Stephen
Terry, Director
Reasons
for Thanksgiving and Prayer
Commentary
for the January 10, 2026, Sabbath School Lesson
"It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and
rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that
I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of
selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me
while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in
every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because
of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice," Philippians 1:15-18
Paul
seems to be taking an enlightened approach to his situation and asserting that
there is no such thing as bad publicity. With rancor or adoration, some who
hear the discussions about Christ will seek to know more and knowledge of the
Messiah will spread. Others may assert that biblically Christ is clearly this
or that, but when humanity is imbued with divinity, nothing is really that
clear. This is not because God lacks transparency. To the contrary, God is very
transparent about who and what he is. It is our own lack of tools to adequately
measure, and consequently understand, that transparency that fails us. This can
result in frustration that devolves into criticism of what is
not understood, while for others, the mystery coupled with benevolence
raises hearts to levels of hope and adoration previously unscaled.
Some
would argue that the Bible is nothing special because of the contradictions in
its text. Others would deny that those contradictions exist. They imbue the Bible
with divinity as though it also had personhood. Therefore, reasoning that since
imperfection is not an attribute of the divine, there could be no contradictions
or imperfections in the text. At times, they appear to have misconstrued the
text "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God." (John 1:1) However, "the Word" was not referring to scripture. It was
referring to Jesus. With that understanding, the Word is perfect and without
contradiction, but it is not the Bible. Jesus perfectly and transparently
reveals the character of God. "God is love." (1 John 4:8), and that divine love
emanated from Jesus as a light to this world. "In him was life, and that life
was the light of all mankind." (John 1:4) Despite the Bible's testimony about
him, the followers of Arius, and others like them, have refused to accept the underived
divinity of Jesus. It is an irony that, "Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made." (John 1:3) Yet humanity
failed to receive him as Creator. "He came to that which was his own, but his
own did not receive him." (John 1:11)
I
once lived on a small farm next to an equally small ranch. As I walked the dirt
roads in the area, my path would take me by the ranch where a few horses were
penned. I developed the habit of carrying apples or carrots to offer them as I
passed, and with time they would come to the fence when they saw me coming,
anticipating my generosity and kindness based on experience. Soon, rewards
crunching in their mouths confirmed their judgment of my character. Even abused
animals have been able to respond to kindness and love with trust and
affection. Strangely, despite being considered of lower intellect than
humanity, these animals have a greater capacity as judges of character and
willingness to accept the good than we do. We live in an area where many of the
homes are occupied by military personnel, who frequently are transferred to other
assignments around the globe. A sad consequence of this is that the military apparently
does not provide relocation of their pets and cats especially tend to be
abandoned when the family relocates. A young, long-haired Tortie cat who was forgotten in this manner showed up at our back door this
autumn, hungry and scared. We made sure she had a safe place to come for food
and water and a small shelter from the elements. Over time, she has
transitioned from running at the sight of me to coming to the back door to meow
for a meal and attention. This past week, a landmark in the relationship happened
when she began welcoming petting as well as food.
I
like to think that God gave us these animals that we might grow to understand
the love and care he has for each of us. We take these animals into our care
and our lives, knowing that because their lives are much shorter than ours, we
will too soon feel the pain of separation as they leave us. While I am not
saying that God sees us as his pets, Jesus revealed that he understands that
pain when he wept before Lazarus's tomb. (John
11) Even though Jesus knew Lazarus was soon to be resurrected
when called to come forth from the tomb, he keenly felt the anguish of those
who loved Lazarus and that love resonated within his own heart. Each time we
say goodbye to a beloved pet, we stand with those who face death's door as they
lose a deeply cherished piece of their heart to a place they will not return
from and we ourselves will eventually discover. For this reason, death is perceived
as an enemy. (1
Corinthians 15:26)
But
Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb, and that power is the same that will raise
each of us from death should we choose to receive it. But like so many
blessings of God, they are not intended as violations of our will. If we choose
to have faith in God despite our inability to fully comprehend his character
despite his full transparency, we will see that faith rewarded. We may sleep
the rest of the dead for now, but the day will come when Jesus returns, the
trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise from their graves through the same
power that not only created all things but resurrects those who died while holding
that faith in their hearts. (1
Corinthians 15)
This
is the essence of Christianity. It is a simple, yet profound story shared in
the sixty-six books of the Bible. The story is not perfect. In fact, it takes twists
and turns along the way. Put simply, God creates our world and all its creatures,
including humanity. We walk together with God until one day, we decided we no
longer trusted him and walked away, choosing to believe a lie about his character
instead of the evidence of our own experience. The history of humanity has been
a struggle between choosing the convenient lie or the difficult truth. That truth
is made difficult because the farther we walk from God, the harder it is to realize
how transparent he is about himself. Light reveals and darkness conceals, and as John says, "Light has come into the world,
but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone
who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that
their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the
light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in
the sight of God." (John 3:19-21)
Paul,
in his letter to the Romans, says that we all have done evil. (Romans
3:23) Our inclination then is to avoid the light which will reveal our
moral failings, so we choose to walk toward the dark, prisoners in a slave
chain either unwilling or unable to turn instead toward the light. If we did,
we would find our chains dropping to the ground and discover the freedom that
the light of Christ brings. He declared, "Now a slave has no permanent place in
the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you
will be free indeed." (John 8:35-36) This freedom is why we are called the children
of God. (Romans
8:16) If we are God's children then we are joint heirs with Christ, his
unique son. There is a glorious end to the story that the Bible tells in its winding
way. One day, resurrected with eternal life, we will walk again in the garden with
God, rejoicing in the companionship and fully knowing God's character and the love
it exudes as a light shining in our hearts. Having walked in the darkness of
the lie about God's character and intentions, we will have immunity to such
lies. All of creation will live in harmony.
As
the prophet, Isaiah tells us, "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard
will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young
will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant
will play near the cobra's den, and the young child will put its hand into the
viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for
the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea." (Isaiah 11:6-9) I pray that each of us sees that day with hearts filled
with thanksgiving.