Thought for August 18, 2023

•  1872: First mail order catalogue--A.M. Ward
• 1894: Bureau of Immigration created
• 1909: Mayor of Tokyo sends 2000 cherry trees to President Taft who plants them along the Potomac
• 1920: Harry Burn casts deciding vote as Tennessee approves the 19th amendment--woman's suffrage. Tennessee's approval ratified the amendment.
• 1968: James Meredith is the first black graduate of the University of Mississippi
• Born: Antonio Salieri, Virginia Dare [first English birth in America], Meriwether Lewis, Rosalyn Carter, Robert Redford, Shelley Winters, Roberto Clemente
• Died: Walter Chrysler, Elmer Bernstein, Genghis Khan, 

Thought:

Finishing 1 Thessalonians this morning reading 5:12-22. As with most of his letters, Paul ends with some applications for life---instructions for living.

• Appreciate  and esteem in love your leaders in the Lord. [5:12-13] We should pray daily for our pastors, elders, leaders of the faith. Pray for those that write Christian books and produce Christian movies. Pray for those who write the songs we sing and play the music that inspires and encourages us.
• Live in peace with one another. Forgive. To the extent it depends on you, be at peace with all. 
• Admonish the unruly. Direct someone toward those things that need correcting. Some of the best things ever done for me was for people who love me to direct me to think about areas that needed attention, correction.
• Encourage the fainthearted and help the weak. I have learned that part of the time I am called to encourage those who are down, defeated, hurting, confused. And sometimes I need someone to encourage me. Similarly, we are called to help the weak. Too often I think about people who are physically or financially weak who need help. But I need to think more often about those who are spiritually weak, easily misled, subject to attacks of fear, anxiety, doubt. 
• Be patient. One of the fruit of the Spirit. Interesting that God places this after telling us to live in peace, encourage the fainthearted and help the weak. Why? Because these things are not short assignments---living in peace requires patience with others. And being an encourager and helper requires patient endurance.
• Don't repay evil for evil, but seek after what is good for each other. Well, I understand the first part, don't seek revenge, don't get even, don't respond in kind; but rather, respond as Christ responds, in love and grace and mercy. What about the second part. Here is the proactive requirement--I can't just not get even, I must seek to do good for the person. Think about the Beatitudes--love those that mistreat you; do good to those that despitefully use you. I can't be neutral, I must respond with good. 
• Rejoice always--live in a state of joy. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I look for the good in every situation [no I don't but I should]. 
• Pray without ceasing--a constant communication with the Lord--always listening for that small, still voice. And we know that if I am to do the things listed above--prayer is essential.
• Give thanks in everything--that certainly requires prayer. But in every situation I look for reasons to thank God. 
• Do not quench the Spirit. The Bible pictures God as fire--a refining fire. Quench means to douse, dampen, put out, extinguish. So Lord, don't let me douse the fire of the Spirit by ignoring His call, by avoiding His voice, by limiting His access to my heart and soul and mind. 
• Hold fast to the good and abstain from evil. I think immediately about the dog with the bone who looks into the river and sees another dog with a bone. The dog opens his mouth to grab the other dog's bone only to find his bone lost in the river. This verse reminds me that I must be active--active in holding on to the good and active in getting rid of the bad. 

There is a line in one of the prayers in "Valley of Vision" that seems applicable today: "Keep me walking steadfastly towards the country of everlasting delights, that paradise-land which is my true inheritance." 

Blessings

Larry