Prayer Requests, Praises, and Thought Archive

PRAYER REQUESTS

• For Ryan's family - Ryan's father's cancer has resurfaced; Ryan's maternal grandfather is dying; and Ryan's aunt has recently broken off her engagement.  Surgery to remove cancerous lumps from the father's neck was successful.  This is quite a stressful time for the entire family, particularly for Ryan's mother.  We raise them up before our God in supplication, asking the peace of the Holy Spirit to descend and protect them.  May God bring healing, if He wills, to those who are ailing.  Only God is the source of sufficient stability for a situation such as this.  May He provide.
• For JB - He often struggles with remaining committedly faithful to God and not being distracted by the things of this world.  He strives for greater faith and greater capacity to forgive.  We pray that God would keep his burdens away from him and sustain the divine peace that shields him from this affliction.  May our God give JB the strength and zeal to seek perpetually after the Lord and to serve Him as best he can, all day, every day.  May the same, indeed, be granted to each and every one of us.
• For Abigail - She's been under quite a great deal of stress lately, both from the rigors of academia and from other sources as well.  May God bless her and keep her safe in His loving embrace, restoring to her a sense of comfort and joy and guiding her every step in His unfathomable mercy.
• For Carly's family - Carly, an extremely close friend of Kameron, recently passed away at a very young age.  We implore that God would extend His gracious blessings to her family and friends, who mourn her departure.  May His comforts be many to their wounded hearts in this time of grief.
• For Dave's family - Dave's grandmother recently suffered a heart attack and was in intensive care before passing away.  We pray that God would shelter that family and would bring healing to their hearts as they mourn this loss.
• For Kevin - He has a rare form of brain cancer called Glioblastoma Multiforme Level 4 (see also here and here), which happens to be universally-terminal and aggressive.  He underwent brain surgery on 8 September 2006 to have a tumor removed.  Kevin is part of a small nationwide test group for a drug called Poly ICLC that may be of some use in combating this cancer.  We need to lift him and his family up before the Lord our God that He might lay His healing hand upon Kevin and, should it be His will, remove this disease from him.  Things are already progressing nicely, for the Lord has smiled upon Kevin; we pray that this would continue to be so.  Secondly, we pray that God would grant Kevin and his wife Maria the ability to perceive God's sovereign purposes behind these turns of events.  See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here for further details about the progression of the situation.
• For Carol - Carol, a Research Nurse, wishes prayer for her children, who have been going through a difficult period over the past several years through her divorce.  May God give them the strength to be reconciled to their father.  See here for details.
• For Sean - He, too, is under stress these days and desires prayer.  May God ease his burdens and place peace upon his heart, guiding his footsteps in the sacred truth of our Savior.
• For Kameron - He, like many Christian males, struggles with sexual issues in an effort to submit himself to the Father's will.  We pray that God would guide him in these matters and grant him self-control and strength.
• For all incidences of violence and crime - This world has been locked in sin, and society drinks deeply from that cup.  While various recent cases may from time to time shock us in our memories, there are many more simply so many more unknown to us--but all is known to God.  Please pray that the reigns of this world shall be turned over to God, one sinner at a time, for His transformation and healing to take effect.
• For our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ around the world - Persecution of Christians for their faith is far from a thing of ancient history to the exclusion of the present.  Though often in the Western world, such things are deemed as over and done with, in much of the world, our brethren suffer persecution, degradation, shame, torture, and even martyrdom for their unwavering devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ.  Please, I implore you, pray for them, that God would strengthen them all and enable them to resist succumbing to the strategems of the evil one.  May God bolster their faith and enable them to stand strong even to the shedding of blood and to death.  Furthermore, may this persecution be the spark of revival and the working out of the power of the Holy Spirit in those lands, for as Tertullian aptly observed, "The blood of martyrs is seed [of the church]," meaning that because of the strength of faith of the persecuted Christians, salvation has come to many, and the church of Christ has grown.  So pray for such as these, and keep them always in your thoughts and prayers.  To give more heed to the matter, please go here and here.
• For the modern church - We all know that the church today is in bad shape.  Really bad shape.  Disunity, heresy, immorality, and godlessness abound.  There is a true famine for the word of God.  Christians are nearly indistinguishable from unbelievers in word and deed.  The pure doctrines of Christ are perverted, diminished, and even outright denied by those who profess to be genuine Christians.  The flock has been infiltrated by wolves, and the sheep are sickly and emaciated.  We pray that God would draw this people back to Himself, that they might repent and be healed.  May God bring a powerful revival of true faith in our land, so that Christians would once again be convicted to serve God with all of their hearts and all of their minds, giving it their all and not merely tacking God onto the bottom of a list of priorities.  Pray that God would purify us, by fiery tribulation if need be, and pour out His Holy Spirit upon us, before we stray any further! 

I urge you to pray for these things.  It is the call of Christians to lift one another up in prayer and intercede on one another's behalf.

To submit a prayer request, please just drop me a message.  Please also inform me when the need for prayer for a situation has passed.  Otherwise, I'll simply be left guessing as to what's happening.

