What will your reaction be?

It was a pretty good day; coming down to the wire to release data at work, but nothing too strange. Except for waiting around half the day for the Redmond crew to start working on my bugs, that is.

Proverbs 28:2 "By the transgression of a land many are its princes, But by a man of understanding and knowledge, so it endures." And we wonder why bureaucracies come into being. Like John Adams said, our governmental system only works with a moral population.

Sometimes it doesn't take too long into the Lord's day for something to really stick in my mind and bug me the rest of the day. This time it was something Doug said a few minutes into the sunday school lesson, asking the question "what will your reaction be, when Christ comes again?" Once you get past the gutshot "well it'll be great" reaction, how you react is very telling of how you relate to the world and worldly things.

The lesson was drawn from the title of another chapter of Ryle, which echoes the words of Christ to "remember Lot's wife." When confronted with leaving her worldly possessions behind, she was so attracted to them that she disobeyed the angel's warning, and died as a result. When I think of what my reaction would be to the return of Christ, I find myself thinking "well I don't want Him to return yet, because I haven't done X yet and don't have Y yet" far more often than I'd like to admit. When it comes down to it, that reaction is exactly the same as hers- the things of earth meaning more to me than spiritual things. Needless to say, that train of thought is still rattling around my head 36 hours later.

In the morning, Pastor Gary continued the series in Colossians, beginning with the observation that while we often have "I want to please Him in everything" on our minds, we often resort to our own thoughts about what pleases Him and how to please Him. Paul's list starts with bearing fruit in what He things is good, something that requires searching of the Word to know. Second on Paul's list is theology, "increasing in the knowledge of God." Sadly, there are far too many so-called Christians who are faithful about following the "rules" and going to church once a week, but have no interest at all in learning about God Himself. Third, "strengthened to endurance." Fourth, "giving thanks." He dwelt for the rest of his time on this one, because it is the one most obvious to a watching world.

Only someone who has a strong understanding of Providence can be thankful in all circumstances, even the most painful. Knowing that every things that He brings about comes from the hand of an affectionate Father is the only thing that will get you through and enable you to take even the toughest situations with joy.