My last post was a tribute to my mom, who passed away two years ago.   Spending a lot of time with her in the hospital before she died reminded me of what a sad and wonderful place a hospital can be; a place where profound suffering and profound compassion often embrace.

Recently I discovered an extraordinary blog.  I’m not exaggerating.  Danielle is a med student who may have missed her calling as a writer.  A blog this good makes me realize I have no business blogging.  I should be doing something that I can do well, like cleaning toilets.

This sad, sweet story is just one example of the beautiful and gut-wrenching reflections you’ll find at Danielle’s blog.  (If you’ve already read that story, it’s probably because Tim Challies linked to it last week.)

How would I describe Danielle’s blog?  Honest. Witty. Wise. Sad. Compassionate. Intelligent. Articulate. Poignant. Occasionally funny. Always well-written.  I could go on.  Trust me, it’s a great blog.  So what are you still doing here?

The tag line for this blog is “reflections on life, death, and everything in between.”  If you’ve been a reader very long, you know that’s an accurate summary of the things I write about.  We live, we die; and everything that we say, do, think, and believe in that incredibly brief span of time between life and death has eternal implications.

In our weekly prayer meeting a couple of days ago, we read this verse as part of our corporate Scripture reading:

The memory of the righteous is a blessing, (Prov. 10:7a)

My mom died two years ago today.  She was righteous in Christ, and her memory is a blessing to me and others who knew her well.  Most of my friends who visited her during her 5 year battle with leukemia told me they came away feeling like she had encouraged them more than they had encouraged her.

Mom is with Jesus now.  I don’t base my confidence in that fact on sentimentalism or wishful thinking.  When Mom was young she did what the Bible says everyone who wants eternal life must do—she repented of her sin, and gave her life to Christ.  He became her Savior and her Master.  She loved him and trusted him and followed him (imperfectly, like all the rest of his followers) until the day she died.

I’m afraid there are many who think that as long as you believe in God and try to live a pretty good life, you’ll go to heaven.  I want to say this as bluntly as I can—that’s a lie.  My goal in this post isn’t to preach a sermon, but if you believe something like that, I can’t urge you strongly enough to pick up a Bible and read one of the gospels.  When you’re finished, you might as well go ahead and read the rest of the New Testament.  It might save your life.  I would love to talk to any of you reading this about what it means to follow Christ.  Please feel free to contact me any time, either in person or through this blog.

But for now, I just want to say that I’m thankful for the time I had with my mom.  I’m thankful that her body is no longer broken and racked with pain.  I’m thankful that she is at this moment indescribably happy; she is, I believe, humbled and amazed and thrilled that she will get to spend eternity worshiping the One who gave his life for a sinner like her.

November 20 two years ago, the day mom died, was a Tuesday, just two days before Thanksgiving.  There was no shortage of tears that Thanksgiving.  But tears don’t necessarily preclude gratitude.  And I guess what I’m trying so hard to say, as another Thanksgiving approaches, is that I’m thankful for my mom: for her life, her legacy, and even for her death, knowing that it was her entrance to unimaginable joy in the presence of Christ.

I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Most people seem to me to have a tendency to think about the needy at Christmas time.  That’s good.  Unfortunately, it also seems that many have a tendency to think about the needy only at Christmas time.  As Christians, our concern for those in need should be apparent every day of the year.   The biblical commands to care for the poor are numerous and clear and certainly not limited to once a year.

I don’t say any of that, of course, to discourage anyone from remembering the needy at Christmas.  Rather, I hope to encourage you to remember the needy all year long.  Since Christmas is quickly approaching, though, I want to point out a few simple and rather painless things you could do this holiday season to help those in need.

Buy Coffee

Freshly roasted coffee makes a nice, fairly inexpensive gift for the beloved coffee addicts in your life.  If you’d like to buy coffee and help the poor at the same time, you have a couple of options.

Gobena Coffee

The events surrounding the adoption of their daughter inspired the Lehmans, in their words, to…

start this ministry where 100% of the net profits are reinvested in the lives of orphan children throughout the world. Each time you purchase a bag of coffee, you are providing hope and life to children who do not have parents caring for them.  (Find out more here)

Bolaven Farms

Inspired in part by the ministry of John Piper, Bolaven Farms is a coffee grower with a heart for the poor.

What the poor want is not aid, but jobs – real jobs, not subsidized ones. This is the dignity and self-reliance we are equally created for. Embracing this revealed desire of the poor, Bolaven Farms is committed to labor with our Resident Farmers, to put an end to poverty, one family at a time.  (Website here)

Buy Homemade Earring Holders

Whose wife doesn’t have lots of earrings?

