Practically Sanctified

Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

 I went to a few Saskatoon Blades games last year. The attendance was pretty good and the Blades were doing really well. I remember thinking that the crowd wasn’t real loud. I supposed it was because we are Canadians and we don’t get too excited about things. Then a couple guys dropped their gloves and went at it on the ice. The fisticuffs brought out a volume that wasn’t there before. The crowd would roar their approval as one guy got in a good punch. Isn’t it remarkable that even though the people paid good money to watch hockey, the thing they got really excited about was the fights! It is almost as if they were watching the wrong thing. Why wouldn’t they go to a boxing match instead. If a hockey game broke out there, then it wouldn’t be an issue, and they would be cheering a whole lot more. Read more…

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

 Have you ever had something stolen? Sometimes we think something is stolen when all that happened is we misplaced it… or forgot where we put it. The Canadian Pacific railroad was built through the Selkirk Mountains, making the railroad town of Donald the focal point for all business and church life in 1887. It served the BC interior east of the City of Kamloops. 13 years later the town of Revelstoke became the new focal point, and Donald became a “has been”. Houses, business establishments, the Odd Fellows Hall – all were taken down piece by piece and shipped to Revelstoke. The Anglican Church remained. It was a great church, and even had a 600 pound silver-toned bell given to them by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, having it shipped all the way from England. When the Synod at New Westminster heard of the removal of the town of Donald to Revelstoke, they presented Revelstoke with the Donald church with one stipulation: the church building had to be taken down and moved by the Revelstoke churchmen. Read more…

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; and hastening to its place it rises there again.
Blowing toward the south, then turning toward the north, the wind continues swirling along; and on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.
All things are wearisome; man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; and also of the later things which will occur, there will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.

Scott Adams wrote a book called the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In it there is a civilization that builds a massive computer and they ask it about the meaning of life. The computer takes an enormous amount of time, some 7 ½ million years, and when the answer is ready everyone is waiting anxiously, parties are happening, joy is in the air, and then the pause before the ultimate question is answered. 42. That is the answer. 42. People look at themselves and wonder what on earth that means. The computer says that it has checked the answer quite thoroughly, and that is indeed the answer. The problem is that the people never really knew what the question was. The computer said it would have to design a new computer that was organic and it would take 10,000,000 years for this one to compute the ultimate question. And then the book continues to digress from there. But we all ask that question, what is the meaning of life, what is it all about? Read more…