Thanksgiving Day

A Friend shared this with my family. I thought it would be appropriate to share today, to remember what Thanksgiving was intended for. 

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

Having a Tamed Monster

I went to bed last night, and woke up this morning thinking about words. Particularly the words that come from our mouths. I opened my Bible to James 3:8 that tells me that no human being can tame the tongue. Yet in the chapter 1:26, James tells us that if I think I am religious and I don't bridle my tongue, my heart is deceived. Which leads me to wonder how I can be expected to bridle my tongue, yet am told that no human being can do this?

So I searched the word tongue in the Bible, and found many instances of the tongue being tamed. First let me explain what taming is. You have seen videos, or have been to a circus and seen a wild lion that has been tamed. This tamed lion not only doesn't kill the spectators in the audience, but does do positive acts that entertain those watching. My point is that to have the tongue tamed means that you don't speak words that you shouldn't. And that you do speak words that you should. This is where I think I fail. I do not speak many words anymore that are foolish or sinful. I do however fail by not speaking the blessing, positive and encouraging words that I should speak. Or I fail to speak of Jesus when I know I should. This is not having a tamed tongue.

Isaiah is given the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak (Isaiah 50:4). Moses is told that God has made man's mouth. He has made the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind. Zachariah's voice is taken away from him during the pregnancy of Elizabeth, and given back to him later on (Luke 1:20, 64). David prays to God and asks Him to deliver him from his own tongue (Psalm 120:2).

I think the command to bridle our tongues is the same as being commanded to be holy as God commands us to be in 1 Peter 1:16. How am I, an unholy man to be holy? How am I, a man who has a wild and unbridled tongue to tame the monster? I think the answer to each question is the same. Gospel grace. Only through the gospel of Jesus Christ am I able to make any progress toward being holy. Only through the gospel of Jesus Christ am I able to tame my tongue, so that it refrains from speaking harsh words, and does speak words of truth and blessing. Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). And the only way a heart changes is by the gospel. 

The Rich Man's Inheritance

I am reading the account of the Rich Young Ruler this morning. If you do not remember the account, it can be found in Mark 10:17-31.

This rich man runs up to Jesus and asks Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Wow, this is a good question. Jesus lays out for the rich man an array of commandments. He does not tell the man to keep the commandments, he merely says to the man, "you know the commandments."

The man is quick to tell Jesus that he has kept every commandment that Jesus quoted, ever since he has been a little boy. But had he? He thinks he has but Jesus knows the heart behind every commandment from God; and He goes there with the man.

"You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

What has Jesus told us that every commandment can be boiled down to? Matt 22:37-40 And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." All of the commandments can be boiled down into 2 pots; the love of God, and the love of neighbor.

The Rich Young Ruler said he had never murdered anyone, but had he promoted their life? Meaning, did he use his riches to promote the health and well being of his fellow man? The man said he had never stolen from anybody, but had he given to his fellow man freely to meet their needs? Had he loved God enough to do these things? No, he had not, and Jesus gets at the heart of the matter with the rich man.

The man was not willing to do as Jesus asks, and he goes away without having the inheritance of eternal life. Though he does have an inheritance. The riches he possesses were probably passed down to him by his Father as his inheritance. So which inheritance do you suppose is better?

Who Defines Marriage?

Who defines marriage? Our nation and our world is seeking to redefine marriage. So people get together and decide that it would best for humanity to define marriage as an institution between just two people; no longer between a man and a woman. How do we decide this? We vote on it. Majority wins. This is the way humanity seeks to discover and define what is right and what is wrong.

This way of discovering right from wrong, truth from error permeates our culture. When I just typed in a google search to define a particular word, the first search source came up from Wikipedia. What is Wikipedia? An online dictionary that defines words based on what anybody and everybody decides is the truth. If you want to help define the word, you may with Wikipedia. It used to be we would look to the experts to define words, someone skilled and trained like Noah Webster. Those days seem to be over.

Does anybody have the right to say to the majority, that they are wrong? I believe there is, and His name is Jesus Christ. He is asked a question in Mark 10 about divorce, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? That's a good question, and you'll have to read Mark 10 for yourself to find out the answer. But I want you to note where Jesus goes for His answer.

He goes to Genesis chapter 2 to not only answer the question posed to Him, but to define for them and us, the institution of marriage. "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."