PRAISES

• Praise be to YHVH, the Triune God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, simply for being who He is and letting us have even a glimpse of His glory and the privilege of serving the Almighty Lord of Lords and King of Kings!  Words can never do justice to such majesty.
• Praise our Lord Jesus Christ for coming to suffer agony and shame and death for us on the cross in order to obtain a salvation for which we otherwise could not have even reasonably hoped.
• Praise God that Kevin's brain surgery went well, and that no harm was done him in the process of freeing him from the tumor!  Praise God also that Kevin is back at work and doing well there.  Indeed, praise God for letting there be no sign thus far of the tumor's return, and that Kevin's medications are working!  Indeed, the situation is continually improving, by the grace of God Most High.  God speaks peace to His people; God is good to His loyal servants; God is worthy of everlasting praise.
• Praise God that Randy, Barry, Carly, and Peter are all now in a place beyond the mortal realm of suffering and sorrow.

To submit a praise, please just drop me a message.

ARCHIVE

• 1 Timothy 1:17 and the Infinitude of God
• Blessing 1
• Christian Love
• Christian Thankfulness
• Death: A Christian's Exploration
• God Who Conquers Chaos
• Imitation of Christ 1.1 and an Intellect Apart from God
• Prayer 1
• Prayer 2
• Prayer 3
• Sermon on the Passion of Our Lord

The blessings of YHVH of Hosts be upon you all.  Grace, peace, and love to you from the Father and from the Son and from the Holy Spirit--that is, from the Triune Godhead, to whom be all praise and glory and honor forever and ever.  Amen.

A Sermon on the Passion of Our Lord

The soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.  And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.  When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.  And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off of Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. (Matthew 27:27-31)

There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.  And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. (Luke 23:32-33)

Those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days--save Yourself!  If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."  Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself.  If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.  He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him, for He said, 'I am the Son of God'!" (Matthew 27:39-43)

The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!" (Luke 23:36-37)

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself--and us!"  But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." (Luke 23:39-41)

And so the Lord hung suspended from the cross.  Slandered and mocked without mercy by people of every station in life, from religious leaders to the mob, from military officials to dying criminals.  To that cross was pinned the perfect man, the only man to ever lead a sinless life.  Of all who have ever lived or ever will, He deserved this least.  Yet He suffered the agony, He submitted to the shame, and rather than decry His executioners, He instead pleaded for their forgiveness.  He showed a love greater than mind can comprehend, vaster than mouth can tell.  Yet when they affixed Immanuel, God with us, to the tree:

There was darkness over all the land. [...] The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split. (Matthew 27:45,51)

It was finished.  And into the Father's hands, He yielded His spirit.

As explained by the second-century bishop Melito:

It was He because of whom the earth quaked.  He that hung up the earth in space, was Himself hanged up.  He that fixed the heavens, was fixed with nails.  He that bore up the earth, was borne up on a tree.  The Lord of all was subjected to ignominy in a naked body--God, put to death! [...] Alas for the wickedness of the new murder!  The Lord was exposed with naked body; He was not deemed worthy even of covering, and in order that He might not be seen, the luminaries turned away, and the day became darkened, because they slew God, who hung naked on the tree.  [...]  The earth shook, and its foundations trembled; the sun fled away, and the elements turned back, and the day was changed into night: for they could not endure the sight of their Lord hanging on a tree.  The whole creation was amazed, marvelling and saying: "What new mystery, then, is this?  The Judge is judged, and holds His peace; the Invisible One is seen, and is not ashamed; the Incomprehensible is laid hold upon, and is not indignant; the Illimitable is circumscribed, and does not resist; the Impassable suffers, and does not avenge; the Immortal dies, and answers not a word; the Celestial is laid in the grave, and endures!  What new mystery is this?"

Who can understand it?  God Most High stooped to earth, and was crucified.  For us.  The One who invented wood was nailed to it.  The One who created the first ore was pierced with metal.  The Lord of the cosmos entered creation and was stripped bare of all dignity in the sight of men.  This, the King with a painful crown and no throne on earth but an instrument of capital punishment on which His blood was shed.  Mocked, beaten, lashed, scourged, and finally fastened to a cross to suffer a slow, shameful, agonizing death.  If our silence in the presence of Lord Jesus could make the rocks cry out praises to God (Luke 19:40), how can creation remain still and calm while God incarnate was punctured by nails and bled on a cross?  Under the shroud of darkness, a dirge must have risen from earth to the Father in heaven, like the voice of the martyrs from beneath heaven's altar (Revelation 6:9-10).  As the fourth-century Christian author Lactantius said (Divine Institutes 4.18):

What shall I say respecting the indignity of the cross, on which the Son of God was suspended and nailed?  Who will be found so eloquent, and supplied with so great an abundance of deeds and words, what speech flowing with such copious exuberance, as to lament in a befitting manner that cross, which the world itself, and all the elements of the world, bewailed?

