Life
So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God… The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. (Romans 8:6-8, 11 NLT)
It’s a continual battle for control. There are times when we want to submit to the will of the culture around us. We want to engage in the sinful practices that tempt us each and every day. Yet that is not God’s will.
So the battle continues about doing what is right and righteous vs what is sin and worldly.
When we submit to the Holy Spirit the temptations don’t disappear, but the right decision becomes clearer. This Spirit is in those who believe in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the one who died for this sin, but rose to give eternal life.
Counting
From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you. I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. (Psalms 130:1-5 NLT)
Do any of those first words of Psalm 130 feel familiar to you? Has there been a time in your life where you have felt you have no other avenue except to cry out to God?
Sometimes that’s the first step towards understanding God and His role in our lives. A realization that there is no way we can do this on our own, this life we live. There are too many distractions… too many temptations… so much sin.
We can count on God. We can put all our trust, all our hope, all our lives in Him.
Why? Because He is love. He is grace. He is our hope!
Treasures
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. (Matthew 6:19-21 NLT)
We all have things we love. Our own little treasures. Pieces of memories, trinkets, and so on. But where do these things rank in our lives?
Jesus is talking above about the bigger treasures. He’s talking about building up riches for ourselves. There’s nothing wrong necessarily with being rich. It’s how we get there and what we do with those riches which is important.
If we are like Scrooge McDuck and spend our time swimming in a pool of bills and coins, then that is keeping us from being good Christians.
We are called to serve. We are called to shared God’s love with our neighbours, even our enemies!
The riches in our lives, those material things? They could be gone in an instant. Things of the earth have a limited shelf life. There’s only one eternal treasure, something we can hold onto for all eternity. That treasure is the love of God shared with us in Jesus Christ.
Is the love of God in you? Is this your treasure?
Honour
Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honour and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Isaiah 58:9-11, 14 NLT)
The debate leading into this reading from Isaiah is about what we do to please The Lord. Fasting, looking humble, whatever.
But that’s not what God has asked us to do. He wants us to be obedient to His true call, that isn’t serve others. To help the needy: feed them, clothe them…
It’s not about what we do for ourselves, that’s not what Jesus examples in the Gospel message. Jesus showed us its how we reach out to those in need in our communities. This is reward-worthy. This is God’s call for us.
We are the hands and feet of Christ. He leads us, we respond. And He will meet our needs as well.
Be Glorified
“Be Glorified”
2 Thessalonians 1
This week we begin looking at Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonian church. The first letter was full of praise and thanks for the faithfulness of the Thessalonians. Paul was telling them they were doing a great job in the name of Jesus Christ.
For some reason Paul decided to write another letter to them, not long after the first. Now, we don’t always know what prompts Paul writes his letters. Sometimes it would be nice to know the backstory. But something has come back to Paul about this church and it caused him to write a second letter.
After all, it takes a bit of work to write letters back in Paul’s time. He can’t just sit down and write an email, or text the church leaders. There isn’t even Canada Post back then. So Paul would need to send someone with the letter, traveling across who knows where in all sorts of weather to deliver his message.
Paul has heard something about the Thessalonians which made him want to write another letter to the church, which after the first letter would have us think they are in pretty good shape. So as we go through Paul’s second letter, we will have to watch what he is saying which offer insight into what happened in Thessalonica.