{"id":2857,"date":"2019-10-04T09:07:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T13:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2019-10-04T09:07:13","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T13:07:13","slug":"disposable-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/2019\/10\/04\/disposable-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Disposable Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><strong>Psalm 136:1-9,23-26<\/strong><br \/>\n<em><strong>Oh, give thanks to the\u00a0Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (Psalms 136:1)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<div>More than ever, we live in a disposable culture. Think for a minute about some of the things that are made to be thrown away\u2014razors, water bottles, lighters, paper plates, plastic eating utensils. Products are used, tossed, and then replaced.<\/div>\n<div>This disposable culture is also reflected in more significant ways. Many times true commitment in relationships is seen as optional. Marriages struggle to survive. Long-term employees are discharged just before retirement for cheaper options. A highly revered athlete leaves to join another team. It seems as if nothing lasts.<\/div>\n<div>Our unchanging God, however, has promised that His loving mercy endures forever. In Psalm 136, the singer celebrates this wonderful promise by making statements about God\u2019s wonder, work, and character. He then punctuates each statement about God with the phrase, \u201cFor His mercy endures forever.\u201d Whether it is the wonder of His creation (vv.4-9), the rescue of His people (vv.10-22), or His tender care for His own (vv.23-26), we can trust Him because His mercy will never fail. In a temporary world, the permanence of God\u2019s mercy gives us hope. We can sing with the psalmist, \u201cOh, give thanks to the\u00a0Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever\u201d (v.1).<\/div>\n<div><em><strong>PRAYER<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>Dear Lord, thank you for your ever surpassing grace upon me.Amen.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<div><em><strong>THOUGHT FOR THE DAY<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>God\u2019s grace is immeasurable; His mercy inexhaustible; His peace inexpressible.<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psalm 136:1-9,23-26 Oh, give thanks to the\u00a0Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (Psalms 136:1) More than ever, we live in a disposable culture. Think for a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Psalm136-1-9-23-26.jpg?fit=851%2C564&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2859,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions\/2859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}