1 Thessalonians 5:1-8

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8  Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.   But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.  You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.  So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.  But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  

Believers should discern the times, but sometimes because we dissipate our spiritual strength in the wrong places on the wrong things, we Christians are much like the virgins without oil in their lamps on the day of the bridegroom's return.  Christians tend to get excited and believe the last days are upon us when they see a political figure they don't like come to power or when troubles are happening in their country or in their personal lives, but they don't seem to understand that the times will be as they were in Noah's time.  Jesus said, No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  (Matthew 24:36-39)   While Noah was preparing for the flood, the rest were living as we live: eating, drinking, celebrating, cheering on their favorite sports team, congratulating their kids for good grades, commuting to their jobs, ordering pizza from Pizza Hut, buying McDonald's hamburgers, playing computer games, and the like.  The people in Noah's time were ignorant of God's clock.  Their hedonistic lives determined the time of destruction for them because they lived for themselves, not for God.  Sometimes in our modern world, some Christians have clothed themselves in the same lifestyle as the people in Noah's time.  Instead of living lives dedicated to loving God and serving in his righteous kingdom, producing a harvest of the Spirit for the world to see; with their self-serving, pleasure seeking attitudes, they say, "I am going to get all I can out of life for I only go around once, and I deserve the best."  However, as the people in Noah's time found out after their demise in the flood, there is an afterlife.  As Paul reminded the Roman church.  It is written: “As surely as I live," says the Lord, "every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God."  So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.  (Romans 14:11-12) 

Since Jesus' ascension, we are living in the last days.  When He arose, He promised to send the Holy Spirit. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”  (Luke 24:49)   The disciples stayed in Jerusalem, and this promise was fulfilled:  In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.  The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.  And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  (Acts 2:17-21)  We have been living in the last days for a long time.  Many of the signs of the last days that Jesus related in Luke 21 have taken place on this Earth.  Christians who angrily and bitterly advocate additional political panaceas for these days would be surprised if God's judgment were to finally fall on this world.  If they were at ease because they finally got what they wanted IN THIS WORLD so they could cry peace and safety, what would they think when destruction comes on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman?  The Bible says the Lord will return as a thief in the night, when we are performing our perfunctory duties, concerned only about our daily activities, our pursuits to fulfill our natural appetites.  The drunk will keep on drinking, the workaholic will keep on working, the electronic addict will keep on viewing the screen, and so on.  All things will be as they have been from the beginning: self-centered, hedonistic, against the perfect will of the Father who poured out his mercy and grace.  These are the daily choices and activities that can consume our time.  But Paul encourages us not to live in the darkness of the heathen, but to live as children of the light, discerning the times we live in.  He says, Since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  As children of the light, we live lives oriented towards God with faith, love, and endurance.  Children of the light will not faint in doing good; they do not retreat from loving their enemies.  They fix their eyes on the author and finisher of their faith rather than the interests and the pleasures of this world.  Complaining, unforgiveness, bitterness, and rage will not be in their mouths.  In Christ we choose to die daily, enduring to the end as servants of the Most High.  

We might ask, How is this possible?  I am not consistently that person: I fail so often.  Know who you are in Christ and who He is in you.  The Bible says, Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  (Colossians 3:2-3)   We are no longer citizens of this world.  We are looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  (Hebrews 11:10)  If we live as if we belong in this early domain, we will become contaminated by its many distractions, and we will fail to discern the times properly.  If we put our trust in the Lord and yield to him, He perfects what concerns us.  For generations Christians have believed in the Lord's return and rightly discerned the times and seasons.  They sought his glorious appearing while working for him till He comes or takes them home.  They knew the world is oriented towards the terrestrial, the temporary.  We know as they did we have an eternal home found IN CHRIST: we will reign with him forever.  Because He lives, we live also.  Therefore, our tent pegs are not buried too deeply in the terrestrial: we are always ready to move on to the celestial.  If we focus only on eating, drinking, and being merry as did the people in Noah's time, we will find only death within our lives and within the lives of those around us.  Our primary mission as born again people is to serve the Lord joyfully for his glory.  Therefore our lives should be ones full of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  Noah's day was hedonistic: seeking pleasure for today; but our lives are defined by servanthood: the joy of total commitment to our Lord.   When we hear the trumpet sound or when our bodies lie down for the last time, we will be as the diligent virgins with oil in their lamps; for we will carry within us the precious oil of the Holy Spirit: the harvest of keeping in step with the Holy Spirit as we share the peaceable fruits of righteousness with those we meet every day.  And the Lord will say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant.  Come and share your master’s happiness!"  

