David Bahn - Reflections

Starting with thanks is proper, good, right, and salutary. We say it in the communion liturgy: It is good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks go you Holy God..." Good: beneficial, blessing, and edifying. Right: proper, appropriate, and decent. Salutary: beneficial, up-building, and confirming.

One of the condemning failures of sinful man is a failure to Give thanks to God. "Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him," says Paul in Romans 1:21. Praise is proper. It puts things in perspective. It honors God. It puts problems in perspective. We properly start with praise and thanks to God for his grace to us and his work in others. It's the right thing to do.

God sets us aside for his special care. He sets us aside for focused attention when we pray. He sets us aside for his glory and our good.

One of my favorite ways to pray for someone is to ask God to set aside the person for his special attention and care. It’s a way of raising the level of attention and care toward one in need. And the promise here is that God is faithful. He will surely do this: setting us aside because of his love and for our eternal joy, peace, blessing, and glory when Jesus Christ returns.

When I fail, it's not because I want to be a rule breaker. It's because of the weakness of my flesh. I get distracted. I occupy my time with less important or noble things. I don't slow down enough to recognize the need or sense the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes I skid right off the runway into the mire of sin.

One earmark of evil is a refusal to acknowledge our own sinfulness. From that we must surely always abstain.

This is why I hold fast to what is good. That would be God and his word. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 107:1). And we must not ever forget the GOOD NEWS of God's love shown in Jesus Christ. The prompting of the Holy Spirit will lead us to acknowledge our sin and need for God's mercy. The prompting of the Holy Spirit will turn us to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. The prompting of the Holy Spirit will bring us to faith. That's truly GOOD NEWS. The prompting of the Holy Spirit will move us to share that GOOD NEWS with others whenever the opportunity arises.

When God's people are committed to God's mission, to prayer, seeking God's help, looking for his will to be done, and rejoicing in his grace and goodness, there is very little opportunity to quarrel and bicker. Peace flows like a river through such a congregation. If I'm a part of that, then my heart is at peace as well.

Focus on the mission. Be constant in prayer. Seek the Holy Spirit's influence. This is the pathway to peace. And to think, this is God's will for us all: for me, for you, for all our brothers and sisters in Christ. For God's glory and for our good.

Perhaps you can identify with one of the biblical terms Paul uses here: weak, discouraged, or fainthearted. If so, hear these words from God for you:

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.  (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) Good words, these. Very good words.

Diane and I sit in the pew now on Sunday mornings, and I want to go on record expressing my appreciation for my brother pastors and all brother and sister church leaders. Theirs is a vitally-important task. As Paul says here, we are "to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work."

I thank God for Mark, Jeff, Michael, John, Al, Steve, Tim, Jason, Jon, Jock, Gail, Linda, Tina, Diane, and many more. I hold them in high regard, and pray that they are completely successful in their service for the cause of Christ's reign and rule. Long and joyfully may they serve!

Some people seek to comfort themselves with the idea that "God needed another angel," so he took their loved one. Others think they can talk with their departed loved one and that he or she is looking down from above upon them. There is no biblical basis for these sentiments.

Rather than thinking of Jesus' Second Coming as an add-on to our faith, what about making it part of our hope? In other words, the fullness of our redemption will come on the Great Last Day when Jesus returns in glory and we will be with him forever. This is not an add-on to our faith. It is our true Christian hope and source of purest and perfect comfort.

Paul says here that we are children of the light and not of the darkness. We who follow the true light who has come into the world (cf. John 1:9), are called to stay in the light. We are called to live as though people can see what we are doing and give glory to our Father in heaven. We who are of the light must live as though we are in the light. Awake. Honorable. Decent. Faithful.

I'm all too aware, however, that we who belong to the light sometimes turn it off. We depart from the light in fits of anger, moments of weakness, and even times of purposeful rebellion. We're just like Adam and Eve. We have it all - eternal life, the presence of God, and his loving provision - and we think we want more. Whose are we then?

It's been so long since Jesus promised his return, so long since Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. It's easy for me to put it in the back of my mind. It's easy for me not to think of it. Until I'm struggling with earthly woes and challenges; then I'm praying that prayer! When I don't want to face the suffering, when I'm feeling inadequate to the challenges before me, I'm ready to pray, Come, Lord Jesus!

But I'm reminded of two truths in regard to these feelings: We are not most fit for heaven when we are least happy on earth. And, A roadmap of the future is a hindrance, not a help to faith. So, there is my answer: faith. Take it on faith. Don't try to figure it out. Don't think I've got to have it all figured out. I don't  need to worry so much about how I feel or how much I am able to understand this mystery. I can simply believe Jesus' promises and the Bible's teachings. There we will find comfort for our souls.

“Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever,” Paul says. This is his gift. This is our joy. He is totally dedicated to getting us there. Sometimes he must raise the level of challenge. Sometimes he must pour on us the balm of Gilead. Always he is working for our eternal good, and he wants us to live in light of that eternal grace, and encourage each other toward that end as well.