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard" (1 Corinthians 2:9), nor can words possibly express the depths of this divine mystery; for the Creator of mankind took upon Himself our nature and our mortality, and in it, He was slain by mortal wickedness.  All to fulfill the greatest love (John 15:13).  All to show how perfect justice and perfect love can be fused.  All to redeem us from our sins.  To cleanse us, to purify us, to declare us free from penalty.  Because He, God incarnate, took the punishment on our behalf and in our stead.  The King who went the extra mile for the worst of His subjects.  Prince of Peace and Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, who bore on Himself our iniquities (Isaiah 9:6, 53:3).  Pierced for our transgressions.  Crushed for our iniquities.  By His stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).  His submission to death brought triumph and gave grace to the undeserving.  Obedience, even to the point of death on the cross (Philippians 2:8).  But what a hefty price it cost Him!  In the lyrical words from Isaac Watts' hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross":

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Jesus was never content to be a mediocre master.  He burst the boundaries of finite imagination.  When we had nothing to our credit, He showed us things beyond measure.  No greater love, than to die for the unworthy.  No more humility, than to wash the feet of His disciples with His death growing so near.  No greater victory, than to slay the foes of men: sin and death.  No greater royalty, than to sacrifice so much for the kingdom.  No greater patronage, than the gift beyond measure from heaven's unsearchable bounty.  No greater God, than the Lord of Lords who displayed all of these.

Jesus didn't have to die.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, He told Peter that He could pray to the Father for twelve legions of angels to destroy the soldiers who came to arrest Him (Matthew 26:53).  Jesus didn't even have to come to earth.  He didn't have to share in our humanity.  He didn't have to bear our mortal ailments and illnesses, to walk the dusty roads alongside us.  He didn't have to weep, He didn't have to mourn.  He didn't have to sweat blood in the garden (Luke 22:44).  He didn't have to suffer for our sins.  He didn't have to bear our curse.  He didn't have to be beaten, scourged, or taunted.  He didn't have to be put on display in front of a jeering mob.  He didn't have to be shamed.  He certainly didn't have to die.

But Jesus did come to earth and share in our common nature.  He wept with us and walked among us on dusty roads.  He dined with notorious sinners and extended a hand of love to even the most wretched outcasts at the fringes of society.  He dared to touch the ritually impure.  He was hated and rejected.  He took up a punishment too great for us to bear, too terrifying for us to imagine.  He bore our grief and carried our sorrow.  He poured Himself out to death.  God placed our sin on Him.  It was the only way to save us.  Such grace was something that not a single one of us deserved.  We owed a debt far beyond our ability to pay.  We were in over our heads; Jesus came to take our place.  He didn't have to.  God would have been justified in leaving us to reap our penalty.  But God is love, and love takes action.  There is no greater love than complete surrender in complete sacrifice.  And this God did just that.

God demonstrates His own love toward us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [...] When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. (Romans 5:8,10a)

Redemption was spelled that darkened day as "Christ crucified".  None of us can grasp just how lofty that kind of grace really is.  We were slaves to sin.  Cursed and condemned, without even a glimmer of hope.  We were "dead in our transgressions" (Colossians 2:13), "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3).  On the day Jesus died, all that changed.  The charge against us was nailed to the cross with Him (cf. Colossians 2:14).  Our sins were stained as red as blood; but by His blood, they were wiped away, leaving us clean and undefiled in the sight of God.  That's why it's called "Good Friday".  Without the events of that day, without that sacrifice, without our perfect Passover Lamb, we simply could never be anything but doomed.  In the words of Augustus Toplady's hymn "Rock of Ages":

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

The penalty, by all rights, was ours.  Of that, there can be no doubt.  Christ bore our death; He deserved none of His own.  He took the fall.  He took the agony, He took the curse, He took the wrath.  He was our perfect substitute, and a flawless sacrifice to God.  No sacrifice could we have ever offered to supplant this spotless Lamb of God.  Just as on the Ark of the Covenant, God Almighty spoke from the mercy seat between two cherubim (Exodus 25:22), that day God Almighty was thronged by two criminals; and just as then the Lord was enthroned on the praises of His chosen people (Psalm 22:3), at Calvary He was enthroned on rugged wood to die.  The King of glory with thorned crown, suffering for His subjects, brought new meaning to nobility.  As a hymn of Bernard of Clairvaux begins:

O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory, what bliss till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine.

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

Ours was the guilt, and ours was the blame.  We are all worthy of punishment; Jesus Christ wasn't.  We deserved that place of condemnation, but only Jesus could pay such a high price and leave us with only grace.  We mustn't ever forget just what had to happen for our salvation to take place.  The Lord of all creation, Maker of heaven and earth, the God to whom all honor is due, was stripped bare, put to shame, derided, pierced by nails, fastened to a cross, and slain.  He set His glory aside to come to a people who did not recognize Him and did not accept Him.  And they killed Him.  We killed Him--not a one of us is free of sin.  And for our sins, He suffered.  For our sins, He hung there.  And He at last succumbed on a cross, bloody splinters embedded in His raw and scarred back.  Jesus Christ--perfect God and perfect man--died.

This is no accident of history, some coincidence, some trivial fact disconnected from present reality.  This is history's center.  The entire saga of time is the unfolding of the redemptive plan of God, written with each of us in mind.  John calls Jesus "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8).  The mystery at last came to fruition.  It's now made known to us.  Only God could choose such a course.  Only God could find a way. And His ways are higher than any of the ways of man (Isaiah 55:9).

