“The Rabbis Of The Talmud Used To Go To Great Lengths To Make Themselves Available To Grant Forgiveness

James 3

Taming the Tongue

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

I just thought this set of tweets was really important.

SOCIAL DISTANCING - STUFF FOR YOU TO DO AT HOME!

I literally can’t stress enough how important it is to stay home at this time if you are able to. We need to stop this bitch of a virus from spreading as much as we can. Do your part, be a goddamn hero. All you’re being asked to do is stay the fuck home. If you have to go to work, take all necessary measures, and stay safe. Anyways I was thinking of stuff to do while we are all home, and came up with a list I thought could be helpful, so here we go!

Spring clean your entire house.

Clean out and organize your wardrobe.

Try out different outfits so that you’ll have new options once you can go out again.

Organize your documents. 

Tackle those taxes you’ve been needing to do.

Clean out your computer files.

Clean your makeup brushes.

Declutter expired makeup while you’re at it.

Organize your skincare products!

Try some of the face masks you’ve been hoarding.

Do a hair mask.

Follow that makeup tutorial you’ve seen on youtube but was too lazy to try.

Take selfies of that makeup look to register it bc you ain’t going anywhere.

Read that book you hadn’t had the time to start. Hell, read a whole book series.

Binge watch tv shows on netflix, amazon prime, hulu, disney+, or whatever floats your boat.

Learn a new skill online.

Take up a new hobby.

Try at home yoga/pilates, by following youtube videos or downloading an app.

Get some writing done. 

Learn new recipes, attempt cooking/baking out of your comfort zone.

Play with your dog.

Learn how to dance??!! By following youtube tutorials.

Learn a new language through duolingo or a similar app.

Play boardgames with your family.

Or play a videogame.

Put some music on, light a scented candle and try to meditate (there’s apps you can use for instructions).

Go to your backyard or your balcony and soak in some sunlight.

If you have none of the above, open your windows and let the sun in.

Try different diys (make some slime idk what the kids are doing these days).

Facetime with your family/friends.

Start a bullet journal.

If you have the space, take up gardening.

Loooool.

I haven't Yet. Not really. But I hope to.

you ever look at someone and think “yeah forever would be cool with you”

😥😔😔

Shalom.

I will be happy.

I will be healthy.

I will be financially stable.

I will prosper.

I will succeed.

Mercy

by Thomas Scott

“I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.” - Romans 12:1

There is something well calculated to keep us humble in the perpetual reference made in the Scriptures to mercy. We read of nothing granted us on the ground of merit, of nothing that comes from the hand of God as the reward of our good deeds or obtained by us as matter of desert. But the MERCY of God meets us at every point: the food we eat, the air we breathe, the garments we wear, the domestic comforts we enjoy, our civil advantages, and our religious privileges are all represented as matters of mercy – undeserved mercy.

This I say is humbling; yet it is just. Mercy must be the plea of the sinner. Mercy must spare from day to day the man who deserves to be cast into hell. Mercy must supply the daily bread of the man whose very life is forfeited to the justice of his offended creator. And as we are spared and our needs supplied, and ten thousand sources of comfort are opened to us – and not to us only but to all the sinners of our race – we may well say that “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord,” and that “goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our life.”

And, my brethren, it would be well for us to habituate ourselves to look at all our comforts in this light. They are continued to us in mercy, since by sinning against God we have forfeited every one of them. This would silence many a murmur and produce delightful feelings of gratitude under circumstances which excite us now to anything rather than contentment and praise. Our language would often be like that of Jeremiah: “Why should a living man complain; a man for the punishment of his sin?”

But though a most powerful argument in support of a duty like that of the text might be drawn from the consideration of the innumerable temporal mercies bestowed upon us by our gracious God, yet these are not the things to which St. Paul here alludes. He is drawing this epistle to a close, which, while it is highly practical, is also most highly doctrinal. In its commencement he exhibits, in all its awful nature, the depraved condition of the Gentile world. He then urges home upon the Jews the question whether they were at all better than the Gentiles. And having shown that they were not, he draws the melancholy conclusion that “there was no difference, for that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Having thus established the universal sin and consequent condemnation of the whole human race, he proceeds to meet the grand inquiry, “How may man be just with God?” Had he remained spotless, innocent, and pure in the state wherein he was created, the answer would have been easy: he will be justified by his works, by his own acts and deeds, his constant never-failing obedience to the divine law. But when that law had been violated again and again by every child of Adam, no conclusion could possibly be clearer than that by the deeds of the law could no flesh living be justified in his sight. Justification could not, therefore, depend on the law or on merit.

The apostle then goes on to shew that though man cannot justify himself, and is consequently in a state of condemnation, he is not on that account to be shut up under despair. But he proceeds to prove that there is a righteousness imputed without works, even that righteousness which Christ has brought in, and which he has provided by his own perfect fulfilment of the law, and by his obedience unto death in our place. This is by grace; all of unmerited favor, free goodness, mere mercy. “We are justified freely by his grace.” In this righteousness we obtain a part through faith. Faith receives the record which God has given concerning his Son. Faith stretches out the hand to “receive the things that are freely given to us of God.” Faith relies on the promise, and applies in assured expectation of receiving that which it asks, and which it knows God is ready to give. So important is the grace of faith that we are said to be justified by it, and by it alone. Yet faith has in itself no merit. It is no work which will compensate for failures in other things. It only receives with firm reliance those promises and those gifts which God bestows on the sinner – of mere mercy and free grace.

VIVA!

May your bookshelves be full and your tea always warm.

“You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.”

— Song of Solomon 4:7 [ESV].