Latest Thoughts of the Day

Hebrews 2:15

4/26/2024

...and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Many people think it is brave to pretend you are not afraid, but fear of death goes deeper than our thoughts and imaginings. Reflexes built into us as animal creatures recoil at danger. Preserving life is an instinct. Battling destruction comes naturally. It becomes a philosophical problem because man is more than an animal. Man sees the incongruity of death. It strikes him as somehow wrong. He can’t avoid it, but he can’t accept it. It all produces a bondage that he cannot shake. Jesus took humanity upon Himself and died. He conquered death by rising again. Those who trust in Him have settled with death and are afraid no more. We have passed from death to life. Our sins are paid for, and joy awaits us in heaven. Thank You, Jesus.

Philemon 9

4/25/2024

...yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I, then, as Paul, an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus--

It is very important to Paul that Philemon make the right decision concerning accepting back his runaway slave, Onesimus, but he really does not want him to make it for the wrong reason. Paul is unwilling simply to order the outcome of the dispute. But it seems that Paul is willing to make use of a host of other reasons. Personal pity for Paul as an old man in jail is here submitted as a possible influence. Social obligations and past experiences can figure in. It seems that the only thing it can’t be is simply an order from above. Many things work together to help us show grace to one another. All are pictures of the grace we have received in Jesus.

Titus 2:13

4/24/2024

...while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ...

Blessed hope, glorious appearing, great God! Paul thus characterizes the attitude of mind that enables a Christian to press on for Jesus through a turbulent world. Our personal happiness is linked to this coming of Jesus. We have a happy hope, touching our hearts with a special personal joy. It is almost an understatement to say “glorious”, because of the overwhelming majesty and wonder of that day. We will see Him as the Great God, displayed at His most wonderful when He shows Himself as the Savior of His people. The glories of everything we see in God’s astonishing creation are destined to pass away, but the redeemed will shine for all eternity. He is a great God and Savior. Paul displays these things as reason to live for Jesus.

2 Timothy 2:11

4/23/2024

Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him we will also live with Him;...

This is the first of a four-part declaration, and each part in itself is a truth. Jesus calls us to die to self and live in Him. Baptism pictures this death, burial and resurrection with Christ to newness of life. Jesus gives us the picture of the vine and the branches and affirms that by virtue of our union with Him we experience eternal life. He declares that because He lives, we shall live also. He warns us that he that would save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for Jesus’ sake will find it. If we died with Him, we will also live with Him. Thank You, Lord, for the reality you brought to pass in our lives when we entrusted our lives to Jesus.

1Timothy 3:4

4/22/2024

He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.

Paul is telling Timothy what to look for as he evaluates the members of a church in order to discern leadership gifts that God has given to some. Leadership gifts will show themselves in everyday relationships carried on in the home. Does a man’s family respect his leadership? Do his children behave in a way that shows this? There is always help to be had in the church of Christ when a family is struggling, but one doesn’t expect a man who cannot rule his own family to take on the larger task of overseeing the church. Lord, help us to be faithful in our personal lives, that we may, by Your grace, take on greater responsibilities in the church. Make us all people that can bring glory to Jesus.

2 Thessalonians 2:17

4/21/2024

...encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Paul has just said that through grace God has given us encouragement and good hope. He goes on to pray that God will encourage us. It reminds us that God’s dealing in our lives was not a once-and-for-all dealing that packs up our reserve of grace for us to spend at our own discretion. God’s dealing in us is a point and a line. He enters our life as we are brought to repentance and faith, and He continues in our life as we live by repentance an faith. He has done the work in us. He is doing the work in us. We thank Him that He has given us everything. We look to Him to keep giving every day until we reach the goal of our salvation and behold the face of Jesus.

I Thessalonians 2:19

4/20/2024

For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you?

The Thessalonians occupy a very special place in the mind and heart of Paul, as he thinks back to the way they received the message of the Gospel when he first came to them. There was a large-scale repentance, an enthusiastic turning from their sins, and a life-transforming response to Paul’s preaching in that place. He ever after longed for that kind of response when he preached in a new place. He felt personally honored by their response. He expected that they would continue to be in a special place in his heart until Jesus came to raise them from the dead or to transform those remaining alive at the time of His return. All Hail King Jesus!

Colossians 1:29

4/19/2024

To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

God only gives us as much energy as the bodies He has given us can exert. None of us is a Super-hero. But Paul knows that all the energy he has comes from God, and as he uses it for God’s glory, he wants from the heart that all the glory will go to God. Most of us are willing from time to time to pat ourselves on the back and say to ourselves, “good going!” Our society even thinks this is a good thing, because our society thinks that feeling good about oneself is important. Paul, by example as well as by precept really does give all the glory to God. He struggles with God’s energy, which God is using in him to accomplish God’s purposes for the glory of Jesus.