Still, that Friday, the body of Christ still grew cold and lifeless.  Carried from Calvary to the tomb and interred by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.  The holiest life, extinguished.  The light of the world, faded and wrapped in linen.  Jesus, the object of our adoration--crucified, dead, and buried.

That was Friday.  But Friday's not far removed from the soon-dawning Sunday.  And Melito spoke the truth:

Our Lord, when He was born man, was condemned in order that He might show mercy, was bound in order that He might loose, was seized in order that He might release, suffered in order that He might feel compassion, died in order that He might give life, was laid in the grave that He might raise from the dead.

So come then.  Take up your cross, and follow our King.  The Fridays are dark and dreadful in the "valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23:4), but we have no fear--God's Sunday is on its way, and even the bonds of death and the gates of hell can't suppress the rising Son.

Christian Love

Grace and peace to you all from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.  May the love of the Holy Spirit unite you in bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood in the family of God.

In the Scriptures, we who follow Christ are commanded to behave a certain way to each other.  It can be summed up pretty simply in the word "love".  Now, I'm not talking about romantic love here, or what the Greeks would have called eros.  If I were, well, let's just say that I'd be avoiding any guys' Bible studies.  This is a different sort of love.  One of the greatest discourses on it in all of Scripture is found in the first of John's letters.  What he says is:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has seen God at any time.  If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.  God is love; and he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him.  Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in the world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.  But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  We love Him because He first loved us.  If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.  Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.  And His commandments are not burdensome.  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. (1 John 4:7--5:4)

This sermon could honestly end there, because John's gotten straight to the crux of the matter.  God loved us when we were against Him.  He loved us enough to send His Son to atone for our sins.  We show our love for God by keeping His commandments.  As John said in another letter:

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.  This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. (2 John 1:6)

The command of God is that we love one another.  We are brothers and sisters in Christ.  How can we help but love one another?  "If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another"--are those not John's words?  If we do not love one another, then we knowingly transgress the command of God.  How can this be, if we profess to love God?  God has showered us abundantly from His grace, and to forsake His commandment of love is to be ungrateful and to mar the face of grace.  If we love God, we must love one another.  Do we pay lip-service to that truth but not live it?  Let's put our life where our mouth is, and live the love of the God who is love!  Our faith, our love, is born of God.  That love has victory!  There was a Roman poet named Virgil, and he said once:

Love conquers all; let us, too, yield to love. (Eclogues 10.69)

That's right.  Love does conquer all.  The love of God conquers stubborn hearts and refreshes a sin-stained world.  The love of a man suspended in pain from a Roman cross plucked sinners from the gaping mouth of hell.  That man was Jesus Christ.  You know, He spoke a lot about love.  For example, He said:

A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. (John 14:19-21)

Those who love Christ will keep His commandments, if they have them, and will be loved by the Father and experience Christ.  Isn't that an intense thought?  So, what are those commandments?  Well, to backtrack to the previous chapter of John's Gospel, Christ explained one of them.  He said:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)

Anybody here catch that?  Not only is Jesus commanding us to love one another, He's saying that it is by our mutual love that the world will be able to distinguish us as His disciples!  The mark of the Christian is the love of the Christian.  Not just that, but we are to love each other as Christ loved us.  How did Jesus love us?  He loved us to death.  As He goes on to say:

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15:9-13)

Jesus Christ exemplified the greatest possible love one can have: the self-sacrificial variety.  That is what He's calling us to have for one another.  Are you willing to dive that deep into the abyss of love?  It's no easy call, to be sure.  John said:

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.  He who does not love his brother abides in death.  Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has everlasting life abiding in him.  By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.  And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?  My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:13-18)

John knew full well of Christ's unfathomable sacrifice.  The deathless God became incarnate in mortal flesh, not driven by necessity but by pure love, and chose to suffer the ultimate shame and endure the terrible agony, all for a world of faithless rebels.  How much love does that take, to pour out the riches of divine abundance on the unworthiest of sinners?  How on earth can we possibly emulate that?  After all, Paul exhorted us to "be imitators of God, as dear children" (Ephesians 5:1), and to "walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us" (Ephesians 5:2).  How can we imitate that love beyond comprehension, that love above all mountains and deeper than all valleys, encompassing all creation in its flood?  By living a life of love.  It's not the easy road, but the right road is rarely the easy road.  It's a life lived with an eye to the glory of God and to the welfare of fellow men, women, children.  It's so easy to speak the word "love".  We English-speakers have it really easy, one syllable takes no time at all to utter.  It's much harder to love "in deed and in truth", not just "in word or in tongue" (1 John 3:18).  John's not denigrating the value of professing love; he's speaking out against the kind of attitude that doesn't follow up the talking of the talk with the walking of the walk.  Paul said much the same thing when, writing to the church in Rome, he ordered:

Let love be without hypocrisy.  Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. (Romans 12:9)

Our love should be sincere love, and that love can't help but show itself.  It's too powerful to be constrained within us or within our words.  That love delights in purity.  It isn't the "love" of carnal desire; it isn't the so-called "love" that twists people to its own ends, sows deceit and discord, all for gain.  It's the love that sees gain in surrender and seeks fervently after righteousness.  That's the powerful sort of which it's said, "Let brotherly love continue" (Hebrews 13:1).

