Thankful Thursday

Join me in thanking God for this past week’s blessings.

This week, I’ve been thankful 

• for yesterday spent with the grandchildren; for their growth and development—even though some stages of development are more difficult than others. (Terrible twos, I’m thinking of you!)
• that the raspberries in my yard are beginning to ripen and the bushes are full of blossoms and berries to come.
• for every frost-free night. Yes, it’s time to begin watching the forecast nightly lows for frost warnings. Until the my tomato stops producing, every frost-free night is a gift.
• for the work my son is doing on my fence, replacing the rotted bits and staining the whole thing again.
• that I can entrust God with all the things that worry me, knowing that he cares for me.
• for resurrection—the resurrection of Jesus, and the certain future resurrection of all those united with him. 

Also thankful today:

• Kim Shay
• Persis

What are you thankful for? Leave a comment with your thanksgiving, post your thanksgiving on your blog, or tweet it. Give me the link by email or in a comment and I’ll add your thanksgiving to the list in the post.

Theological Term of the Week

pantheism
“[T]he view that there is a God, and God is everything. … God isn’t beyond the universe or greater than the universe. Rather, God is the universe.”1

• Scripture disproving pantheism by teaching that God is distinct from creation:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 ESV)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:18-25 ESV)

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Heidelberg Catechism

Question 47. Is Christ, then, not with us to the end of the world, as he has promised us? (a)

Answer: Christ is true man and true God. With respect to his human nature he is no longer on earth, (b) but with respect to his divinity, majesty, grace and spirit, he is never absent from us. (c)  

(Scriptural proofs after the fold.)

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