Blog team member Isaac Johnson’s wife has a friend who is trying to help a refugee family from Iraq pay for much needed dental work by selling home made earring holders.

If you or anyone you know is interested in purchasing an earring holder for a suggested donation of $20 (plus shipping if needed), one hundred percent of the proceeds will fund the dental work needed by this family. (If you do know of others who might be interested in your area, it might save on shipping to send a couple together.) The earring holders are beautifully crafted, hand-made, and they make great Christmas gifts!  (Read more here)

If you’re not interested in purchasing coffee or earring holders (or even if you are) there are also a lot of other ways to help the needy.

Fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child (but you’ll have to hurry!)

Get involved with Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree ministry.

Or do something else creative.  But please, do something.  And whatever you do, don’t stop when Christmas is over.

Welcome to the 302nd edition of the Christian Carnival, a weekly collection of some of the best posts of the Christian blogosphere.  This carnival is open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions.

You can find detailed submission instructions here, join the weekly reminder list here, or just dive in head first and submit your post for next week here.  Only posts published between midnight EST Tuesday night, November 9 and midnight EST Tuesday night, November 16 are eligible for next week’s carnival.

PLEASE NOTE: A few posts were not included because they didn’t qualify for inclusion under the submission guidelines. Remember, you may only submit one post per week, and it must have been published to your blog within the specified time period for that carnival.

Disclaimer:  As you might expect with a carnival like this, I don’t agree with all the views expressed in every post, but I’m always more than happy to host it.  There are many excellent, thought-provoking articles every week.  If I had time, I would comment on some of the posts with which I disagree, but I don’t have time, so this disclaimer will have to suffice.

I should note that today is Veteran’s Day in the U.S.  Before proceeding, I simply want to acknowledge my gratitude to all those who have served, or are currently serving their country in the armed forces.

Conflicts of all types are very real.  Appropriately enough for this Veteran’s Day edition of the carnival, many of the posts this week deal with the battles we face as followers of Christ. Here they are, in the order I received them:

Glowing Face Man presents Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen? posted at Glowing Face Man, saying, “In this article I respond to one of the classic atheist arguments against God.”

FMF presents Does Giving Make You Wealthier? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Is it possible that you become wealthier by giving?”

angela ambroise presents The journey of a relationship posted at He Speaks To Me, saying “Have you ever been in a different country or maybe a different state and found some of the custom’s odd?”

Diana Hall presents The Death Penalty: Just Deserts or Justice Deserted? posted at damascusmoments, saying, “How does a Christian state justify the death penalty? Can it?”

Yohan Perera presents The Parable of the Sower (PowerPoint version) | The Virtual Preacher posted at The Virtual Preacher, saying, “100% free preaching and teaching resources for Christians”

Albie presents Do not say: I am too young (or too old) posted at iDevelopWorld, saying “You’re never too young (or too old) to achieve your life purpose.”

Kathryn presents Let the Weight Loss Journey Begin posted at Soul-Food-Diet, saying, “Weight loss is a heart issue and there can be only one path to the answer.”

John presents How We Discuss: Probabilities and Bulverisms posted at Brain Cramps for God, saying, “Two things caught my eye this week related to the way discussions seem to go online:”

BWL presents Learning how to be content posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, “A personal look at my desire to live a life of contentment…”

loswl presents Who is God – Part One posted at INSPIKS | Inspirational Piks, saying, “A first glance this colorful paper strip looks just like a normal two sided band of paper, but at a closer look it becomes obvious that this strip of paper is by no means normal in the sense it has only one side—this is called a Mobius strip.”

A K Browne presents Let’s Wait Awhile posted at W2W Soul: Windows to The Woman’s Soul, saying, “Amy felt confident about her decision to go to Joey’s apartment that night to watch a movie. Yes they would be alone, but it was just a comedy with no risqué content. Since they both shared the same values, they both had agreed to practice sexual purity before marriage.”

Bible SEO presents How to Effectively Lead Bible Study Small Group or Church Cell Group | Bible Study Lessons | Bible Studies | Printable Bible Study Guide posted at Bible Study Exposition Online, saying, “This is a practical study guide for effectively leading a small group bible study. It offers various suggestions for study preparation, group dynamics and management.”

