Thought for July 4, 2023

 Happy Independence Day!

325: Constantine appears before the Council of Nicea--"Division in the church is worse than war."

Happy Independence Day. Today, celebrate the freedoms that we have. Thank God for providing those freedoms and for blessing our nation. Pray for our leaders to seek to please God and not man, to seek God's wisdom, to obey God's commands. Then remember our assignment--if you want to live in a Godly nation, be a Godly people. 

1803: Thomas Jefferson announces the Louisiana Purchase

1831: "My Country Tis of Thee" has its first public performance at Park Street Church, Boston, during a children's celebration of Independence Day

Born: Calvin Coolidge, George Steinbrenner

Died: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Marie Curie, Barry White

Thought:

Looking at two verses in 2 Corinthians 11 this morning. 

• 11:3--" I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." The CSB uses "cunning" instead of "craftiness" and cautions that the mind not be "seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." 
• 11:14--"Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

I need to remember today and every day that Satan does not hit me with frontal attacks in this war. He deals in lies, half-truths, deceit, cunning, trickery. His weapons are fear and doubt; his tools are of the flesh. Think back to the garden--Satan does not start his conversation with Eve with "God lied to you and cannot be trusted." He is more cunning:

• Did God really say don't eat of any tree in the garden? [Genesis 3:1] So to us he might say, "Did God really say you can have no fun? Did God really say you can have no friends?"
• You won't really die if you eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. 
• God doesn't want you to experience the fruit because it will make you like Him. 

So Satan distorts God's word, denies the consequences of God's word, and slanders God's motives. So what do we face today?

• God loves everybody, so if you condemn lifestyles inconsistent with scripture, you are hating those that practice those lifestyles contrary to God's word. Reminds me of the room motto created by my college roommate and me, "Practice makes perfect, but who is perfect, so why practice?" Had the poster on the wall. 
• The Bible writers did not have the benefit of our knowledge of science and humanity so some of the ideas in the Bible are no longer applicable or true.
• Each person has the divine living in them, so we are able to make our own rules and change them as circumstances dictate.  

You see many more cunning and crafty ways in which Satan deceives and raises doubts and fears. Now notice the end of 11:3--God's way is simple, sincere and pure--Satan wants to confuse us with complicated ideas, watered down truth. A couple of Sundays ago, we sang the hymn that sums up this passage--"Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey." Satan wants to tells us we cannot trust God, His word and His motives. So if we do not trust, then we do not need to obey. So our prayer today is "Lord, give me more faith to trust." 

Blessings

Larry