Latest Thoughts of the Day

James 4:9

12/7/2025

Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

People by nature laugh and party and joke in order to keep from thinking about the danger of their condition, the emptiness of their thoughts and the stupidity of their merriment. James is telling them to wake up. Take seriously your offense toward God, realize that His wrath is genuine, be depressed for a moment in order to be real. Humble is what you ought to be, considering your actual situation. Coimmon sense and your own conscience can tell you that. Repent and turn to the One who reaches out to you in mercy. Humble yourself, and He will lift you up. Lord, may Your Holy Spirit move our hearts as we listen to the words of Your apostle! Thank You for this realistic challenge, and for the wonderful promise it conveys, Lord Jesus.

Hebrews 7:7

12/6/2025

And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.

Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek is mysterious to us , but it seems to have been very clear to the people involved. The rightness of giving a tithe of the booty to this personage and the value of the blessing this priest conveyed is clear to the participants, and becomes axiomatic to us. The one who blesses is in a higher position, spiritually, than the one who is blessed. We take that position with regard to one another when we bless one another in Jesus’s Name. We stand between Jesus and them as an intercessor and we long to be a mediator of His blessing upon the one to whom we speak. We step into God’s presence on their behalf and entreat that He send forth His blessing. As a priest, we pray for the blessing of Jesus.

Philemon 12

12/5/2025

I am sending him--who is my very heart--back to you

Philemon’s runaway slave had come to Christ under Paul and had become very useful as a helper in Paul’s ministry. But the social and legal obligation the slave now faced had to be set right, and it proved a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the effect that the Gospel has upon those who believe. The social order that promotes slavery should be challenged. The personal cost of following Christ could be demonstrated from several angles. Philemon’s dilemma could find parallels in many rich men in his day and continue in influence for centuries to come. God made Paul see the importance and gave him wisdom to approach a touchy subject carefully. We learn from him and from Philemon and from Onesimus as well, all of them with a sincere desire to please and glorify their Lord Jesus.

Titus 2:11

12/4/2025

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

Two thousand year before Paul lived God had chosen from among men one man through whom He would carry on his dealings with all of mankind. This man would become a great nation and through him, all nations would be blessed. Politics would have a role in God’s dealings, and God would raise up one and put down another. God continues to direct the political world to accomplish His ends, but the wonderful reality is that out of every nation God is now drawing men and women, boys and girls, to Himself. Salvation comes to all individually and eternally through grace and by means of faith. Each person will hear the message in a language he understands and will surrender his personal life to God. All will become sons of God through faith in Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:1

12/3/2025

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

The Apostle Paul knew that he was living in the last days, but probably did not realize that they would extend for over two thousand years. The Last Days have to do with the way God is dealing with sinful men up to the time that Jesus comes again. Repentance toward sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way that men will be saved from the terrible judgment of Hell. Human distinctions between nations and peoples are not particularly important. Men and women, boys and girls are called individually to the Savior and are received entirely by grace through faith. All the old pressures and troubles will continue and increase, and God’s people will face times of terrible isolation and rejection, but their help and strength will continue to be Jesus.

1 Timothy 4;11

12/2/2025

Command and teach these things.

The life directives that God has given to us in the Word of God are not there simply for our information. We are not to be experts in what God wants mankind to do—we are to be proficient in doing it. “These things command and teach”. Lord, grant us an attitude of heart that receives Your Word in such a way! Work in us an inclination to be more than hearers of the word. It will involve taking seriously what You desire for our lives and setting ourselves to bring it to pass, as You grant us the strength. “Your will, not mine, O Lord!” It is right for us to regard Your word in this way, O Lord. Our Savior lived this way for us. Grant us the grace that will help us actually be more like the Lord Jesus.

2 Thessalonians 2:12

12/1/2025

...and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth, but have delighted in wickedness.

The Apostle Paul speaks of those who refuse to love the truth, but take pleasure in wickedness. They are willing to be deceived by the Deceiver, willing to submit to the Man of Sin, rejoicing in the success of wickedness over the righteousness of God displayed in Christ. Even those of us who are willing to say, “such were some of us” realize that we weren’t that bad. God preserved within us a witness of His Spirit, restraining our absolute commitment to that which is evil. Some scrap of desire for goodness yet remained, and ere it be blown out, He wonderfully saved us by His grace. We were teetering on the edge of abandonment by God, but God did not want us to perish, and he sent Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 4:14

11/30/2025

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.

Believers alive in Paul’s day are afraid that loved ones who died before Jesus comes back will somehow miss out on the blessings they are hoping for in Christ. Paul’s words here reassure them that God is entirely prepared for this. The spirits of Christians who die before Jesus returns are kept safe in heaven and will accompany Jesus when He comes. All bodies will arise, be joined to their spirits, all alive will be changed in a twinkling of an eye, and all will attain perfection in the same moment of time. The anxiety of these dear ones was the occasion for Paul to reveal what is very relevant for us today. Our hope is theirs. Together we look for Jesus.