ADelgado presents Glorify God With Your Body?1 Corinthians 6.9-20 posted at eInquisitive | Giving you something productive to think about!, saying “I have been teaching Bible study lessons for many years now. I have a passion for teaching the Bible, God’s inspired word, accurately through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

Trent Cotton presents Scars posted at Christian Men-Christian Warriors, saying, “what Christ can do with scars”

Henry Neufeld presents A Shell of a Church posted at Jevlir Caravansary, saying, “Can you have a big, grower church that is spiritually an empty shell?”

For His Glory presents Redeeming the Desert posted at For His Glory, saying “The Lord never takes us to the desert to leave us there.”

Weekend Fisher presents The historical Jesus is Jewish: Gauging a gospel’s historical view of Jesus posted at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength, saying, “Weekend Fisher looks at measurable quality differences between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on the one hand, and the non-canonical gospels on the other. Here we see how a prominent Jewish scholar uses the canonical gospels as primary sources on first-century synagogues, while the non-canonicals cannot be used that way.”

Brian Marchionni presents Are Charismatics Ruining the Term “Charismatic”? posted at Boston Bible Geeks, saying “It’s always interesting to see the reaction I get when I tell someone that I am a charismatic.  I’ve been getting weird looks since my undergrad days at a Baptist university.”

Jeremy Pierce presents God’s Priorities in Phil 1:9-11 posted at Parableman, saying, “Paul’s prayer in Phil 1:9-11 has several “so that” clauses that indicate further priorities for each thing he prays for.”

michelle presents 11.07.09 posted at Thoughts and Confessions of a Girl Who Loves Jesus… “A Meditation on Isaiah 53″

Rey Reynoso presents Words and Romans posted at The Bible Archive, saying, “An overview of the book of Romans by looking at the importance of words, context, and thought-flow.”

My contribution to the carnival this week is Angels and Demons.  “I’m not talking about Dan Brown’s novel, or the movie based on it.  I’m talking about real demons and real angels.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of christian carnival ii using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: christian carnival ii, blog carnival.

St.Michael and his Angels Fight the Dragon, by Albrect Durer

The title of this post isn’t a reference to Dan Brown’s novel, or the movie based on it.  It’s a reference to real demons and real angels.

Angels and Demons

Even though I’ve never personally seen a demon or an angel, and would be perfectly happy if I never did, I take it for granted (precisely because the Bible does) that both exist, and that neither are to be trifled with.

Angels are not cute, chubby little creatures who fly around shooting benevolent arrows at people, causing them to fall madly in love.  They’re not people who’ve died and float around on clouds, or come back to earth to comfort someone who’s troubled.  In fact, they’re not people at all, and never were.  They are an entirely distinct order of created beings, and there’s nothing cute and cuddly about them; they are fearsome and awe-inspiring.  Much of the contemporary view of and fascination with angels is simply sentimental nonsense.

It’s interesting that people can be intrigued by “spirituality,” and angels strike them as “safer” than God. Yet in Scripture angels begin by saying, “Do not be afraid.” Why? Because of their awesomeness and holiness, the natural response is fear.  [Randy Alcorn, here]

And likewise, demons are not the product of an overactive imagination.  They are real, and sometimes so beautifully disguised that they’re not even recognizable as demons (2 Corinthians 11:14).  At other times, it’s unmistakably clear what they are (Matthew 8:28-34).

At 3:34 AM, My eyes opened when Emily said, “Go away!”

I fell.

I asked her what was happening, and she told me that she woke up to see me being picked up from the bed. Scared out of our wits, I offered up a fumbling prayer, “Is this in our head or is it real? If it’s real, can you let us know?”

Things got worse.

Emily and I were paralyzed. She was crying. It felt like someone was pressing their knees into my chest. And I kept hearing something mocking me, telling me that I belonged to them.

But something else started coming to mind. Imagery from the gospels: Jesus’ authority over demons, His knowledge of who belongs to Him, His bearing my sin on the cross… And in a moment, I cried out, asking Jesus to save me.  [Aaron Armstrong, here]

On one hand, I don’t remotely believe everything I read about personal encounters with supernatural beings.  On the other hand, I know that angels and demons are real and not to be taken lightly.  The stories (outside the Bible) that I take most seriously are the ones (like Aaron’s) that have a certain gravity about them, and glorify Jesus.  All other accounts I usually regard as sensational and/or potentially misleading (or worse).

Are demons real?  Yes, but every last one of them bow and grovel at the name of Jesus.  Are angels real?  Yes, but Christ commands them all.

