In a matter of days families will gather around tables to feast and to talk about what they’re thankful for.  People will give thanks for health and family.  We may even rejoice over accomplishments or luxuries.  How many people will say they’re thankful for Holy Communion?  When was the last time you were grateful for this wonderful blessing? 

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God.   (1 John 4:1-2)

Back when I worked at IHOP, my manager would come up to me at the worst times and ask me “Is it a sin to…” and fill in the blank with some random sin.  I never quite knew how to respond.  (Especially with a 100 other things on my mind at that moment.)  I’m not entirely sure what she was thinking, but as I replay these conversations in my mind, I think she genuinely was exploring what it meant for something to be good or evil.  During my days at Red Lobster it was not uncommon for a customer to ask me if I was a born-again Christian.  Catching me off-guard, this basic question would again leave me stumbling for words.  Over the years still others have found more questions that have also left me searching for answers.

For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly.  It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him.  But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:6-8)

The Lord your God is with you as a hero who will save you. He takes great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.  (Zephaniah 3:17)

“Hold them in the highest regard in love.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:13)