Monday, January 31, 2011

Show up and breathe...

Confession time. I have been watching war movies of late. Particularly Vietnam war movies. Some of them are revisionist history, I realize. But I am still impressed with the courage of those soldiers fighting what seems to be an un-winable war. Most of the time the odds were overwhelming.

We can feel like that at times. Okay, most of the time. We can feel overwhelmed with struggles, sin, and circumstances. And we all have concerns about the decline of the world around us.

And on top of this, we are “promised” that lawlessness will increase and that a great rebellion against God will come headed by a powerful “man of lawlessness” (2 Thess 2:3-12). How can anyone hope to stand against wickedness? What will it take to defeat such powerful evil? What would our champion, Jesus, have to do to overcome such overwhelming odds?

How about, oh, show up and breathe?!

Read 2 Thessalonians 2:8; “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

All Jesus has to do to totally decimate his (and our) enemies is show up and breathe. The brilliance of his appearing will be absolutely awe-inspiring marvelous to his people (2 Thess 1:10). The same appearing will be absolutely disintegrating to his enemies. How absolutely mind-blowing crazy will be that vision on that day?! Can we even wrap our minds around that?

So then, let us stand firm in our faith, increase in our love, be stedfast in our hope and abound in “every good work and word” (2 Thess 2:17) as we look toward that day!

The well wisher of your soul’s happiness!
Pastor Tom

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