If we as a nation redefine marriage as just between two people independent of what sex they are, is this good for humanity? It is only good if "you believe" that letting the humans race die off one generation after another is good. Is is good, because there are some people who "want" to do it? If I "want" to murder you, it it ok, just because I want to?

Wait a minute, I'm letting you define "good" by what you "believe," is good, or what you "want" to be good. Is this the way we discover what is "good," or did Jesus define goodness as well?

What or Who is the Cause of my Sin?

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell,
(Mark 9:42-47 ESV)


Who or what is the cause of your sin? What or who tempts you to sin?

This passage is pretty weighty. I just finished reading Mark 9 this morning and feel inadequate to speak much about it. It seems more time and more prayer is required for this text to have the impact it appears to deserve.

I have a few thoughts though, and maybe more will be explored another morning when I have a greater amount of time.

WHO CAUSES ME TO SIN?
It is better for you, if someone kills you, then for you to be the cause for a Christian to sin. That is amazingly frightening. Death is better for me, than if I cause a Christian (one of these little ones who believes in me) to sin. Which gets me thinking about how I could cause another Christian to sin. Do you talk of things that can cause a Christian to sin? Do you cause a Christian to look at things that would cause them to sin? Whether that be external from you, or actually you?

At very minimum (because it is illegal for me to be the one doing the murdering), this implies that I should cut off people from my life that cause me to sin. I should cut off people that cause my children to sin.

This has to be taken with a view of the whole of Scripture though. I can not divorce my wife if she causes me to sin, because the Bible speaks specifically about the situation of marriage. If the Bible speaks in another place of where this would not apply, I am not to cut this person out of my life.

WHAT CAUSES ME TO SIN?
Whatever causes me to sin, I need to cut it off, whether that be a part connected to me, or something external from me. I am reminded of the movie Fire Proof. Kurt Cameron's cause of sin is his computer, he is addicted to internet pornography. There is a scene where he pulls it off his desk, brings it outside and smashes it to bits with a baseball bat. He "cut if off" from his life. He eliminated the temptation.

Now the sin still has roots in his heart that the computer revealed, but the elimination of the temptation is the first step in conquering the sin (combined with prayer). "Watch and pray least ye enter into temptation."

Coming with Eagerness

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)


My wife and oldest daughter started doing a Bible study this week together. One of the first studies they did mentioned about the necessity of being like the Bereans. The Jews mentioned in the verse above were the Bereans.

This got me thinking about eagerness. Have you ever been eager for some event? My children will wait at the window for people to come over that they love. They will do nothing else but wait eagerly. Now if these people that they love are bringing things that they love (like Birthday presents), my children are really eager.

Do you approach the Scriptures this way? We should. We are coming to a book written by someone that we love. And it is filled with promises that are better than any temporary present.

As you open your Bibles today, open it with eagerness. Anticipate that the One who is good, will teach you something that is good. That will be useful for not only today, but for eternity.

Knowing Myself

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)  

John Calvin starts out his Institutes by saying, "Our wisdom, insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves."


I read that a few years ago and confess that I did not understand why the "knowledge of self" would be of any importance at all. I am now reading Volume 6 of John Owens works called Temptation and Sin. Reading Owen has helped me understand why a "knowledge of self" was important to Calvin, and why it should be important to us.

Owen says, "Let him that would not enter into temptation labour to know his own heart, to be acquainted with his own spirit, his natural frame and temper, his lusts and corruptions, his natural, sinful, or spiritual weaknesses, that, finding where his weakness lies, he may be careful to keep at a distance from all occasions of sin."

(This is not my wife)

How much time do you spend mining into your own heart? Digging through your natural weaknesses, finding out where you are prone to wonder, prone to leave the God you profess to love? I am learning, at least for myself that this takes time. My wife is a natural multi-tasker. She can amazingly do one thing (even many things), while thinking about another. I seem to be utterly unable to do this. I can hardly wash dishes and have a conversation with one of my kids at the same time.

(And this is not me)
Incase you were wondering

You may be like my wife and have the ability to ponder the depths of the heart, while folding laundry at the same time. Or maybe you are more like me, who needs to purposely set time aside to ponder the things below the surface.

Whichever way you are, I would encourage you to spend time pondering your own heart. Calvin says this springs forth true wisdom, and Owen says it keeps us from entering into temptation and sin. These seems like good reasons from good and godly men that have gone before us.