This line also gives a path to becoming a grateful person or a person who exhibits the virtue of gratitude.  First, it begins with realizing that life itself, no matter what the quality of that life may be, is a gift from God.  God created us and loved us.  If we have learned anything about God as humans, it is that God does what he wants.  Evidently he wants us- which is crazy to think about in itself.  The path towards being a grateful person is first to realize that you did noting to deserve life at all, let alone to be judge of the one who gave it to you for making it either “good” or “bad”.  Then, we must not take anything as expected – we are not entitled to anything. At all.

After we have stripped ourselves of the fact that we were helpless in the matter of our own creation and that therefore we simply cannot deserve anything, we are free to see how worthy we are simply because God chooses us.  He chooses humanity and humans, even killing himself to do it.  So how do we thank him?

Chesterton said that we thank him for beer and (wine) by not drinking too much of it.  For some, that might mean not drinking them at all.  We can thank God for our blessings of abundance by not eating too much and by sharing with others that are going without.  We can be grateful for his faithfulness to us as his people by being faithful to our own commitments.  We are grateful for his forgiveness when we forgive others.  We are grateful for his discipline when we accept it ourselves or we learn how to properly correct each other.We are grateful for someone bringing us food by tipping. etc.

The list goes on and on.  If you would, please leave a comment about one way you have learned to show gratitude.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

6And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.

7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

Evidently Paul is trying to tell the people in the church about the way the end times are going to go down.  He is talking about the “man of lawlessness” or “son of destruction” that will come (in other words the Antichrist).  There is some power, force, or energy that Paul assume the Thessalonians know about that is “restraining”.

What or who is the restrainer?  People say all sorts of things.  Like, such as: Ronald Reagan, the Roman Empire, government in general, the Holy Spirit, specific angels, the spread of the Gospel to ever people group, the separation or combination of the Church and stat(es), a general spirit of Obedience, etc.

I took a break from my reading and from going over a paper I wrote a few years back on the subject to take a shower.  When I came back, Snickers was sleeping on my Bible.  It clicked.  My cat is keeping the man of lawlessness in check.

Sorry for being such a dork.  Read your Bible and talk about it.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

I didn’t spend much time studying James as a part of my courses at Taylor (I can only remember one time, and that was really about the controversy involving Martin Luther and sola fide).  When I started to spend time in it recently I really wasn’t expecting to find (that much) new content.  wrong.

That words of the book have not changed (in fact the notes I took in the margins during high school are still in my Bible). So why does it seem so….new?

Never before did I truly consider myself rich and when I read the Bible. I thought that this term referred to people like Oprah, Donald Trump, or Bill Gates.  FACT: If you have means of reading this post, you are probably rich too.

Isn’t it crazy how I am have read those 5 chapters probably 100+ times and have still missed so much of what it actually says?

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

“Son, there are two forces in the world– Goodness and Badness. You need to decide which you want to be. Do you want to be good?” – Judge Smails to Spalding. (close-enough paraphrase).

The difference between being overwhelmed by badness and being an agent of goodness is a matter of perception.  You can look at the world at find as much badness as you like, but this is not a good way to look at it.  A better way is to see the badness as opportunity for goodness to do its work, or for us to do goodness.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

The article also challenges the ideal of family.  It implies that the family is more of a means to and end (support for activity with the C(c)hurch) than an end (insular place of rest to be gaurded).  Something to chew on there.

To me it comes down to this: whether married or single celibate are you living your life for the glory of God?

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Where should it go? Where do you give to? How do I get there? What are the biggest needs?

Comment so we can spotlight some places that could use it.