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage each other with these words. 

"I will come again" should resound continuously in the spiritual ears of every believer.  For sure, Christ is coming again for all the world to see; but for Christians, He is coming to receive us into his household, for we through the Spirit are one with him and the Father, part of the family of God.  Jesus said, “My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  (John 17:20-23)  His scarred hands will reveal to us the price He paid for our admittance into the eternal presence of God.  No man or woman after he or she sees the resurrected Jesus and fully comprehends the price He paid for our salvation will ever again dispute God's love for mankind.  We know we have a Savior who went to the cross to pay a debt He did not owe to gain admittance into heaven for his chosen ones on a path that previously was eternally blocked to us because of our sin and shame.  Jesus shed his precious blood, washing us whiter than snow as a complete fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."  (Isaiah 1:18)  Therefore, when we face the death of a loved one or our own demise we do not grieve without hope.  Christians who are left behind continue the Lord's work until He comes or takes us home, knowing the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.  (Titus 2:11-14) 

Either at death or at his second coming, we will understand Christ's meaning when He said a seed must die before it can bring forth fruit.  Just as an earthly seed dies before it brings forth new life, the terrestrial must die before it can become celestial.  How many of us could imagine an acorn developing into a mature 400 year old red oak with ponderous limbs weighing over a thousand pounds if we had no knowledge of what a tree is?   I am sure none of us could describe adequately such a marvelous process and product from such a small seed.  In spiritual terms, we cannot imagine or appreciate what we will become in heaven beyond the vail of tears at death.  When Paul wrote about life in the flesh compared to when we see Christ he wrote these words: Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part.  But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.  (1 Corinthians 13:8-12 NKJV)   On the other side we will be magnificent, beautiful, glorious, lovely entities IN CHRIST.  Our beauty will be beyond description.  We should encourage each other with these words, with this divine knowledge.  A seed must die before it can become a magnificent plant.  A human body, a fleshly seed, must die before it can develop into God's intended glorious celestial being.  At that time in our new bodies, all our tears will be wiped away, all our anxieties will cease.  We will understand all things for we will be home with our Abba Father God.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  (Revelation 21:3-4)

 

Dear breakfast companions, Christ will come the second time in all of his glory to the world and to those who await his glorious appearing, but in reality his abiding Spirit comes constantly to us who are LIVING IN HIM with our spiritual ears tuned to hear his voice.  Jesus abides richly in us, and regardless of our circumstances we are never outside of his presence or beyond his comfort and his guidance.  He has taken up abode in us: He walks with us and talks with us.  When anxieties press in on us to the point of exasperation, He is there.  His voice tells us to believe, to take another step in faith.  He tells us we are God's chosen children, dear to our Father, no longer lost in the insignificance of this world.  He reminds us Christ won the victory for us at the cross, and HE who is in us is greater than anything in the world.  He speaks the Word to us, telling us we are more than conquerors through Christ our Lord and our Redeemer.  Therefore, we can go forward each day confidently facing whatever the day brings, knowing we are strong in the Lord and the power of his might.  Our lives are no longer our own.  We have yielded control to our Lord.  Consequently, He encourages us to take no thought for tomorrow; instead, to rest today IN Jesus for He is our Day of Rest.  We are no longer full of doubt and fear about the future because we know who holds the future.  As Paul said, To live is Christ and to die is gain.  (Philippians 1:21)  So brothers and sisters in the Lord, know that Christ is in you and you are in him.  "I will come again" is your faith promise from Jesus: your minute by minute experience.  He comes: again and again.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Praise him today!  Let praises continually be upon your lips.  I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad.  Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.  I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.  (Psalm 34:1-4 NKJV)  

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12  Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. 

2 Thessalonians 3:10-13  If a man will not work, he shall not eat.  We hear that some among you are idle.  They are not busy; they are busybodies.  Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.  And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.

