If you don't know who Skye Jethani is, he’s an author and minister who puts out a daily newsletter called With God Daily (among other things). It's a daily meditation, and there's usually a theme that runs through several days or even weeks where he explores a topic or an idea. His newsletter on January 14, 2020 was part two of an examination of God's anger toward injustice. In that post, Skye asked a very important question: did God save the Israelites from Egypt because they were God’s people or because they were being oppressed? He then suggests that this subtle difference is significant, because how we perceive God's concern for injustice determines how we approach our own concern for injustice or rationalize our participation in injustice. “If we put the emphasis on a person’s identity then God becomes a tribal deity—a discriminating God who distributes blessing or punishment, justice or compassion based on which group you belong to.” — Skye Jethani ...

A test of compassion is one that publicly questions our ability to empathize with others. We shouldn't confuse compassion with sympathy or pity. It's not about feeling bad for somebody's situation. It's about mourning with people who are mourning. Compassion is about experiencing the pain of others because they feel pain. This whole pandemic provides the perfect test of compassion for everyone in the world. In the midst of businesses closing down, economic uncertainty, skyrocketing unemployment rates and federal systems that are ill equipped to compensate, food shortages or supply shortages in less privileged communities or less privileged households, depressing isolation for those who already struggle with feelings of isolation, lost loved ones or distanced families and friends, our bravest caregivers being at risk and risking their families to save the lives of others, every negative thing happening in the world, every frontline struggle, every ripple effect we...