblical worldview is understanding just how powerful, how tenacious, and how numerous are those, especially now in the Democratic party, who hold to a diametrically opposed position on so many of the fundamental issues of great political, moral, and social concern. If nothing else, all of these issues put together have to make very clear that there is no separation of the political from the moral, in this sense, because the politics is in large sense, the driver of the morals when it comes to the future of our nation. We better realize that fact.”
- Trevin is back
Trevin Wax, a favorite blogger, also returned from a brief hiatus to blogging. He wrote a challenging piece this week titled “The Cost of Telling the Truth in a World of Lies.”
“No matter how convenient they may seem on the surface,” Wax wrote, “falsehoods are webs of deceit spun by the father of lies. No one can walk through life without getting caught in them. But the Word of God is a sword that cuts through these webs—truth that Jesus says will set us free.”