Returning to the words of John, we read that "he who does not love his brother abides in death" (1 John 3:14).  He echoes the same sentiments when he writes:

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.  He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.  But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:9-11)

We've already seen that God has commanded us to love one another.  If we love one another, if we love God, we're in the light.  If we hate one another, we're disobeying the command of God and love neither one another nor God.  If that is so, we are in darkness.  This isn't just a Christian teaching, you know, but even the sages of old realized the power of love and light.  Plato's Symposium says:

He whom love touches not, walks in darkness. (Symposium 197a)

Light and darkness--literally a contrast as stark as night and day.  As John explains near the beginning of his first epistle:

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)

If we hate one another, we are in the darkness.  If we claim to have fellowship with God and are yet in darkness, we are lying!  If we love one another, we live the command of God.  We then have fellowship together and are freed from the chains of darkest sin by the crimson blood of Jesus.

Love is the law of God.  It's true!  Paul wrote:

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

How then shall we live?  Peter answers and says:

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins". (1 Peter 4:8)

And:

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; nor returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. (1 Peter 3:8-9)

This is much as Paul says to the Romans:

Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.  Be of the same mind with one another.  Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.  Do not be wise in your own opinion.  Repay no one evil for evil.  Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.  If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. (Romans 12:14-18)

Paul likewise gives his input on our life of love in saying:

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. (Colossians 3:12-14)

The "bond of perfection", Paul calls love.  Love is the crowning virtue, the one that holds others together in perfection.  Truly it is the mark of the redeemed people of God, His "holy priesthood" (1 Peter 2:5).  Paul elsewhere says to:

Let all that you do be done with love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)

Everything we do should be to God's glory!  When we act from faith in love, abiding in the righteousness of God and rejoicing in His truth, this is a deed done truly for Him!  What more should constitute the good works for which we were created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10)?

We opened with John's discourse on love, and we'll close with Paul's.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.  But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part.  But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.  When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  But now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am known.  And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

Apart from love, all the riches of kings, all things in heaven and on earth, are of no profit.  Apart from love, we do not have fellowship with God or with one another.  What are you waiting for?  Live, while still there's time.  Love, love with everything you have, everything you are!  Love one another as Christ loves you.  Walk that teaching, and you'll see the love of God transform your world.

God bless you all, and keep you forever in His love.

The God Who Conquers Chaos

In every life, a little rain must fall.  That's how the cliché goes, at least.  But sometimes in life, let's admit it, we all feel a bit like Noah's neighbors in their last day on earth.  The rain isn't just an occasional trickle from the heavens that comes and goes with barely an impact; it's a raging torrent that rips apart the skies and cleaves the earth in pieces as it rages from the darkened floodgates of chaos into our lives.  Some experience such things with great frequency; others are mercifully spared and live a milder, calmer life.

Many of the psalms found in the Bible were undoubtedly written by one well-acquainted with this facet of reality.  For example, as it is written in the tenth psalm:

Why do You stand afar off, YHVH?  Why do You hide in times of trouble? .... Arise, YHVH; O God, lift up Your hand, and forget not the afflicted. (Psalm 10:1,12)

While perhaps some of us haven't uttered those exact words--after all, David was an eloquent fellow--we often share similar laments about the way the world so often seems destined for hell in a handbasket, as they say.  On particularly bad days, we might wonder if the handbasket is being shipped FedEx!  Nevertheless, the same man also was aware of a higher perspective on the matter.  In a psalm placed eighty-ninth in the arrangement, we read:

YHVH, God of Hosts, who is mighty like You, O YHVH?  Your faithfulness surrounds You.  You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them.  You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain; You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.  The heavens are Yours; the earth is also Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them. (Psalm 89:8-11)

In this author's eyes, YHVH, the God whom we serve if we are in Christ, is the God who conquers chaos.  To illustrate that, he first rhetorically asks God who can compare to Him in power.  The answer, of course, is that no one is as great as God is.  Second, the Psalmist appeals to God's ability to calm the sea.  Surely if YHVH can subdue the power of the ocean, far above all human ability, He can also quiet the storms that bring turmoil within each of us.  You know, when one reads about God's power over the sea, it's difficult not to think also of Matthew 8:26, wherein we read that Jesus Christ, awaking at the behest of His frightened disciples when a storm on the Sea of Galilee frightened them, exercised authority over the sea and the storm, bringing calm where once chaos threatened.  Just as the Psalmist implies that YHVH's mastery over the sea means He is the one who conquers chaos, so too the authority of Christ implies that He can reach inside the human life and soul to bring peace.