Ultimately, a preoccupation with demons or angels or other supernatural beings and occurrences will almost inevitably lead to error, because it takes something that’s peripheral in Scripture and makes it central.  If you’re interested in the supernatural, fix your attention on what is central (and incredibly supernatural) in the Bible—that Jesus Christ himself, although He was sinless, died for our sins, physically rose from the dead, and is alive this moment with the power to save anyone who trusts Him.  That’s the best news you’ll ever hear.

The Music Man

Last year I told you about my daughter the director.  Now it appears that we have another budding thespian in the family.

My youngest son was selected last winter to play the part of Winthrop in a Sikeston Little Theatre production of “The Music Man.”  It was his first play.  He had always been a little shy, so I wasn’t sure how well he would handle being in the spotlight.

As it turned out, he handled it pretty well.  In fact, I want to tell you a couple of “behind the scenes” stories.  If you’re interested in those, continue reading below the video.

This video consists of six excerpts from the play, beginning with the introduction just before the opening curtain (read by my son as Winthrop, with his trademark lisp).  The clip includes “Gary, Indiana” and a portion of “Wells Fargo Wagon.”  Keep in mind that this is a small town amateur theater; it’s a lot of fun, but it’s still amateur through and through.

Two things about my son’s effort during this adventure made me very proud.  The first was his unassuming attitude.

He was the youngest boy trying out for the part, and he knew that his age and inexperience probably put him at a disadvantage.  The kids were allowed to sing anything they wanted for their tryout.  Since Winthrop has a lisp in the play, my wife wisely selected “All I Want for Christmas” for his tryout.  As you might expect a shy eight year old boy to do, he stood on stage with his hands in his pockets, blinded by the bright stage lights and looking a little timid, and started to sing.

He blew me away.  He nailed every note, and by the time he got to the failed whistle attempt that comes right after “if I could only whith-le,” everyone in the theater roared.  That caught him off guard, but he quickly regained his composure and finished the song.  The audience clapped and cheered enthusiastically.  He seemed genuinely surprised at the response he received.  His unassuming child-likeness was the first thing that made me very proud.

(We found out later that they had intended to have 2 or 3 of the leading contenders for the part come back a few days later and read for the part.  But the directors were so pleased with Micah’s tryout that they didn’t call anyone else back.)

The second thing that made me proud also makes me wonder whether I did the right thing.  Micah started getting sick on the final weekend of performances.  He didn’t feel well Friday and came down with a fever Saturday.

That created a tremendous dilemma for me.  My first instinct was to pull him out of the play and let him rest, but there was no one who could take his place.  He only made it though the Saturday and Sunday performance with Tylenol and breathing treatments.  By the time we took him to the doctor on Monday morning, he was right on the verge of pneumonia.

I felt terrible.  I still don’t know whether we did the right thing.  But that leads me to the second thing that made me proud.  He was such a trooper.  He was extremely sick, but he was the one who wanted to keep going, and I think he gave his best performances those last two days.

Postscript

That was a grueling experience.  Since the “Music Man” was an adult play, the practices were long and late for a third grader.  We decided to take a break and sit out the next couple of plays.  But…

A few weeks ago, he auditioned for a part in a children’s version of “A Christmas Carol.”  I’m pleased to announce he’ll be appearing at The Sikeston Little Theatre this December as Ebenezer Scrooge.  Bah! Humbug!

Every year as Halloween approaches, a familiar controversy resurfaces.  Should Christians celebrate the holiday, or not?  Is Halloween a trick—a subtle doorway into the dark world of the occult; or a treat—a good time with family and friends and the neighbors we otherwise seldom see?

My blog spotting this week consists of posts (both old and new) written by Christians with widely divergent views on the origin, customs, and advisability of celebrating Halloween.

There are those who believe everything about Halloween is demonic and irredeemably evil.  I consider that an extreme position.  I thought about linking to a recent article as an example, but decided I didn’t want to take a chance on somehow dignifying it in the process.  (I’m still shaking my head over some of the mind-boggling statements in it.)

But setting aside bizarre and extreme views, I think there’s real value in hearing what godly men have to say about whether or how a particular holiday should be celebrated.  I think it’s a legitimate question:  Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

Some say NO, some say YES, some say…MAYBE

Dan Edelen doesn’t like Halloween, as he made clear a couple of years ago with The Obligatory “Halloween Is Bad” Post …he also doesn’t see much point in Halloween alternatives.  He tells why in this post:  The Church and the Halloween Alternative Party

Al Mohler also urges caution, reminding readers “that evil spirits are real”:  Christianity and the Dark Side–What About Halloween?

