Thought for March 13, 2024

  • 1639: Cambridge College renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard
  • 1781: William Herschel discovers Uranus--thought it was a comet
  • 1868: Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson begins
  • 1877: Chester Greenwood patents earmuffs
  • 1884: U.S. adopts standard time 
  • 1900: France limits working day for women and children to 11 hours
  • 1925: Tennessee passes the Butler Bill prohibiting teaching that contradicts Genesis account--Scopes trial begins in 1926
  • 1930: Discovery of Pluto announced
  • 1935: Driving tests to qualify to drive introduced in Great Britain
  • 1943: Nazis liquidate Jewish ghetto in Krakow--Schindler saves his workers
  • 1986: Microsoft has its first public offering
  • 2004: Pavarotti performs his final opera
  • 2012: Encyclopedia Britannica stops publishing a printed version
  • 2019: U.S. grounds Boeing 737 Max after two crashes
  • 2020: Breonna Taylor killed by police executing a no-knock search
  • Born: Walter Annenberg [Reader's Digest], L Ron Hubbard, Ralph Roberts [founded Comcast], Jan Howard, Joe Bellino [Heisman from Navy], Neil Sadaka, William H Macy, Charles Krauthhammer, Jamie Dimon [JP Morgan Chase], Trent Dilfer, 
  • Died: Henry Shrapnel, Benjamin Harrison, Susan B Anthony, Clarence Darrow, Catherine "Kitty" Genovese [stabbed to death while 40 people watch and do not help], Robert C. Baker [invented chicken nugget]
Thought:
I am reading in Galatians 6 this morning. A familiar passage beginning in 6:7 and going through 6:10. Whatever you sow, that you will reap. Paul urges us to sow the seeds of the Spirit. Why? If you want to have the fruit of the Spirit from 5:22-23, you have to start with the seeds. This causes me to examine what I am sowing. Am I sowing love and joy and peace? Or, am I sowing enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, disputes and factions? What kind of seed will I plant today. Will I sow encouragement or criticism? Will I sow forgiveness or hold on to the wrongs seeking revenge or hoping that the offender will be punished? 
Someone once said if you want friends, befriend those that have no friends. This reminds me that sowing is very important. 

In 6:9, Paul addresses Christian burn-out. All the sowing that we do may not be appreciated or received well. People may take advantage of our sowing good things. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. When our sowing is not well received, we get discouraged, weary, tired. But Paul encourages us to not lose heart--our sowing will eventually bear good fruit. We might call this perseverance or endurance or keeping the faith to the end. Paul knows we will get tired because I am sure he got tired and frustrated. But he urges us to keep on sowing.

In 6:9, I see some real advice--do good [sow seeds] with all men, but especially with those of faith. We sow seeds with everyone we encounter, but the unity of the body of Christ requires that we be especially careful to sow good seeds within the body. This makes me wonder what kind of seeds I am sowing in the body--seeds leading to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness--or seeds leading to strife, disputes, jealousy and divisions. 

Lord, help me today to sow the good seeds leading to the fruit of the Spirit.

Blessings
Larry

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