Five Things That Move the Heart of God

Posted on April 9, 2025 by jwfisch

LEARN to do good.

SEEK justice.

HELP the oppressed.

DEFEND the cause of orphans.

FIGHT for the rights of widows. Isaiah 1:17

There’s no ambiguity in this verse. It comes from the first chapter of Isaiah where God is telling the nation of Israel that He is sick of their meaningless offerings and sacrifices because they are not obeying him with the way they live their lives. He’s disgusted with their celebrations and their ceremony when they are rebellious, evil and sinful in their hearts. Their worship is a sham for show only. That’s when He says that instead of their offerings, He wants them to learn to do good; seek justice; help the oppressed; defend the cause of orphans and fight for the rights of widows. Learn, seek, help, defend and fight. Five things — all verbs — that require action.

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The Prophet’s Burden: Speaking the Hard Truth

Posted on April 8, 2025 by jwfisch

A major part of the prophet’s burden is about warning the people. Most of the prophets in the Old Testament made their living warning the children of Israel about God’s punishment that was coming as the result of their disobedience. In the New Testament until the present it’s more about warning of false teachers, of being caught up in false doctrines, factions, the lure of the world, and living an ungodly life.

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Truthful Words

Posted on April 7, 2025 by jwfisch

Truthful words stand the test of time,
but lies are soon exposed.

Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil;
joy fills hearts that are planning peace! Proverbs 12:19-20

Lies, lies, lies. So many lies. Who’s telling the truth? Is anyone?

Who won the 2020 election in the U.S.? Was 9/11 an inside job? Are any mass shootings staged? Can you control the weather from outer space? Even though these things may not affect you directly, they are still unsettling and when they start piling up, it becomes hard to know who you can trust. You begin to feel like everyone and everything — maybe even yourself — is teetering on the edge of reality. This is when we need truthful words, and there is no better source of truthful words than the word of God.

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Out of Isolation

Posted on April 3, 2025 by jwfisch

Living around lots of people can have a numbing effect on your relationships. It’s required by the mere fact of sheer numbers. You can’t be in close proximity to hundreds of people every day and connect to all of them. So the alternative is the means by which we cope with this reality: we don’t connect with anyone. The result of this is people isolated and alone in a crowd. It’s the only way we can function. We actually get good at shutting people out — not seeing what’s right in front of us. So we’re alone on the street, alone on a bus, alone in an airplane, even alone with just a few people in an elevator.

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A Rose on Wednesday

Posted on April 2, 2025 by jwfisch

Gentlemen, it’s Wednesday. You know what that means. Roses. A rose for her on Wednesday. Why Wednesday? Because Wednesday is the middle of the week, not the beginning, or the end, just the middle; and because it’s the middle, there’s nothing special about it. It’s just Wednesday. Boring. Flat. Dull.

Except with her in it, Wednesday is spectacular. Tell her that with a rose. It will change you and me, too, because we will be consciously giving, even on a Wednesday.

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Old and gray and armed with a message

Posted on March 31, 2025 by jwfisch

O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood,

    and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do.

Now that I am old and gray,

    do not abandon me, O God.

Let me proclaim your power to this new generation,

    your mighty miracles to all who come after me. Psalm 71:17-18

I’ve never imagined David as an old man. He’s always been young and virile in my mind. The warrior king. The conquerer. The lady’s man. The perfectly chiseled body that Michelangelo captured for all time. That is until I came to Psalm 71 and found this, “And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t abandon me when my strength is failing” (Psalm 71:9). And he goes on to talk about how his enemies will take advantage of him in this weakened state. Suddenly we have another human image of David as “old and gray,” and I marvel that I never saw this — never even thought of it. Michelangelo did not sculpt this stage of his life. Certainly this is the fate of all our human heroes. We are watching this happen to our movie heroes like Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Michael Keaton, Clint Eastwood — they’re all growing old and gray, but we remember them frozen in time by their images on the silver screen.

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Don’t let your hearts be troubled

Posted on March 28, 2025 by jwfisch

Confusion will be my epitaph

As I crawl a cracked and broken path

If we make it we can all sit back and laugh

But I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying

Yes I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying

                 – Peter Sinfield from the song “Epitaph” by King Crimson

What is your life like on this side of eternity? Well first, we know it can’t be all bad because we know there is an eternity on the other side. There is life over there; there are people over there; there is a God over there and His Son is there waiting for us. Imagine if you didn’t know that and you believed there was nothing on the other side of this life. I think of the line from the King Crimson song, “Epitaph,” Will no one lay the laurel wreath when silence drowns the screams? What a tragic way to think about the end.

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John 3:17

Posted on March 26, 2025 by jwfisch

 

Driving through town today, I passed a man carrying a sign that simply read “LOVE,” with the reference, “John 3:16” under it. It pleased me as I thought about it. I have seen lots of John 3:16 signs at sporting events, and other large gatherings — even embedded in the black patch some football players wear under their eyes — but I can’t recall ever seeing that reference coupled with the word “love.”

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Head vs. Heart: A Tale of Two Roads

Posted on March 25, 2025 by jwfisch

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. — Psalm 119:11

James and Michael both knew this verse by heart. They were faithful churchgoers and dedicated men who desired to follow Christ. Yet their lives couldn’t have been more different.

The Road of the Head: James

James was a man of the Word — at least intellectually. He knew scripture well. Ask him about doctrine; he could walk you through church history or quote entire passages from memory. His mind was sharp, and his knowledge impressive.

But there was a distance — not just between James and others, but between James and God.

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Awake thou that sleepest

Posted on March 24, 2025 by jwfisch

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:8-16 KJV)

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