“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” – Colossians 4:2
The purpose of celebrating Thanksgiving yesterday was to remind us to be thankful today and every day. What was worth being thankful for yesterday is still with you today!
If Christianity is true, this is not “being a Pollyanna” or seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. Live like it is true by making thanksgiving a habit, not a holiday.
Dear fellow travelers,
Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, five quotes on the theme of good vs evil:
“The majority of us begin with the bigger problems outside and forget the one inside. A man has to learn ‘the plague of his own heart’ before his own problems can be solved” – Oswald Chambers
“I think the battle between good and evil is fought largely within the individual human heart, by the decisions that we make. It’s not like evil dresses up in black clothing and you know, they’re really ugly” – Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin
“When people do bad things in the name of religion people say religion is inherently bad; When people do bad things in the name of profit people say profit is inherently bad; When people do bad things in the name of science people say science is inherently bad; When people do bad things in the name of government people say government is inherently bad; but have you noticed that every one of these is ‘people do bad things’ but when you say people do bad things because people are inherently bad, people say you are a mean person and out of your mind.” – Anonymous internet comment
“The line separating good and evil passes, not through states, not between political parties either, but right through all human hearts.” -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” – the apostle Paul, in Romans 7:21-25
Isaiah 55:12-13
“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Fellow travelers,
Today may bring thorns and briers, but as we travel toward eternity, consider the marvelous picture of nature glorified in a new heaven and earth in this Psalm.
First, the mountains and trees we experience in this world may not be the same as trees in heaven. They will rejoice when the perfect creation is made manifest because they are not fully what they should be now. Tolkien may have been thinking of this when creating the Ents of Middle Earth. If the trees are described as clapping in heaven, what will people do?
Bring some of that joy to this earth.
Second, the Psalm describes a direct reversal of the curse on Adam in Gen 3:17-18, where the ground would be cursed and “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” Instead, the cypress and myrtle will come up. The new creation will not fight against us, but instead sprout glory after glory.
Bring some of that glory to this earth.
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.” – Philippians 1:27-28
Romans 12:20 says when we love our enemy, we “heap burning coals on his head.” Alternatively, panic in the face of opposition is what happens when we rely on our own strength and methods.
May He be strong in us.
Fellow travelers,
Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection. I hope you find these five somewhat related sayings interesting and thought-provoking.
“Very few people would listen if they didn’t know it was their turn next.” – Robert Conklin, Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker (1921 – 1998)
“Checking the truth of something should come well before getting agitated about it” – Prof. John Staddon of Duke University
“He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that” – John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)
“I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having kept silent.” – Saint Arsenius the Deacon (350 – 445 A.D.)
“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” – Proverbs 18:2
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 