Some say that seeing is believing. However, we are not always as smart as we think we are. Sometimes what we see could be an illusion. We think we see the right road or the right action only to find out later that we were led into a ditch. The gospel allows us to see with greater vision. We no longer live like the blind leading the blind. We can see clearly as we place our trust in Jesus.

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Some say that seeing is believing. However, we are not always as smart as we think we are. Sometimes what we see could be an illusion. We think we see the right road or the right action only to find out later that we were led into a ditch. The gospel allows us to see with greater vision. We no longer live like the blind leading the blind. We can see clearly as we place our trust in Jesus. 

To some people Christmas is just another holiday in the long list of holidays. To others it is an opportunity to make sales quotas. Christmas can mean a lot of different things depending on one's point of view. What might be God's point of view? God has given us his view of Christmas as recorded in Scripture. Here it is: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" – which means – "God with us" (Matthew 1:22-23).

God has placed a miraculous calling on all believers. God has called us to wholesome thinking. We are to gird up our minds to reflect the very wisdom of God. God has also called us to wholesome living. We are to live our lives in a way that corresponds to God's will. One day God's will, will be fulfilled at the return of Christ.

With all this in mind, we are then called to a wholesome vision. We are called to see this world in the way God sees this world. We will be motivated by what matters to God. It can be easy to get carried away by the pattern of this world's vision so that we might lose sight of God's plan. God's plan is salvation while there is still time.

God has a very real purpose for our lives that we should not forget. Peter wants to remind us and stimulate us toward wholesome thinking. Wholesome thinking will become wholesome living as we await the end of the age. Peter alerts us to God's view of time – a thousand years is like a day, and a day is like a thousand years. In other words, God sees time with an eternal perspective.

Peter challenges us: "…what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives" (2 Peter 3:11). We all live in God's gift of time. Time will soon be no more. As we answer God's calling on our lives perhaps he will use us to rescue others. In the meantime, may we work and pray so that others may be rescued out of this world while there is still time.

Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment in the Law. He answered by referring to the Hebrew "Shema" which means "hear" or "listen." God's people were commanded to pay attention. (Deuteronomy 6:4). So, Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).

Sometimes skeptics will use the false argument that, with religion, we are asked not to use our minds. The Apostle Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit (not religion) to help us use our  minds in a way that would honor God.  "Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking" (2 Peter 3:1). All believers have a calling to pursue such thinking. 

George Washington gave us what was called "The Thanksgiving Proclamation." It was given in 1789 and backed by both Houses of Congress. The Thanksgiving Proclamation concluded with these words: To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

We were not perfect then and we are not perfect now. It is not about being perfect, but having the humility and wisdom to recognize our need for God. It's not the economy that will save us unless it is God's economy. It is not the environment that will save us unless it is God's environment. Let's all pray for another Great Awakening to spread across our nation. God's healing and blessing will spread to all people in a blanket "of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best."  

There are many times in life where discouragement seems to rule the day. We feel under siege. Our hearts are weighed down by feelings of doubt and depression. It may be of no surprise to any of us that this seems to be the way it is sometimes for our human nature. We can get down and out. 

King David was anointed by God in a powerful way. But even with all that anointing and power, David still struggled with his own sin nature. In the midst of David's struggles, he was able to forge some mighty weapons of warfare. These weapons are called the Psalms. God himself would encourage us by pleading with us, "Please, take up my Word, 'The Sword of the Spirit' and go to battle. Victory is within your arm's reach." Let us reach into God's scabbard and pull out Psalm 6.

God's plan for his creation has not changed. Marriage is not our institution to change. It belongs to God alone. The more we submit to God's plan, the more blessed our lives will be. The evidence of this truth surrounds us. There is also evidence of the opposite. The blessing of God will evaporate as we remove God's guiding hand from our lives. This is true for an individual and for a nation.

Those who struggle with God's ways are given the means of repentance. Repentance is turning back to God. A truly repentant person will not mock God's ways. Blessing will enter the lives of all who submit to God. And this blessing will then spread to cover our land. We will discover the miracle of marriage according to God's plan.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that something is desperately wrong with this world. If it were only a matter of brain surgery, then maybe we could do something about it. The problem is spiritual and there is no human solution. Human intelligence misses the diagnosis all together. And if the diagnosis is missed, the cure will also be missed.

God created the world and, by his own assessment, declared what he made to be "very good" (Genesis 1:31). Sin entered the world and made things very bad. The fact that we all die is merely a symptom of a larger illness that affects all mankind. That illness is sin and with sin comes death. But God is love. In his love he will bring justice to bear on all that is wrong. God will make all things right by joining HIS love with HIS justice.