Returning to Psalm 89, the Psalmist next utilizes war imagery.  YHVH, he says, has fragmented Rahab and overpowered His foes.  Rahab in biblical literature is often a sea-serpent or dragon symbolizing the forces of chaos that oppose order, as well as the Egyptians.  In that sense, it is comparable to the leviathan, whom God is envisioned as destroying (cf. Psalm 74:10), also a symbol of His sovereignty in the face of chaotic forces.  YHVH, then, is a capable deity.  As the Psalmist goes on to explain, God's sovereignty as a result of having created the universe gives Him also possession of it.  We may rest assured that God will not permit things to get out of hand on His property.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. (Psalm 46:1-3)

For the biblical authors, the sea was sometimes a symbol of the primeval watery chaos, "formless and void" (Genesis 1:2), that God created in the beginning.  God lifted the dry land out of the deep by divine fiat (Genesis 1:9-10).  Because the land, particularly the mountainous regions, were pictured as the diametric opposite of the watery depths, they represented stability and order.  Hence, if the mountains were to fall into the sea, this would symbolize the triumph of the forces of chaos over order.  We might appropriately wonder if the Israelites saw any of this in YHVH's majestic interrogation of Job, wherein God says:

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell Me, if you have understanding.  Who determined its measurements?  Surely you know!  Or who stretched the line upon it?  To what were its foundations fastened, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?  Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; when I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; when I said, "This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!" (Job 38:4-11)

Returning to Psalm 46, however, the Psalmist places full trust in his God, who is a "refuge and strength" to him and his people.  Even if it should appear that chaos has struck a death blow to order, faith exhorts us to remain loyal to God and to trust in Him.  We know that God is good and sovereign.  Ultimately, chaos will not have the victory, because God is in control.  So even when the chaos and troubles begin to clatter, and even when every earthly support seems shaky and vulnerable, do not give up hope!  Stay strong in faith in our Lord, for He is "a very present help in time of trouble" (Psalm 46:1).  Even when surface appearances are to the contrary, God will be with us!  As the Psalmist writes:

The righteous cry out, and YHVH hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.  YHVH is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YHVH delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:17-19)

Here we see a very vital qualification: God delivers the righteous, those who are brokenhearted before Him and have a contrite spirit.  Likewise, in Psalm 32, the Psalmist says to God:

I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden.  I said, "I will confess my transgressions to YHVH," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.  For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him.  You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:5-7)

If any of you have not acknowledged your sin to God and pled for His forgiveness, I highly suggest making that a top priority.  Without this, trouble shall come indeed--if not in this life, then in the resurrection.  For we know that as Daniel was told:

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)

As Paul said:

As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." (Romans 9:33)

Now then, returning to the message of the Psalmist, what shall we do when we feel accursed by God without just cause, and though we are in trouble, we do not see our deliverance?  Surely Job knew very well this feeling.  First of all, we must recognize that none of us are perfect, for "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  Next, if we humbly pray that God would keep us from troubles, and we have repented of our sins, it may well be that God removes the outer cause of the problems.  Alternatively, though, God may grant us His peace that transcends our comprehension (Philippians 4:7) that from within sustains us in the strength of Christ through which we may endure all circumstances with contentment (Philippians 4:11-13).  The Scriptures also read:

YHVH shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment.  He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.  YHVH also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.  And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, YHVH, have not forsaken those who seek You. (Psalm 9:7-10)

This awesome God is both the refuge of those who experience trouble and the one who will bring about judgment.  How incredible this sovereign Lord!  We who truly worship YHVH and trust in Him will not be forsaken.  And when judgment comes, we may remain assured that we will be kept safe in Christ.  In light of this, what are the troubles of this life?  Grave, to be sure, but for the sake of Christ we are enabled to bear all things.

What might we have to bear?  Paul writes:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35)

None of these things, we have divine assurance through the Scriptures, shall divide us from the awesome love that pours forth to us from God as a river raging faster than the torrents of chaos!  So then, what are we to do when confronted with troubles and difficulties?  First, there is a promise God has given.  Through the words of His servant Paul a few lines earlier, it is declared:

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

How fantastic!  Although the individual circumstances we may encounter will be difficult and may be bad, in the end, they are going to be woven into a personal history with a positive end result.  Do you trust this promise?  Do you have the faith to accept it and walk it?  Then live it.

So when trouble comes, when the harsh winds of life come our way, let us imitate the Psalmist.  For we read:

I cry out to YHVH with my voice; with my voice to YHVH I make my supplication.  I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. (Psalm 142:1-2)

Do not fear, you who are justified by faith, to come humbly before our Almighty God and pray for deliverance.  Nonetheless, in the midst of it all, embody the spirit of obedience that Christ manifested when He prayed:

My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. (Matthew 26:39)

Do we have a God who conquers chaos?  Yes!  Through His might, we are given strength to stand strong!  For:

We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Live by faith.  This is how the just live (Habakkuk 2:4).  Trust in the Lord who delivers, for He is capable, and He is our Fortress and our Rock (Psalm 18:2).  He is the triumphant God to whom be the glory and honor for all ages!

So, then, sing praises and take refuge in the Triune Godhead, the Maker of heaven and earth, who sets us free from the forces of sin, chaos, death, and misery and promises us new creation in Christ.

Christian Thankfulness

Grace and peace to you all from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.  May the love of the Holy Spirit unite you in bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood in the family of God.

One common theme throughout the Scriptures is that God deserves to receive thanks.  Today, let us take a journey through Holy Writ to see precisely what He has conveyed to us about the matter.