Paul addresses idleness in both letters to the Thessalonians.  He exhorts believers to work for a living rather than relying upon the church's continued benevolence.  Probably some Thessalonians were taking advantage of the close communal relationship in this nascent church.  Earlier in his first letter, Paul praised the Thessalonians as a model of Christian love and dedication to believers in Macedonia and Achaia, but now Paul warns some of the Thessalonians are taking advantage of the generosity of their fellow Christians by not working with their hands.  Paul as James believed real faith is always illustrated by deeds.  James concludes, As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.  (James 2:26)  Those who carried the gospel message to the known world after the resurrection of our Lord found no time for idleness.  Paul showed his faith by his actions as he walked thousands of miles, spreading the gospel and writing encouraging letters from prison to build up believers' faith.  Both men believed authentic, saving faith demands effort, an all out commitment.  Following Christ's example, Paul did not pray people from the godless cities would come to him; instead, he went to those cities, praying God would allow him to reach the lost sheep.  Jesus, Paul, and others who preached the Good News expended their energy walking from place to place, sharing God's mercy and grace.  Most often they faced persecution, beatings, and the like.  Attempting to counter some boasting in the Corinthian church, Paul alluded to his life, saying he had been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.  Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?  Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?  (2 Corinthians 11:23-29)  Too often we sit at home, perhaps even praying for people's needs, yet wanting God to bring the ungodly to us, unwilling to go forth to meet the needs of others or to reach out to the unsaved.  

Sometimes Christians struggle with idleness.  Rather than stay actively involved in the game of living for Christ, we sit back, relying upon church attendance, prayer, and the expectation God will send work our way.  Prayer alone would never have brought Paul to Thessalonica or Cornith.  His faith, determination, and feet brought him there.  Jesus walked through the land of Judea, meeting people who needed him.  All the while, He put forth his best for his Father, believing He did exactly what God intended for him to do.  Although Paul tried to stir the Corinthian church by sharing some of his trials, he also told them he was a servant under orders.  Although a free man, he had aligned himself totally with his Lord.  He said he could not even boast in what he did: Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach.  Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!  (1 Corinthians 9:16)  God demands our best effort, our all.  Jesus shared the path to eternal life:  “Teacher,” he [the man] asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  “What is written in the Law?” he [Jesus] replied.  “How do you read it?”  He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  (Luke 10:25-27)  Sometimes our prayers focus completely upon ourselves and our wants: Lord, please give us a new car or a better house.  Or we pray for money, hoping against hope that we might find a thousand dollars in the cupboard if we pray hard enough.  We are disheartened when these prayers are not answered.  Yes, miracles happen, but read what James said, Where do wars and fights come from among you?  Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain.  You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  (James 4:1-3)  God wants us to pray in the Spirit, seeking his perfect will.  On the Fourth of July, a man told me about how he and his wife believed God wanted them to adopt a child from war-torn Sudan.  Initially, the cost was estimated at about fifteen thousand dollars, but soon expenses climbed to above fifty thousand dollars.  He is a person with limited means, not a rich man.  His dilemma: God had directed them to adopt this little girl, yet the expenses were now beyond his means.  What should he do?  God provided.  At his mill, extra work opened up for him.  He was given the opportunity to work more than seventy hours a week for an extended time.  He praised God for this miraculous answer to his prayer!  God had given them a way to adopt their daughter.  But he had to put feet to his prayers of faith by working hard to fulfill God's answer.  This is an excellent example of faith alive through works.  James would say, "Faith without works is dead."  

Many people get discouraged if God doesn't come across when they pray for something.  Perhaps we do not see some of his answers because they require some effort from us.  Some Christians pray to be healthier in their bodies, but fail to put in the effort to be healthier even though doctors have given them specifics to help achieve that goal.  God provides them with an answer, but they fail to implement the answer in their lives because it will cost them something.   Sometimes Christians sit in poison patches of addiction, corruption, and deception.  Their self-esteem, self-worth, and image of who they are in Christ has been battered and marred by the negatives in their lives.  Yet, knowing they are perishing, they will not take the steps necessary to get out of these poison patches.  Instead, they remain IDLE, inert, resolute to do nothing.  Many times in their inertia they question God: Why haven't you answered my prayers, Lord?  They complain to other Christians about God's lack of provision for them.  In the above passage, we see Paul warning the Thessalonians about not working.  He is telling them that nothing good can come from prolonged idleness.  In the beginning of time, God told us to occupy the land.  The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  (Genesis 2:15)  We are to live life, not watch it from an armchair or from a pit of despair, ignoring the purposes and plans of our precious Savior.  Papa always tells the grandkids how proud he is of them that they are living life and not watching it after we have seen them in a play, or at a concert, or on a sports field.  They will never regret living life with all their effort; but when they are old, they will regret wasting their lives just sitting and watching others participate in activities.  God made us for life: activity not idleness.  Our spiritual and our physical beings are made to explore the world, to participate, to serve, and to work for the Lord as new creatures in Christ Jesus.  And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right; never tire of working for the Lord.  Remember what Jesus said after healing a blind man: As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.  Night is coming, when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.  (John 9:4-5)  May each of us shine as long as it is day and joyfully do the work of the Lord for his glory! 

