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2 Thessalonians 2

This chapter is one of the few places in scripture that we see reference to a world leader in the end times. This individual has a few titles: son of perdition, the lawless one, the Antichrist, the man of sin, the little horn, and the beast. This individual will receive his power, authority, and dominion from Satan (Rev. 13; 2 Thess. 2:9). This man will convince the world to come together in unity and will likely bring peace to the middle east by some agreement or covenant (Dan. 9:27). He will rule over the earth for two sets of three and a half years (Dan. 9:27). The first three and a half years will be somewhat peaceful and liveable. The second three and a half years will be devastating. The switch is marked by an event called the abomination of desolation (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4). The Antichrist will exalt himself as God in the temple and stop offerings and sacrifices. After this, he demands worship or his statue image will kill you (Rev. 13:15). There is more to say about the antichrist and the endtimes, but there isn’t enough time here.

What is important in our context is the church at Thessalonica thought they were already in the tribulation. Paul is reassuring these people they didn’t miss Jesus. A few things have to happen first: the falling away or apostacy, the Antichrist needs to be revealed, and the Holy Spirit within the Church taken away. There are two ways to look at the apostacy. The first is that there will people who fall away from the Truth and forsake their salvation or there will be a falling away of Truth. I personally believe that restraining force is the Holy Spirit at work within the Church pushing evil back. The people of God are referred to as light that exposes darkness and salt that preserves righteousness. We don’t do this of ourselves, it’s by the power of the Holy Spirit. I think the restrainer being taken away is in alignment with a pretribulation rapture view among other lines of reasoning. What we do know for sure is that Jesus wins in the end! Jesus will come back and destroy the antichrist and all rebellious souls and spirits (Dan. 7:13-14; 2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19:11-21, Matt. 24:29-31).

Paul ends a rather bleak chapter about the end of the world with some amazing truths for the believer. You were chosen at the beginning. Before the world was created, God chose you, yet you still acted freely and chose to believe in the Truth (2 Thess. 2:13). How amazing is our God. It is because you are a Christian that you must stand fast and remain in the True Doctrine of Jesus Christ.  Beware of proggressive Christianity that changes doctrine to fit their lifestyle and their beliefs. May we be a  Church that is sold out for True Doctrine, pushing back evil until Jesus meets us in the sky!

Today’s Reading: Colossians 3

Groceries 

• Milk 
• Bread
• Eggs 
• Apple sauce 
• Bacon

To Do List 

• Clean the house
• Wash the car
• Now the lawn
• Pick up the dry cleaning 

Bills

• Water 
• Gas 
• Electric 
• Car Payment 

Paul’s lists

• Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: 
  • sexual immorality, 
  • impurity, 
  • passion, 
  • evil desire, and 
  • covetousness, which is idolatry. 
• But now you must put them all away: 
  • anger, 
  • wrath, 
  • malice, 
  • slander,
  • obscene talk from your mouth. 
• Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, 
  • holy and beloved, 
  • compassionate hearts, 
  • kindness, 
  • humility, 
  • meekness
  • patience, 
  • bearing with one another ,
  • forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you

Lists are some of the groupings that we jot down on a daily basis. Many times we use lists to organize our thoughts so that we can become more efficient and effective.  Sometimes we have lists to give us direction or to make priorities for the many ideas that we have in our head.

Over the last several years, I have become a list maker. I jot things down to free up my mind so that I can focus on other things, but not forgetting small ideas. I got this habit from one of my mentors. He always kept a piece of paper and a pen handy, and when he had a new thought, he would jot it down. 

One of the downfalls about lists is you can keep writing perpetually without ever crossing anything off. Other times, the list can just become stagnant and you keep repeating the same things over and over.

In this chapter of Colossians, Paul has several lists that he is showing the church of Colossae  what to be watchful for and to protect themselves. The people of Colossae  were dealing with many things of their old life and it was in conflict with the new Way of living for others and not for self.  In these verses, Paul is telling us what to look out for. Paul also is showing us how to be better people.

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. …

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. …

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬, ‭8‬, ‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Many times we can get lost in our lists, trying to check off the right things and avoid the wrong things that, we forget that God is at the center of it all. Paul also shows us in this chapter that no matter what we do if we do not do it with love and for God it’s not going to work.

“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. …

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬-‭15‬, ‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬  (Paraphrased : Do your work as if it was for God and not man) 

The main thing is to remember loving each other the way God loves us. When we start to take ourselves out of the equation and put God in the equation. That’s when we can truly understand how to live the way Paul tells us with kindness and meekness and bearing each other up. Not focusing on ourselves with our lust, sexual immorality, impurity, anger, and wrath. This selflessness is not an easy thing to do, but with God all things are possible. 

When we acknowledge God and know that love is connecting us together with others then we can have peace, shalom (the filling of the void that we all have).

 

Galatians 1

We hear much about what makes a leader credible. Experience and results often top the list. But do those alone make someone trustworthy and believable?

Paul points to a different foundation. His appointment came from Jesus Christ, whose grace reached him despite his past.

Because of Christ’s shed blood, Paul was forgiven. Because of His resurrection, Paul was given new life. Now he proclaimed the very name he once persecuted.

His past had not earned him this appointment. Neither had it prevented Jesus from calling him.