One of the Psalms, the ninety-second, begins with the following words:

It is good to give thanks to YHVH, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your loving kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night, on an instrument of ten strings, on the lute, and on the harp, with harmonious sound.  For You, YHVH, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. (Psalm 92:1-4)

The Psalmist exhorts his hearers to give thanks and sing songs of praise to the God of Israel.  As we are told by the Psalm, these songs may be accompanied by harmonious sounds.  While in ancient days, this may have taken the form of stringed instruments such as the harp, today we should feel free to make use of whatever instruments we choose.  The organ, the guitar, and the drums are all fine, because what matters is not so much the music itself, but the songs themselves.  While there is much merit to a finely written melody, it is the lyrics, and truly the concepts expressed in those words, that make all the difference.  Through song, we may sing praise to God, and give Him thanks.

Why, however, does the Psalmist believe that God should be thanked?  In this passage, he talks about how God has created beautiful things, and so for these precious gifts, He is to be thanked.  All too often, we walk through life in a state of impenetrable fog, scarcely taking a moment to contemplate the gifts of God and the works He has done.  When was the last time you stopped by the side of a path to take a close look at the intricate blossoms of a flower, or to gaze at the fashion in which light sparkles on the surface of a pond of water?  While this may no more be a perfect world in this post-Fall era, the heavens do declare the glory of God, and the firmament above displays the work of His hands (Psalm 19:1)!  You know, a later writer said that since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes are made known by the things that He created (Romans 1:20).  We should be thankful for that blessing.  Take a second to think about your life.  Do we actually deserve to be able to know anything of God?  I certainly don't.  But despite all of that, God has declared Himself by His works.

Returning to our contemplation, when was the last time you took a pause from the busy turmoil of the day to meditate on how God grants us each and every breath we take, each and every morsel of food, each and every drink?  Hasn't He been good and faithful to us?  Elsewhere in the Psalms, the Psalmist says to God:

For You are my hope, Lord YHVH; You are my refuge from my youth.  By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb.  My praise shall continually be of You.  I have become as a wonder to many, but You are my strong refuge.  Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day. (Psalm 71:5-8)

All of us--whether we acknowledge it in humility or deny it in prideful arrogance--are dependent on God.  We are contingent beings.  God, however, has an attribute that we don't.  It's called aseity, and it's the total opposite of contingency.  God depends on nothing, but we depend on Him entirely.  In point of fact, all of creation is contingent!  As Paul said when speaking of God the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity:

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16-17)

We are wholly dependent upon God for our existence and every good thing.  That's the same message we find in the hundreth psalm, where we read:

Make a joyful shout to YHVH, all you lands!  Serve YHVH with gladness; come before His presence with singing.  Know that YHVH, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.  For YHVH is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations. (Psalm 100:1-5)

So we have two options.  We can either model Psalm 71:6 or Psalm 14:3.  We can thank Him, or we can ignore or blaspheme Him.  I highly recommend the first.

However, let's return to the passage from Psalm 92.  As you may recall, the Psalmist said that it is good to declare God's loving kindness every morning and His faithfulness every night.  In short, it's not just an activity for the weekends and select evenings.  We're called to glorify God all day, every day.  It's part of the job description for Christians, and it's an honor to be able to serve Him.  After all, better is one day in His courts as a servant than as a ruler among the wicked (Psalm 84:10).  So here's another suggestion.  When that alarm goes off, try to make sure that when you say "God", it's followed by the words "is good", not a string of profanity.  Give thanks to Him in the morning, because He is loving and kind.  Embody the spirit of Psalm 118:24, where we read:

This is the day YHVH has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)

Give thanks to Him over breakfast, lunch, and supper, because although we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from Him (Deuteronomy 8:3), that food is still a gift from Him and is clean for us if we eat it with thanksgiving and are determined to use the energy we get from it to do His will (1 Timothy 4:4).  Give thanks to God likewise in the evening and at night, because He will never forsake you and turn His blessings from you forever.  Our God is faithful and true!

Now, in another passage, it is written:

YHVH lives!  Blessed be my Rock!  Let the God of my salvation be exalted.  It is God who avenges me and subdues peoples under me; He delivers me from my enemies.  You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have delivered me from the violent man.  Therefore I will give thanks to You, YHVH, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to Your name. (Psalm 18:46-49)

This is the song of the delivered and the redeemed.  God delivered David from a variety of enemies: Saul, the Philistines, and others.  God has also delivered Christians from enemies: monsters such as sin, death, and hell.  We have every reason to be as thankful as David was.  Now, how does David say he intends to respond to God's deliverance?  By giving thanks to Him among the Gentiles.  In these days, the Israelites were the ones who followed YHVH, the true God who created the heavens and the earth.  They were surrounded by the goyim, the Gentiles, who worshipped various pantheons.  The Canaanites who surrounded the children of Israel, for example, worshipped among others a god whom they often called Baal, meaning "lord" or "master".  In one Ugaritic text, in which they told Baal's story, we find such passages as the following:

Aliyan Baal hearkens,
He loves a heifer in Deber,
A young cow in the fields of Shechelmemet.
He lies with her seventy-seven times,
Yea, eighty-eight times,
So that she conceives
And bears Moshe.

