Monday, November 17, 2008

And I saw heaven standing open, and I observed a white horse, and the one sitting on it is called Faithful And True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. Rev. 19:11.

Why is it that the day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year? Isn't it fascinating that people in American society spend a whole day giving thanks for everything they have, then turn around and dash out the door to get hold of a lot more things that they don't have? It is almost as if the day of Thanksgiving alerts everyone to the fact that they don't have enough (which in most American homes, at least, is a silly idea).

But in my opinion, the strangeness of the day after Thanksgiving is exceeded by the day after Christmas. On Christmas Day (or Christmas Eve) Americans get more gifts than at any other time of the year. Then on the following day they rush out to obtain even more things (at special sale prices)! Something is seriously out of proportion here.

The morning after reveals more about our lives and character than the day before. While we might profess some noble sentiments on Thanksgiving or Christmas, they way we behave the morining after shows if sincere action actually supports our thoughts. Let's face it. Human beings are natural consumers. Naturally self-centered, we want more and more. Unable to ever have enough, we are as fickle as fleas.

Jermiah understood this all to well. He knew that even the best of us have a hard time following through the morning after. That is why he pointed to god's faithfulness as the only solid place on which we can base our lives: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness"(Lam. 3:22, 23, NIV).

You and I have a choice today. We can head out to seek our own way and gratify our own desires, living today as if it were the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas. Or this can be God's kind of new morning, in which we see things through His eyes. A morning in which, seeing the hunger and heartache all around us, we choose to serve rather than be served.

To live for Him today is to follow in His footsteps. He is faithful and true. His promises are so sure that they are like prophecies of his future behavior. His sentiments become His actions. I want to be more and more like Him.

Lord, I thank You for Your continuing faithfulness. If You were not faithful, I and everyone that I love would be lost. Today, help me to live according to Your ways and think according to Your thoughts.

The Father's presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for us. He who is imbued with the Spirit of Christ abides in Christ. The blow that is aimed at him falls upon the Saviour, who surrounds him with His presence. Whatever comes to him comes from Christ. He has no need to resist evil, for Christ is his defense. Nothing can touch him except by our Lord's permission, and "all things" that are permitted "work together for good to them that love God." Romans 8:28(TFMB 71).