Esther 1:1-2:8
I don’t think there’s theology in this. Esther as a book has always slightly perplexed me. God is never mentioned, the characters don’t seem to pray, the narrative turns pretty bloody... and yet it is often held up as an example of living by faith. Now I certainly couldn’t speak against that - the book after all is part of the bible and is Spirit-breathed and useful for equipping us for every good work. But at this stage, when we are only a quarter of the way into the narrative, I think it would be a little over-hasty to pull out spiritual lessons. So I positively reject the sermons I have heard from this passage about women needing to be ruled by their husbands or that spirituality for girls involves making themselves beautiful. These may be good things or they may not. I really don’t think we can work that out from this passage.
Revelation 2:18-3:6
His eyes are like blazing fire. He uses them to search every heart and mind. He is searching your heart right now. He is searching your mind. He sees every single thing that lives inside of you. That is true whether you choose to engage with it or not, whether you choose to think about it or not. God is searching your heart. And after he has searched it he will repay you for what is in it. I know that sounds like it bucks grace. I know that sounds like it slaps the face of unconditional love. But it doesn’t. Grace and unconditional love are forces at work within us. They change what is in us, they fill us with stuff that is pleasing to Jesus. They kick out the stuff that he doesn’t want to find. So as we are filled with the Spirit and as we welcome his eyes blazing with fire we find ourselves being sanctified - thinking and acting in purer and purer ways. And then we get the reward for the Spirit’s hard work. We get the payment for the deeds done in the Spirit. We get authority over the nations. We get the morning star.
Psalm 140:6-13
“The Lord secures justice for the poor.”
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