Thought for March 4

 History:

  • 1628: Royal Charter issued to Massachusetts Bay Colony
  • 1681: William Penn receives charter for Pennsylvania
  • 1789: First Congress meets and declares Constitution effective
  • 1801: Jeffereson is first President inaugurated in Washington
  • 1863: Battle of Thompson Station TN
  • 1877: World premier of "Swan Lake"
  • 1902: AAA founded
  • 1989: Pyramid at the Louvre open
  • 2012: Putin wins election amid claims of voter fraud
  • Born: Antonio Vivaldi, Karl Bayer, Charles Goren [bridge], Charles Walgreen, Paula Prentiss, Rick Perry, Draymond Green
  • Died: Alexander Campbell [[started the movement that became Disciples of Christ and Church of Christ], Daniel Whittle ["I Know Whom I Have Believed" "Moment by Moment", and "There Shall Be Showers of Blessing"], Hank Gathers, Christian Nelson [Eskimo Pie], John Candy, Minnie Pearl, Harold Stassen, Pat Conroy, Luke Perry
Thought:
Continuing to look at the Beatitudes this morning. I know you are like me and want God's blessings in your life. I am trying to be humble and recognize who I am and who He is daily, to mourn over my sin and the lost, seeking forgiveness, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful and pure in heart. As I try to follow these characteristics and evidence them in my life, I find it is tough, difficult, impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit. So even my attempts to receive God's blessings reuire me to acknowledge that without Him, i am unable and unworthy. 
  • You may have noticed that I skipped over God blesses the gentle. I have a serious problem here. This word is used for "tamed" or "domesticated".  Some have said that we get gentile from this word, meaning to act like royalty and specifically the King. I find myself reading James and his description of the tongue--no one can tame the tongue [James 3:8]. And I have trouble taming mine and being tamed. In the Beatitudes, I think the thought is for me to be submissive to the Spirit and to Christ. Dying to my wants and desires so that His thoughts can control. Some translations use the word "meek" here, one who is quietly obedient. The blessing is an inheritance. so what I understand is that if I want to receive an inheritance, I need to be quietly obedient to the King, I need to be gentile like the King, I need to allow the King to tame and domesticate me so that I follow His instructions and commands. 
  • God blesses the peacemakers. Notice the blessing--called sons of God. Makes perfect sense. God's Son is the Prince of Peace--He came to break down the enmity between God and man, purchasing peace with His blood. He gives peace, a peace that passes understanding. Now if I want to be an adopted son or daughter, if I want to be a brother or sister in Christ, I must be a peacemaker too. I must evidence the peace of the Spirit [Galatians 5 22] and I must be a messeger/ambassador of peace by sharing the Gospel. So far as it depends on me, I try to be at peace with all people. 
  • God blesses those who are persecuted for His name or for acting for righteousness sake. No, this is not persecution for my doing wrong or evil, this is persecution for doing good in Jesus name. We say, "no good deed goes unpunished." Here Jesus reminds us that we will be persecuted and defamed for following Him--why? Because the prophets were persecuted for telling the truth and He was persecuted for being the Truth. So if we tell the truth about Him and have the Truth living in us, we expect the world to reject us and persecute us. But while the world persecutes, Jesus blesses--How? By making us citizens of His Kingdom--for we are aliens here. His kingdom is not of this world. We are part of His eternal kingdom, a kingdom that we pray will come on earth as it is in heaven. And when it does, O what a blessing. 
Today, Lord continue to tame me to obey and follow Your commands with joy; help me be an instrument of Your peace; and when persecution comes, give me strength to face it just as You did with faith and confidence in the Father and His kingdom. 
Blessings
Larry

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for July 19

History: 1553: Lady Jane Gray deposed after 9 days 1692: 5 people hung during Salem Witch Trials 1848: First women's rights convention -Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls NY 1910: Cy Young wins his 500th game 1941: US Army flying school at Tuskegee AL dedicated 1945: USS Cod saves 51 sailors from Dutch sub--only sub-to-sub rescue 1957: Firing of first rocket with nuclear warhead-Nevada 1984: Geraldine Ferraro is first major party female VP candidate 1996: Olympics open in Atlanta 2007: Madmen debuts 2018: Duck Boat sinks in Table Rock Lake killing 17 Born: Samuel Colt, Edgar Degas [painter], Lizzie Borden, Charles Mayo [Mayo Clinic], George McGovern, Al Haig, George Hamilton IV, Vikki Carr, Ilie Nastase, Stuart Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch,  Died: Syngman Rhee [President South Korea], Clyde Beatty [circus animal trainer], Mary Jo Kopechne [passenger with Ted Kennedy], Jack Warden, Frank McCourt [Angela's Ashes], James Garner, Garry Marshall
Read more

Thought for November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving!  1664: Blaise Pascal is converted following a vision. He wrote the date and time of his conversion and said, "Fire. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Not of philosophers and intellectuals. Certitude, certitude, joy, peace. The God of Jesus Christ." Laid the foundation for the law of probabilities; genius in hydrodynamics and hydrostatics developing Pascal's principle of pressure; taught the experience of God through the heart rather than reason; mathematician and philosopher. 1783: Annapolis Maryland becomes U.S. Capitol until June 1784 1863: Patent for making color photographs granted 1889: First jukebox debuts in Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco 1897: Pencil sharpener patented 1904: Summer Olympics in St. Louis close [1st Olymics in U.S.] 1921: President Harding signs an Act prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes 1923: Cecil B. DeMille's first "The Ten Commandments" premiers
Read more

Thought for April 5, 2024

1722: Easter Island discovered 1792: First Presidential veto 1815: Mt. Tambora erupts. Largest eruption ever witnessed. Created year without summer in 1816--frost and snow in North America in June and July. Largest part of eruption on April 10th. Killed 10,000 in initial blast.  1906: Mt. Vesuvius erupts killing 100 1923: Firestone begins producing inflatable tires 1936: Tupelo almost completely destroyed by a tornado--216 die 1972: Baseball strike costs 86 games 2063: On "Star Trek", earth has its first contact with the Vulcan species Born: Thomas Hobbes, Joseph Lister, Booker T Washington, Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Arthur Hailey. Gale Storm, Frank Gorshin, Colin Powell, Pharrell Williams Died: Robert Raikes [Sunday School], Douglas MacArthur, Howard Hughes, Abe Fortas, Sam Walton, Allen Ginsberg, Saul Bellow, Charlton Heston, Honor Blackman Thought: Reading Daniel 1:5-7 this morning. Continuing with the thoughts about Nebuchadnezzar's plan. Having brough
Read more