Thought for November 13, 2023

•  619: Second Council of Seville allows hymns not taken directly from scripture to be sung
• 1644: Massachusetts passes a law banishing Baptists--"troublers of churches"
• 1789: Ben Franklin says, "Nothing certain but death and taxes."
• 1902: Joseph Conrad publishes "Heart of Darkness"
• 1952: False fingernails sold for the first time
• 1979: Ronald Reagan announces his candidacy for President
• 1982: Vietnam War Memorial Wall opens listing 58,000 killed or missing
• Born: St. Augustine, Robert Louis Stevenson, Louis Brandeis, 
• Died: Thomas Chippendale, Edward Mote ["My Hope is Built on Nothing Less"], Francis Thompson ["Hound of Heaven"], Karen Silkwood

Thought:

Edward Mote was born into poverty to parents who would not allow a Bible in their house--yest somehow he heard the gospel and became a Christian as a teen. He was a carpenter by trade. One day he wrote four verses and put the paper in his pocket. A week later he was visiting his pastor whose wife was dying. Edward pulled the verses from his pocket and sang to her. His pastor wanted a copy for his wife to keep so Edward had several copies printed. Now we sing "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." Makes you wonder how some lost people find Jesus--He finds them. Francis Thompson realized this truth when he wrote "Hound of Heaven." The poem was published in 1893:

• R.H. Gammel painted a series of 23 paintings based on the poem
• The Supreme Court quoted a line from the poem in its second Brown v. Board of Education decision.
• Michael Card wrote a song based on the poem in 1981.
• If you read "The Gospel According to Peanuts", the fifth chapter is titled "Hound of Heaven"
• John Stott begins his book, "Why I am A Christian" saying that his conversion was the result of pursuit by the Hound of Heaven
• Fox News Commentator Kristin Powers explains her journey from atheist to agnostic to devout Christian-- "the Hound of Heaven pursued and caught me."

Thought:

I am reading 1 John 5 this morning. My attention is on the first part of verse 2. In my translation it says, "by this we know." I have placed brackets around that phrase. Here it says that we know we love the children of God when we love God and observe His commandments. Think about the corollary, by this we know we love God and keep His commandments when we love the children of God. If I really love God, I keep His commandments. And Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself. So if I say I love God and do not love the children of God, I don't really love God. Loving one another is evidence of our love for God.

Now look at verse 3. Loving God means I keep His commandments. We demonstrated our love for our parents by obeying them. And our children demonstrated their love for us by obeying us. When I think back, I am amazed how many times I thought or said to my parents, if you loved me you would let me do ________________ or go _________________. I had it backwards. If I loved them, I would demonstrate that love by doing what they asked. Same with the Father. Think back to the Garden--the serpent really is saying to Adam and Eve, God doesn't love you because He holds back the fruit of the tree. The answer was if they love God, they keep His commandments. 

Notice that John now adds, the commandments are not burdensome. Well, there goes all my excuses. I cannot say "it was too difficult," "it was no fun," or "it makes me look different." His commands are not burdensome--but they are impossible in my strength. Without the power of the indwelling Spirit, I have no chance of keeping the commandments. And even then, I am like Paul--the things I want to do I don't do, and the very things I hate, I do. 

Lord, help us today to keep Your commandments--loving God and loving God's children. We want to, but we are weak. Help us. 

Blessings

Larry