Lenten Devotional (32), Aaron Renn Interview, and Summer Schedule
The Kingdom offers a maturational existence rooted in repeated patterns, but mammon specializes in quick fixes.
Note of Gratitude:
Thanks for reading these posts during the Lententide and a hearty thanks to all the paid subscribers. If you’d like to contribute some tobacco money to the cause, please do so here.
But the fruit of the Spirit is kindness…”
It’s possible that you live in fear, wondering if Jesus is at the right hand of the Father scheming to make your life miserable. Or, it is even possible that somehow you have bought into the thinking that Jesus is ready to crush you like a bug, take away your baptismal rights, and give you a bag of filthy rags to carry around for the rest of your life.
You may think Jesus is there at the right hand of the Father, saying: “Yes, I cannot wait to ruin you because you sinned against me or you were seduced by false gods or because of your low self-esteem.” But this is not the case.
Like Pharaoh’s daughter showed kindness to Moses, Rahab to the spies, David to Mephibosheth, Joab to Absalom, Elisha who restored to life the woman’s son, Joseph to Mary, the centurion to his servant, John to Mary, and Paul to Onesimus, God’s kindness flows to you day after day after day after day. In God’s economy, no child of God is damaged goods. None. His hesed, his steadfast love, and his kindness endure forever.
Prayer: Bless us, O Lord, for we too often believe that we are less than you say we are. We embrace false narratives, forgetting that the story you wrote for us is unchangeable. Be kind unto us, for we constantly doubt your promises. Remind us daily of your steadfast love through Christ our Lord, amen.
Notations
Proverbs 10 is a re-telling of Genesis. Like father, like son. The unrighteous sons act like their fathers. Their father is the great pervertor of history. Their father lied to Adam and Eve to overthrow God’s order and bring destruction. The sons of the Evil One, who is also called the Slanderer, have never learned their lesson. They have not given up on their quest, though they know their destiny is the same as their father’s. Jesus, the last Adam, silenced the preeminent perverse tongue.
I am slowly working to revise my old booklet on Pipe-Smoking. Here is a section from the revised work, hoping to see new light in 2025:
The kingdom is most often offered to the humble and meek, who are most eager to see it. The rich person has a difficult time entering the kingdom of God, not because he is rich, but because he has tremendous difficulty in choosing between loyalty to God or mammon (Matt. 6:24). The Kingdom offers a maturational existence rooted in repeated patterns, but mammon specializes in quick fixes. The Kingdom trains you to be a King 20 years later, but mammon offers you riches and glory now without maturity.
We have not shared any speaking platform, but Aaron Renn and I met once in Miami, and I have followed his sociological work for some time now. I cherish his substack and am often gifted a little sample of his paid material. His recent stuff on men and relationships is quite good. Here is an excerpt:
Friendship, especially for men, comes from simply spending time together and shared experiences or shared projects. Obviously, there’s an element of personality or shared values that makes it easier to become friends with people. But even with people we might seem to have nothing in common with or even be incompatible, simply spending time together engaging can work its magic. That’s why if we need a friend, we shouldn’t get too hung up on all these various criteria.
I have also addressed this issue in my article Loving Men Like Men. I spent three chapters developing the theme of friendship in my doctoral work, especially the relationship among men. This topic will require much development in the days and months ahead since most men affirm that they lack friends altogether.
And speaking of Aaron Renn, here is our interview on The Perspectivalist Podcast. As many of you may know, his new book is fundamental to grasping the American landscape. Thanks to George Reed for the intro/outro music.
It’s also available on my YouTube page:
Nuntium
I will be in one place until early May. I enjoy these seasons of localism because they restore my rhythms of early morning workouts, pastoral visits, and counseling. We have a funeral this Saturday and a full Palm Sunday ahead of us at Providence Church. If you are in the area, we’d love to have you visit us.
I have interviews, meetings, and speaking engagements in various places in the coming months, including Moscow, ID, London, UK, Monroe, LA, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a growing list of conferences in 2025 in Missouri, Iowa, and Seattle.
Lenten Cheers,
Uriesou Brito
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