For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I want to encourage everyone who reads this blog to work on reading the Bible regularly, whether it is to work your way completely through it, or some other method of disciplining yourself to read from the Bible each day.
If you want to change the way things work, you will need patience. The United States celebrates Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November because Sarah Joseph Hale campaigned for 17 years to get it established as a national holiday. She wrote to President after President until she finally convinced President Lincoln to support legislation creating such the national Holiday. William Wilberforce began campaigning in the British Parliament for the abolition of slavery in 1789. It was not until three days before his death in 1826 that Parliament passed the law abolishing slavery in that nation.
It is by the soft and gentle words inspired in us by the Holy Spirit that we are able to overcome strong and determined opposition.
I saw a video the other day where a speaker said that you will not succeed until you desire success more than you desire to breath. That is probably true. The psalmist would probably agree. Here the psalmist says that he desires being in God’s presence more than anything else. Do I desire to serve God more than I desire to breath? Do you? Am I willing to sacrifice everything I have, my very life, for just a single day in God’s presence? I pray that the Holy Spirit give me that desire. How far are we willing to go to serve the Lord? Will I give up sleep? Will I suffer pain? Oh Lord, give the desire to do Your will to the point where I will give up everything else and suffer anything in order to accomplish it.
Paul addresses those who claim that Jesus has already returned. He tells us not to believe them, since Jesus will not return until after the “man of lawlessness” is revealed. He tells us that before Christ’s return there will be a great rebellion against God, accompanied by the “man of lawlessness”. Paul tells us that this man will exalt himself above and defy everything that people call god and everything which they worship. He will claim to actually be God. This man will do the work of Satan with counterfeit power, signs, and miracles.
As I read this passage, part of me thinks that Paul was not about a single individual, but rather about different people who have arisen throughout history. I could see Adolf Hitler fulfilling this description, except I do not recall any accounts of him performing miracles, signs, and wonders. However, his followers fulfilled the part about refusing to love and accept the truth. There are many people like that. Those who refuse to accept the truth will be deceived and choose to accept lies. I am convinced that the man of lawlessness to whom Paul refers is a single individual who will arise at some point in the future (perhaps the very near future). Yet, Paul is also talking about an archetype who appears time and again throughout history. Men who rise up and do great evil because those who refuse to accept God’s truth follow them instead of following Christ. We, however, have been chosen by God to experience His salvation. Let us hold firmly to the teachings of the Spirit which convey that salvation. We must be on guard, because, while we may not live in the time of the man of lawlessness which Paul refers to, we do live in a time of lawlessness when many people refuse to accept God’s truth.
Jeremiah speaks of prophets whom God proclaims that He did not send. God tells us that He gave these prophets no message. Yet if they had wished to come to Him and listen, He would have given them His words to speak. It reminds us that at every time in history, men rise up who want to receive the glory and honour due someone who speaks for God, but do not wish to dedicate the time and effort to hear God’s message. Some of them start genuinely attempting to serve God and become distracted by the bright lights and glory. Others seek out the bright light and glory and never care about serving God at all.
The way to recognize all of them is that they do not call people away from sin, instead they tell lies which lead people into ever more sin. Jeremiah tells us not to believe those who say, “This is a message from the Lord.” Too many people use that phrase to preface something that is their own thought or idea. It is good to ask, “What is the Lord’s answer?” or “What is the Lord’s message?” But our answer to those questions should be something along the lines of, “Well, it seems to me,…” rather than “The Lord’s message is…” Let us humbly remember that we are fallible people and what seems to be God’s message to us may only be our own thoughts and ideas.
