Thanks

Ephesians 5:4
Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

How much filthy, foolish, or crude joking can a person engage in and not break this rule?


Ephesians 5:20
giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

What does "everything" include? How often is "always"?


Philippians 4:6
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

What is the breadth of meaning of the words "anything" and "everything"? How inclusive are these words meant to be?

It seems that God really wants us to be thankful. Contrariwise, he does not want us to misuse our mouths through filthiness. He does not want us to waste emotional energy on anxiety. The antidote is thankfulness and prayer.

Pretty simple. Now, go and do it, by the grace of God.

I said "simple", not "easy."

Does that mean that one can never tell a joke or laugh? Of course not! It means that a Christian is supposed to be careful about what is turned into a joke and what is said in order to get a laugh.

God's Discipline

But Thou art making me, I thank Thee, sire.
What Thou hast done and doest Thou knows't well.
And I will help Thee; gently in Thy fire.
I will lie burning on Thy Potter's wheel
I will whirl patient, though my brain should reel.
Thy grace shall be enough the grief to quell,
And growing strength perfect through weakness dire.

- George McDonald
Diary of an Old Soul, October 2

Stretching Exercises

Mathetes On the Great Exchange

Mathetes on the Great Exchange -

Christ took our sin on Him and gave us His righteousness. Oh believe it! Oh receive it! Christ is for you if you will take Him as a free gift. What do you give Him in return? Your sins. Love like that provokes lifelong worship of and devotion to the One who gave His life for us. This is what Christians have always understood and banked on.

"But when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward, punishment and death, was impending over us; and when the time had come which God had before appointed for manifesting His own kindness and power, the one love of God, through exceeding regard for men, did not regard us with hatred, nor thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great long-suffering, and bore with us,* He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God?

O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!"

The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus

* 313 In the ms. “saying” is here inserted, as if the words had been regarded as a quotation from Isa. liii. 11.