Thank You

Thank you.

Simple words.  I’ve been thinking about them lately.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been playing a lot of Bridge with a number of seniors, and you ALWAYS thank your partner, after playing a Bridge hand. 

Thank you.

Lovely words.  They convey a grateful spirit, a heartfelt response to a gift given, a helping hand, a surprise visit. 

Thank you.

Sweet words.  Most often, we say: “Thank you,” and state the person’s name.  When we want to get someone’s attention, really want them to see our joy, we’ll say their name first, and then “thank you.”

It's what I’ve been mulling over, all week.  

It’s what I’ve been singing, all week.

“Jesus, Thank You.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG7hVInkfes

What a lovely name to a great song!

Jesus, thank you: for the cross, for the resurrection, for your constant presence, for your people, for heaven waiting for us and hell unable to snatch us. 

Jesus, thank you!

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; 

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 

(1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18)

Gracious Words

Am I an encourager of the saints?  Or does a critical spirit colour my description of other believers?  In his closing remarks in Romans, chapter 16, Paul refers to 35 different people, by name!  His words are worth considering and worth remembering, when it comes to my own description of fellow Christians; words to build up, and not to tear down.

Here is the list, with the descriptive words in bold:

Commends our sister Phoebe, to the church in Rome; servant of the church, a helper

Paul greets the following, in his letter:

Prisca and Aquila- fellow workers; risked their own necks

Epaenetus- my beloved- the first convert to Christ from Asia

Mary- worked hard

Andronicus and Junias- my kinsmen, my fellow prisoners; outstanding among the apostles

Amplaitus, my beloved in the Lord

Urbanus,our fellow worker in Christ

Stachys, my beloved

Apelles, the approved in Christ

Herodion, my kinsman

House of Narcissus, who are in the Lord

Tryphaena and Tryphosa, workers in the Lord

Persis, the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord

Rufus, a choice man in the Lord

Rufus’ mother and mine

Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brethren

Philologus, Julia, Nereus, his sister, Olympas- all the saints

Greetings from:

Timothy, my fellow worker

Lucius, Jason, Sosipater, my kinsmen

Tertius, wrote the letter

Gaius, host to Paul and to the whole church

Erastus, the city treasurer

Quartus, the brother

I can choose to bless others by speaking well of them.

Or I can destroy others by speaking ill.

The church needs her encouragers.

“Let no unwholesome, (rotten), word proceed from your mouth,

 but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, 

that it may give grace to those who hear.”

(Ephesians 4:29)

The Cross

Pastor Pernell recently said:  “The cross says more about God than it does about us.”  I have been pondering it ever since.  It shouts out!  God’s astounding love, his glorious mercy, his magnificent plan, and his perfect justice are all seen at the cross.  Sin really is so serious, that someone has to pay a penalty.  God took it seriously.  Otherwise, why would Jesus have allowed himself to be nailed to a cross- that ultimate symbol of cursing? 

Unless God had revealed it to us, we would not have, could not have seen the answer:  Jesus, dying on a cross, willing to pay the price for our sin.  “Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5: 8).  It is unfathomable that someone would die for their enemy.  But that is exactly what has happened.  Who could have possibly planned such a rescue; an unimaginable rescue, that no one could thwart- not even the devil himself. 

We have been hijacked, you see; hijacked by our own sinful nature.  And we needed a mediator to negotiate our release.  Our pride, our willful blindness to the truth of just how sinful we are, would keep us from the cross.  But Jesus came. 

God made him, (Jesus), who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

Yes, the cross speaks volumes about God.