SCRIPTURE: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Maybe some of the believers were just lazy, or maybe some of them were so expectant of Jesus’ immediate return that they figured there was no need to work. Maybe some of the leaders assumed that the common people should support them (that’s happened in history before). Whatever the reason, Paul challenges…
Category: daily meditations
holding on, being held
SCRIPTURE: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Paul’s words reveal that his ultimate confidence is in the Lord, and not in people. He knows that the devil is strong, and that people can be very hurtful. But he also knows that his hope for success and survival is not his own wits or luck, but his dependence on God….
dancing with God
SCRIPTURE: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: As he talks about the crises of the end of the age (which we know now does not come about for 2000 years after Paul wrote this), Paul keeps his message rooted and relevant to that time period. He is writing about the end times, his main purpose is to encourage these…
ultimate clash of kingdoms
SCRIPTURE: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: When God’s world (kingdom) was thrust into the chaos and misery of sin, it began a process of slow but certain destruction. Because of sin, everything is devolving towards everlasting destruction. Only God’s restraining Spirit is keeping sin from fully unraveling His creation. But the Spirit will not restrain evil forever, everything…
kingdom living
SCRIPTURE: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: God’s plan is to restore His creation (His world, His Kingdom) that was thrust into chaos and misery by human rebellion. Jesus is the promised messiah who comes to accomplish this. To accept Jesus is to accept His role, as well as His way, to submit to His will as our sovereign….
rejecting the messenger
SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 18:13-23 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: This passage reflects God’s shock and surprise that His people have rejected Him, after all that He has been and done for them. It seems impossible that they could reject Him, as impossible as the snow melting on the mountain heights in Lebanon, or the rivers drying up. “Yet my people have…
in the potter’s hands
SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 18:1-12 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: God speaks through an ordinary potter, working with clay. God still speaks this way, if we slow down and pay attention. Through the birds of the air, a mustard seed, a fig tree, a farmer planting seed. Or else through a sunrise, a bridge, a cake in the oven, a unexpected gift,…
living out of sabbath rest
SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 17:19-27 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: The sabbath (Hebrew for ‘to cease, to rest’) was a special day at the end of each week designed to remind God’s people that they depended on Him (and not on their hard work), to give them a taste of freedom from the curse of sin, and to point them forward to…
God’s way or else
SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 17:1-18 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: This section is divided into two parts, the description of the way of sin vs. the way of God [1-13] and Jeremiah’s prayer [14-18]. The way of sin involves rejecting/disobeying God, relying on our own ways and thoughts and abilities, and the consequence (judgment) of choosing our own way. Trying to find…
mercy always wins
SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 16:14-21 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Right in the middle of dire warnings of judgment, there lies this promise, that God will one day rescue and restore His people [14-15]. His plan has always been to establish a people for Himself and the world, a people who would bless the nations (not follow them), and point them back…