We, too, can allow our failures to silence us. We question whether we have anything worth saying or anything worth offering. But God calls us to bear witness to the grace we have received.

Our confidence begins with the One who calls us.

1 Corinthians 13

I know we have all heard part of this chapter at many of the weddings we have been to, or maybe even had someone read it at your own wedding.  That is great!  But I don’t believe that’s what it was always intended for.

Paul wrote this to a church in Corinth that was competitive and full of itself.  People who were showing off their spiritual gifts and ranking each other.  These people were missing the point, entirely.

Paul writes:

• If I could speak every language on earth, but don’t have love, I am just making noise
• If I had every answer and faith strong enough to move mountains, but no love, I’m nothing
• If I gave away everything I owned and sacrificed my life, all without love, I gain nothing

In other words…talent, generosity, and devotion do not count if they are about yourself.  Love is what gives everything else its value.

Love is:

Patient – it doesn’t rush people or put a stopwatch on their growth

Kind – it looks for ways to make someone’s day better

Love is not:

Jealous or boastful – doesn’t celebrate someone else’s win with only yourself in mind or keeps the spotlight on just you

Irritable – it has manners at all times

Demanding – does not keep score or expect something in return

A record keeper – doesn’t save receipts for a later argument

A quitter – it has your back, assumes the best, and never gives up on you

Love isn’t a feeling.  It is a set of choices you make, especially when it is inconvenient.

Your résumé, your knowledge, your reputation all have an expiration date.  How you loved people is the thing that lasts forever.  You can be gifted, smart, and generous, but if you aren’t patient, kind, humble and forgiving with people, you’ve missed the whole thing.

Verse 13 always says it best. If you read it to yourself and you are like me at all, you repeat it in your head like only Alan Jackson could, maybe with a tear in eye, “Faith, Hope and Love are some good things He gave us, and the greatest is LOVE”.

Proverbs 30

The United States has the highest GDP of any country with a projected 32.38 trillion dollars in 2026. GDP is most often calculated by adding government spending, business spending, consumer spending and net exports to create an objective value to measure the health of the economy. The next closest projected GDP for 2026 is China with a projected value of 20.85 trillion dollars. So, the numbers show that we spend a lot of money, but is that actual money, or borrowed money?

After the first quarter of 2026, household debt climbed to a new high of 18.79 trillion dollars. Sure we spend a lot of money in the United States, but most people satisfy their cravings with a buy now and pay later philosophy. Most personal debt use, beyond your means, can be correlated to a lack of contentment with what you have. So how does this connect to Proverbs 30 you might be asking. Read verses 7-9 with me,

“7Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): 8Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches— feed me with the food allotted to me; 9lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.”

Agur, the writer of this proverb, is essenitally saying, I want to honor your name and not profane it, so just give me what I need. The temptation in having many riches is to rely on yourself and the things that you have for satisfaction and fulfillment. The temptation in poverty is to take matters into your own hands by finding immoral ways to provide for your needs. All the while we have promises in Scripture that God will provide our basic needs (Matthew 6:33).

So what is this quality that allows us to honor God’s name when it comes to our finances? Contentment. Paul says in Philippians that he learned how to be content. Contentment isn’t just magically manifested in our lives. This is a learned quality that every believer must strive and work for. Paul said he knew how to be abased and he knew how to abound. Translation: he knew how to live on little and how to live on much. The secret is finding your contentment in Chirst. Only then can you do all things. Meaning you can honor God when you have little and when you have much. Jesus will satisfy every craving of your heart if you would just have a relationship with Him. No longer will you need to keep up with the Jones’. No longer will you need the new trendy thing. He satisfies you.

Today’s Reading: Psalms 86 

“For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. 

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. 

For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. 

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 

Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.”

‭‭

Psalm‬ ‭86‬:‭5‬, ‭11‬, ‭13‬, ‭15‬, ‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We play very complicated and complex mental gymnastics daily.  We can be our best cheerleaders and we can be our worst critics.  

Inside our mind we can have conflicting ideas.  We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit in us and  we have our flesh.  Sometimes we allow our mind and flesh to be influenced by the enemy. 

This is a constant battle. 

The flesh can be used by the enemy to become selfish and self-focused and focus only on us and not on God.  This can allow us to be focused on the situation and not on the revelation and change that God has in store for us after the situation.

We can listen to the Spirit and be able to see our true self in the light of God. When we allow God to create opportunities in us.  This can be fascinating at what we can achieve.

 

Sometimes there can be conflict inside of us where the enemy tries to overcome the Spirit and then this makes us question our own worth and make us think that we are not the best. We allow the enemy to give us lies about our potential. We allow the enemy to take our past mistakes and failures and create disillusioned reflections of ourselves.

 

These are lies. 

God has such amazing things that are ready for us. God’s steadfast love conquers all of the lies and confusions.  Because of his steadfast love, God allows us to resist anything that the enemy can put into our mind. 

We have the ability to channel the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit,  to create these new ideas from these lies. God does not allow these lies to take root. God can clear and evaporate all these misconceptions of ourselves. 

When we are going through these battles within ourselves,  we can see the prayer that David has here in Psalms 86 and see God’s steadfast love and remember…

“For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭86‬:‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