Thought for August 26, 2023

•  1498: Michelangelo commissioned to create the "Pieta."
• 1682: Edmund Halley first observes his comet
• 1874: 16 African American men seized from the Gibson County jail in Trenton Tennessee by mob of 80 white men. The prisoners were accused of shooting at two white men. Six prisoners were found riddled with bullets and the others at the bottom of the river--assailants never identified.
• 2016: Colin Kaepernick kneels during the National Anthem
• Born: Albert Sabin, Mother Teresa, Bradford Marsalis, Macaulay Culkin
• Died: Andrew Mellon, Charles Lindbergh, Ted Knight, Neil Simon

Thought:

Reading Second Timothy 2: 11-13 as I finish the week. Here are truths that I need to remember every day:

• Living with Jesus means dying with Jesus. I want all the riches of living with and for Jesus, but sometimes want to avoid the dying part--dying to self---sacrificing my wants and desires and conforming to His. 
• Reigning with Jesus means enduring with Him. I want to get the prize without waiting or enduring. All of us have this problem--we want to get to dessert without eating our broccoli. Waiting patiently on the Lord is difficult for me--I get tempted to get ahead of the Lord, to take a short cut, to rethink the goal. 
• Denying Him means getting denied. This is tough--when do I deny Christ--when I disobey, when I give a poor example, when I don't evidence the fruit of the Spirit. 
• Praise God--when I am faithless, He is faithful. Every promise is true. He does not change even when I sin. So even when I deny and fail, He is faithful to forgive. If I confess my sin, He is faithful and just to forgive my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. 

Can you think of many other clearer statements of how we should live than these---die to self and really live; endure to the end and get the crown of life; don't deny Jesus by word or deed, commission or omission; and no matter what---He is faithful. 

Blessings

Larry