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Tag Archives: appreciation

FRUITLESS

13 Thursday Jan 2022

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

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appreciation, eternity, gratitude, purpose

If you have a competitive spirit within you, if you are driven to succeed in some endeavor in which you are engaged, then you understand the importance of receiving recognition for the work done, for placing first in a race. When a person turns to you and asks you to accomplish a hard task, it is only natural that at the end of the task you would like to hear not only “Thank you”, but something along the line, but some expression of gratitude that appreciates your willingness to do it and your accomplishment at getting it done.

This is not a matter of soothing one’s ego; it is a matter of 1) a recognition of a person’s capability, 2) a desire to tap into a person’s need to feel needed, 3) an appreciation of work done the right way, and 4) satisfaction that your efforts are not wasted on fruitless ends.

Fruitless ends? Do you not want what you accomplish to have purpose? You do, of course. Yet, if you turn around and look behind you and wonder for what purpose you did this or that, it breeds discouragement, frustration, and, ultimately, a turning away. “Why do this if there is no gratitude, no appreciation, no end result that benefits other people?”

The Lord’s wisdom cries out, willing to give counsel to all who will take the time to hear and listen to His word. To turn away from His counsel because you see little purpose because it’s restrictive, the Lord’s response to you will correspond to your lack of gratitude, appreciation for what He has done. It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the One and only living God. Your life will come to a fruitless end. RT  

Jesus’ Temptation

07 Sunday Feb 2010

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

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appreciation

When the Lord walked the earth, did He really endure the temptations I continually suffer through….and on many occasions fail? It is difficult to appreciate what our Lord was able to achieve; it is quite difficult to appreciate this because I fail so miserably. Being as difficult as it is, how can I appreciate what the Lord did for me? Consider his temptations.

To begin, notice that the Lord faced a frontal attack, if you will. The Lord was driven into the wilderness and there for a period of little over a month, He endured hunger and the full force of Satan’s effort. Jesus, at His physical weakest, was tempted to change stones into food, but He resisted. This resistance tells us that food for the soul is much greater than food for the body. Jesus’ second temptation (in Matthew) was a grand opportunity for Him to demonstrate to the crowds below His messianic mission; to complicate the matter, Satan quotes Scripture to entice Jesus to put the words of the Father to the test. Jesus, however, is not giving in with such a presumptuous action of putting God to the test when He knows, already, that the words of the Father ring true regardless of man’s action and thought. Jesus’ third temptation, from the god of this world, was a temptation to ambition. Jesus refused this as well; what would it have gained Him to gain the whole world, only to lose His soul?

When Luke records this, he states at the end of all this, that the defeated Satan waited for a more opportune time to defeat Jesus. He used man. Today, he still uses man to achieve his purposes. Unfortunately, man is a willing accomplice. Jesus, as a man, felt the force of these temptations, but as the Son of God, He was able to overcome what Satan thrust against Him. As a man, I appreciate what the Lord did for me because, as a man, I can’t overcome. On the other hand, when I have crucified myself to the ways of the world (Galatians 2:20), as a man, Jesus already overcame. In that I trust!

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