Contrast that to the pure and holy God of Israel!  As far as YHVH is concerned, the Gentiles, by and large, were the unbelievers of the day.  Now, however, in the times of the new covenant, YHVH is worshipped in spirit and in truth (John 4:24) by both Jew and Gentile alike (Romans 9:24).  The lines of the believing and unbelieving are no longer drawn along ethnic or national borders, by the grace of God.  Yet we're certain to encounter the unbelievers of our day from time to time.  Now, the majority of them don't worship Baal or other specific pagan gods.  However, that doesn't lessen the opportunity to give thanks to God in their presence.  How seldom do many of us take the time to explicitly and verbally glorify God among them!

Moving into the Greek Scriptures, we can assuredly find much to do with thanksgiving in those wonderful words.  When Paul and Timothy wrote to the church in Colosse, they followed their benediction by saying:

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. (Colossians 1:3-5)

Why are Paul and Timothy thanking God?  It appears that they are doing so because of the Colossian Christians, whose faith in Christ and love for the whole Christian community across the entire empire was notable.  Therefore, Paul is both thanking God and praying to God on behalf of this church.  Shouldn't we take this as an example to thank God for one another?

Elsewhere, Paul admonishes Christians to:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:6-8)

Entire sermons could be written on the basis of these three verses alone!  Here, Paul gives some advice to believers on how to pray.  First up, "be anxious for nothing", that is, do not be troubled, but instead have faith in God who has promised through Paul that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).  Have faith in God, and be motivated, not of selfish desires, but out of love for one another and of an earnest desire for God's will to be done.  Next, Paul mentions that we are to make our requests known to God "in everything".  That parallels what he says in 1 Thessalonians, commanding the believers to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  We are to pray with frequency, we are to pray with faith, we are to pray in all circumstances, and finally we are to pray with thanksgiving.  For what could we give thanks?  Well, as a suggestion, how about the things on which Paul advises us to meditate?  The true, the noble, the just, the pure, the lovely, the virtuous, the praiseworthy, and that which is of good report.  In short, the things that have accord with God.  Give thanks, then, to the God who gives such rich blessings.  He has promised a great peace.

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.  Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.  Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (Colossians 4:2-6)

These are further words of Paul, exhorting the Colossians to continue praying and thanking God.  This theme of thankfulness is quite rich, and very tied to prayer in Paul's mind.  A brief discursion: Paul requests that these Christians would pray for himself and Timothy so that they would have more opportunities to preach the message of the gospel.  Shouldn't we also be praying for the evangelists and ministers of the world who labor for the kingdom?  Furthermore, shouldn't we each be spreading the word?  Absolutely.  So let us keep these words, and others of the Scriptures, in mind.  As a refresher course, what is that message?  To compile it from Paul's writings, it goes a little something like this:

As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one." (Romans 3:10-12)

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not only that, but we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11)

And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! (1 Corinthians 15:17)

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." (Romans 10:9-11)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: "The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

This is the message of the gospel that is preached so that all under heaven who place their trust in Christ and His atonement and submit to His Lordship may be saved and see the kingdom of God.  Preach it likewise.

Returning to the overall topic of giving thanks however, it may be seen that further tied to prayer and thanksgiving for Paul are these moral and ethical commands on how to live.  In addition to what we've already seen, there's another passage in his letters in which he says:

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speech be put away from you, with all malice.  And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.  Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.  And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, and offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.  But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 4:31--5:4)

Perhaps we should pause a moment to let those commandments sink in.  Imitate God's forgiveness.  Walk in love.  Be pure.  Avoid sin.  Put away wicked ways and unhealthy attitudes.  Give thanks.

Finally, I make mention of a somewhat famous verse from the epistle to the Hebrews, in which the author says:

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. (Hebrews 13:15)

Under the prior covenant, the Israelites would make a multitude of sacrifices.  Some were for sins, but others were simply offerings made to God in thanks.  Now, however, the new covenant is in effect, and rather than sacrifice material objects to Him, He desires that we offer up the fruit of our lips--our praise.  So give God praise!

Why should we be thankful, then?  Well, let me give you just a few reasons.

There is a God who loves you.  That same God created the entire universe.  He is the artist of the sunrise and sunset whose beautiful creation cries out His name.  He created you.  Every time you draw a breath, He allowed it to happen.  Every time you eat or drink, it is He who has ultimately provided for you.  Each beat of your heart is by His sustaining power.  You've been placed in a position of relative prosperity.  What gifts and talents you have are just that: gifts, and He is the Great Giver.  Even through all of the things we have done, He still loved us enough to send His Son to earth to voluntarily make the ultimate sacrifice for us and give us the greatest gift that has ever been given or ever will be given: redemption.  As the Psalms say:

Oh, give thanks to YHVH, for He is good!  For His love endures forever.  Let the redeemed of YHVH say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. (Psalm 107:1-2)

And:

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man to whom YHVH does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)

So what shall we say?  Paul's words should suffice:

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

In conclusion, be thankful.  You've been given so much, each and every one of you.  It's so easy to get lost in the trappings of day-to-day living.  But let the eyes of your heart wander up to heaven, and remember just how blessed you are.

So, then, sing praises and give thanks to the Triune Godhead, the Maker of heaven and earth, who sets us free from sin and death and promises us new creation in Christ.