Thought for November 29, 2024

  • 1864: Battle of Spring Hill TN
  •  1877: Thomas Edison demonstrates the hand-cranked phonograph
  • 1887: US receives rights to Pearl Harbor
  • 1944: First open heart surgery performed--Johns Hopkins Hospital
  • 1953: WSIX TV begins broadcasting in Nashville [ABC]
  • 1963: LBJ establishes the Warren Commission
  • 1972: Atari releases Pong in a tavern in Sunnyvale CA
  • 1987: Joe Montana completes 22 consecutive passes
  • Born: Christian Doppler, Louisa May Alcott, C.S. Lewis, Adam Clayton Powell, Vin Scully, Russell Wilson, Don Cheadle, 
  • Died: Puccini, Natalie Wood, Cary Grant, George Harrison, Henry Kissinger, Horace Greeley, Graham Hill [auto racer], Lou Groza [kicker], 
Thought:
Finishing 1 Corinthians 4 today pondering 4:20. "The kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power." We know that we read the word of God to seek the kingdom of God. And we accept the Living Word as God. So why does Paul say that the kingdom is not words but power?

To me, it seems that Paul is reminding me that being able to recite the words of scripture is not the kingdom of God. I can memorize the Bible and quote passages from memory, but that is not the kingdom of God. I can know about Jesus, recite every detail of His life and every recorded word He said, but that is not the kingdom. The kingdom is the power of God through the Holy Spirit to transform me from death to life. The power of the Spirit to guide and direct and control my thoughts and actions. The power of God evidenced in a life that is being conformed to the image of Christ. The power of God to raise Christ from the grave and to do the same for me. 

As you read the book of Acts, the kingdom is manifested in the power that allowed Peter and John to perform mighty miracles of healing and to speak, not as fishermen but as fishers of men. The power that changed Paul from persecutor of the saints to missionary. In the Old Testament, the kingdom was in the three boys walking through the fire, the lions' mouths shut, the waters of the sea parted, the crossing of the Jordan on dry land, the fall of Jericho without human intervention, the 185,000 Assyrian soldiers slain at the walls of Jerusalem, the fire called down by Elijah on Mt. Carmel. God is omnipotent.

But the kingdom is also the power for Jesus to say, "Father forgive them." The power for us to love and forgive. The power to change our thoughts and attitudes. The kingdom is the evidence of the presence and power of God. 

Lord, we want to change from hearers of the word to doers--and that requires the power of Your kingdom.
Blessings 
Larry

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