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10  Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.  And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia.  Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.

2 Corinthians 8:1-5  And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.  Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.  For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.  Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.  And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.

The Lord's generosity to us goes far beyond our abilities to understand.  While we were yet sinners, undone, uncompromisingly wicked, He came to us with a heart of love and rescued us from eternal damnation through the giving of himself on the cross for our redemption.  Now, we, the once eternally contaminated ones, have found grace, mercy, and salvation in the eyes of the Lord .  "Love lifted me," and love lifted you.  We who are now in the household of God rest there securely forever because of God's unfailing love for the unloveable.  In the Thessalonian passage above, we see that same love functioning in a young church under persecution.  Paul says, we do not need to write to you about brotherly love, for you yourselves have been taught by GOD to love each other.  The same love that exists in God's heart for us should be in each of us for others because the heavenly gift of the Holy Spirit resides in each of us richly.  If we are IN CHRIST, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us; therefore, his attributes of love, compassion, and generosity change our attitudes and motivate our actions.   Our friends and family will see a change in our behavior and readily see Christ in us.  You, however, (who are in Christ Jesus) are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.  And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.  (Romans 8:9-11)  The more we walk in the Spirit, obeying the Spirit's leading, the easier it becomes to turn from our selfish pursuits so that we might love others as Christ has loved us and to do so more and more. 

The steadfast love of God, the love that caused Christ to humble himself and go to the cross is manifested in our lives in countless ways.  We learn this love as we walk with our Lord, meditate on his Word, pray earnestly, and yield to the Spirit.  Paul wrote: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 2:5)  Throughout his earthly ministry, we see Christ functioning as a love servant to all who put their trust in him.  Love's best manifestation comes through seeking first the kingdom of God, preferring others over ourselves.  When we are willing to serve others, we display God's transforming love to them through who we are.  When the love of God is fully released, his love turns the world upside down.  Those who seek to rule in this world want their own little kingdoms where others bow to their wishes and desires.  Those who surrender to the Lord ask Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit to control their lives.  Believers seek humility rather than arrogance.  We travel the second mile rather than the one required.  The world cannot understand and rejects a life immersed in God, for such a life contrasts sharply with the selfishness and decadence of those who reject God's love.  People walking according to their carnal flesh believe they go around only once, so why should they give sacrificially to others.  Jesus said that a servant who comes into the household at the end of day after working hard in the dusty fields does not go to his room to rest and freshen up before he approaches the master; instead, he seeks out the master first to ask if there is anything else he should do.  This is what a true servant does.  No quick shower and then to the master; no ten minute rest on the bed and then go to serve.  No, a good and faithful servant goes first to the master and asks if there is anything else he can do.  Love exhausts itself by serving.  When Peter talked about service, he said, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.  Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.  If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.  (1 Peter 4:7-11)  This is the love that Paul described--the brotherly love the Thessalonians already embraced and shared with each other and all the brothers throughout Macedonia .  

An illustration of the Thessalonian's love is that we see them sending gifts to the poor even though they were experiencing grinding poverty and persecution themselves.  God had implanted the reality of Christ's love towards them through sound teaching by the Holy Spirit that they received with open hearts and minds. They knew by the Holy Spirit's revelation that God had been inexplicably generous to them by allowing Jesus Christ's to die on the cross for their sinful, implacable souls.  Eternal salvation was theirs because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, and they were growing in his mercy and grace.  His wonderful generosity impelled them to be instruments of Christ's love to the world.  If we are not continually alert, we will fail to appreciate the love of God in the same way as the Thessalonians and others in the early church who loved God so completely and so deeply.  We have so many responsibilities and distractions in our overly busy lives we can easily lose track of the magnificent price God paid for our salvation, our freedom from sin.  Because of Christ, we have been placed on a firm foundation, free from eternal damnation.  Paul reminded the church at Galatia: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1)  What a glorious transformation to be freed from the chains of sin and allowed to serve our risen Lord.  Because of Christ, we are treasured children of God--joint heirs with Jesus, our elder brother who paved the way for our entrance to eternal life.  We are no longer lost in a sea of meaninglessness: we are now children of the Creator of All Things.  What heavenly peace that knowledge brings to our hearts!  Out of our innermost being love and generosity spills out to the world.  However, if we our deficient in our love towards others, if there is not a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit in us, if servanthood is a difficult concept for us, we need to kneel again at the cross where the Lamb was slain and remember the words: You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.  (Mark 10:42-45)  Serve the Lord and others with a glad heart today!