Recently my brother has become interested in pool, after seeing a couple video clips of players making incredible trick shots. This morning he took a towel, some mini pool balls, a broken golf club, and some hotel cups, and constructed a makeshift pool table on the floor. The ball didn't always travel straight, though.

Devotion notes and thoughts:

2 Samuel 16

Absalom asked Hushai, "Is this the love you show your friend? Why didn't you go with your friend?"

Hushai said to Absalom, "No, the one chosen by the LORD, by these people, and by all the men of Israel—his I will be, and I will remain with him. 19 Furthermore, whom should I serve? Should I not serve the son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you."

I never realized before that Hushai was a mole/spy planted with Absalom by David. Interesting...

Isaiah 34

Come near, you nations, and listen;
pay attention, you peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
the world, and all that comes out of it!
The LORD is angry with all nations;
his wrath is upon all their armies.
He will totally destroy them,
he will give them over to slaughter.

Isaiah 35

and the ransomed of the LORD will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

1 John 3

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 John 4

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Verses like these are commonly applied incorrectly by people who use them against Christians when debating certain social and moral issues. For these issues, Christians need to have a correct mindset. We are called to love everyone as Jesus did, but that does not mean being tolerant of sin. We need to love sinners just as we would love family members who go astray, but that is not equivalent to being indifferent towards their actions or accepting of any kind of aberrant behavior.

Love is not tolerance of sin, but compassion for the sinner.

Speaking out against certain social issues is getting harder and harder these days as Christians are being painted as closed-minded and intolerant. One of the big stumbling blocks that exists is the fact that Christians played a big part in the race tensions and civil rights problems in American history. While the views "Christians" had regarding segregation and race years ago were obviously wrong, we need to understand that the modern day sinful lifestyles that are mislabeled as civil rights issues are not the same thing. We shouldn't be afraid or ashamed to speak out against what's wrong, and proudly proclaim what is right, but we need to do all this with love and compassion, not hate.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.