Skip to main content

Consider This: A River of Blessing

               Sara and I like a TV show called “World’s Most Scenic River Journeys”.  Each show follows the course of a river from its source to its terminus, showing how the river benefits people and nature along the way.

Today, I want to share a prayer from scripture that follows the same “source to benefits” pattern.

“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).

The source of every good thing is “Our Lord Jesus himself and God our Father”.  This may seem obvious, but we act otherwise.  When trouble comes, we panic because we cannot fix the problem.  We act as though we are the source of our own answers and power.  This can only leave us discouraged.  We must remember who is really in charge.

When we get the source right, then we receive “eternal encouragement… hope… and strength”.  The very things we were searching for are not found in us; they are gifts from God.  Those who are hopeful, encouraging, and strong when everyone else is fearful make all the difference in the world.  We need more people who believe that nothing is impossible when God is involved (Genesis 18:14).  That is the essence of faith.

Lastly, we are to become conduits, or deliverers of this hope and encouragement to others.  No one has seen God, but they can see his Spirit living in you (1 John 4:11-12).  How do we do this?  Do we need a big stage?  Do we need to start a rally or a movement of some sort?  Does this happen by leaving all that we know and moving to a foreign place?  No, necessarily!  Rather, this happens through “Every good deed and word”.  In other words, we spread God’s strength, hope and encouragement in ordinary acts done faithfully and well.  Life changes in small, mostly unseen acts of faithfulness.

Unfortunately, sometimes, our river becomes polluted.  We fill it up with all sorts of junk and debris and lose the blessings that ought to flow to us.

Maybe it is time for you to rediscover the source. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Terrible Trade

            I used to have a Wayne Gretzky rookie card.               However, when I was 12 years old I did not like Wayne Gretzky, so I traded the card to my brother.   A few years ago, I remembered that incident, so I went looking for the card. Sure enough, there is was in a box in my mom’s basement.   Now here is the thing:   even in bad shape, Gretzky rookie cards sell for around $250.   Needless to say, that was not a good trade on my part.   I simply did not recognize what I had and so I traded away something valuable for something with almost no value at all.             With that in mind, notice how the letter to the Galatians starts: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which...
Post a Comment
Read more

Don’t Be a Tourist

                  From the moment that God told Abraham to leave his home and follow him (Genesis 12:1-3), God’s people have understood that they are on a journey.                 That being true, the essential question becomes, “How are you making that journey?”   T here are two options: You can be a tourist or you can be a pilgrim.                   Tourists leave their real life behind for a little while so that they can visit another place.   Generally, they travel in groups and do not mix much with the local people.   They hit the highlights of various regions, but they do not really experience what it is like to live in that part of t...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Good Funeral

As I write this article, it is Monday morning and I am getting ready to go to a funeral. As I think about the day ahead, I am not anticipating a sad day. There will be sadness in it, some tears will be shed for sure, but this will be a day of celebration. For as long as I have known them, and for many years before that, George and his wife Doris have been faithful followers of Christ. Their faith was not just something that they talked about or something that they had in name only. Rather, it was something that influenced how they lived, what they valued and how they saw their entire lives. George was not a very vocal man, but he was influential. His home was always open to anyone who needed a meal or a place to stay. In fact, that is how I first met them. When I was an intern, preaching in the town of Wawota , I stayed with George and Doris. When our Bible camp needed a place to go for a hayride, George and Doris were the first ...
Post a Comment
Read more