For three consecutive years, 2005, 2006, and 2007,  Tim Challies took a slightly different approach, expressing his conviction “that it is a very poor witness to have the house of believers blacked out on Halloween.”

Michael Patton got a little fired up in his post a few days ago, chiding those who consider Halloween irredeemably evil.  Lots of comments on this one: Jesus with His Lights Turned off on Halloween

Pete Wilson says he enjoys Halloween:  Can Christians Celebrate Halloween?

Randy Alcorn offers a little food for thought in A Perspective on Halloween

Greg Koukl (unlike Dan) thinks alternative celebrations are probably a good idea:  Christians and Halloween (video)

Finally, in the interest of lightening up just a little, Ben Witherington thought if would be fun to re-post an article from The Onion (yes, that Onion) for Halloween a couple of years ago:  Just in Time for All Hallow’s Eve– Ezekiel’s Skeleton People Show Up

You might hate Halloween, or you might love it.  I think you have every right (and maybe even a responsibility) to argue your point, and argue it passionately.  But for those of us who are Christians, we need to be careful not to pass judgment on those brothers and sisters who might beg to differ with us.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God (Rom. 14:5-12).

What about me?  I guess I’m somewhere in the middle.  I think Halloween can be harmless fun.  And I think Halloween can be full of occultic darkness and godless debauchery.  In one sense, Halloween is what it is; but in another, perhaps, it is what we make it.

I’ve never met Tony Kummer in real life, although I now believe he’s a real person, and not a zombie, as I had once wondered aloud here on this blog.

Tony has been active for several years on various blogs and social networking sites.  He’s encouraged me, both directly and indirectly, to see social media as a good way to engage people in important discussions about Christ and the Bible.

In conjunction with the relaunch of one of his previous projects, Tony’s giving away a great selection of devotional books.  The website, known as Devotional Christian, is a combination of original articles and RSS feeds for some of the very best online devotionals.

Here’s just a small sampling of the books that will be given away:

1. Golden Treasury of Puritan Devotion: Selections from the Writings of 13 Puritans by Di Gangi, Mariano
2. Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional (Hardcover) by Luther, Martin
3. Search the Scriptures: A Three Year Daily Devotional Guide to the Whole Bible
4. Day by Day with the Early Church Fathers (Hardcover) by Hudson, Christopher D.
5. Teach Us to Pray: 365 Prayers from the Bible (Paperback) by Beals, Timothy J.
6. Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (Hardcover) by Keller, Timothy
7. The Fruitful Life: The Overflow of God’s Love Through You (Paperback) by Bridges, Jerry
8. In Christ Alone: Reflections on the Heart of the Gospel (Hardcover) by Sinclair Ferguson.
9. The Loveliness of Christ (Soft Gift Edition) by Rutherford, Samuel (foreword by Sinclair Ferguson)
10. The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians (Paperback) by Storms, C. Samuel
11. Lord and His Prayer by Wright, N. T.

I encourage you to check out Devotional Christian, and add it to your feed reader.  If you’d like to enter the giveaway, click here for details.

I’m planning to take my 9 year old son to see the new movie based on Maurice Sendak’s 1964 Caldecott Medal-winning children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are. My son, who’s somewhat timid by nature, loved the book.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but since the book consists of only a few sentences and some exceptional artwork, I realize that turning it into a movie required a significant amount of imaginative story development.  From the reviews I’ve read it seems that Spike Jonze has done just that, and done it well.

Reactions to the movie vary widely, as they typically do to movies based on a book.  Here are links to some of the more thought-provoking, and occasionally poignant and/or informative reviews I’ve read.  All of these are written from a Christian perspective:

From WORLD Magazine:  Not so Wild

Carolyn Arends reviewed the movie for ChristianityToday movies. com

Brent Thomas writes a review at his blog:  Where the Wild Things Are

I don’t know who this is, but it may be my favorite review of all:  Where the Wild Things Are

Southern Seminary professor Russell Moore suggests the movie might not be wild enough:  Where the Wild Things Aren’t

Plugged In offers 3 different reviews (in an audio, video, or a more thorough print format):  Where the Wild Things Are

Have you seen the movie yet?  I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.

There have been times throughout my life, right up until the present, when I feel as if I’ve utterly failed to lead a holy life.  That’s sobering, since Hebrews 12:14 clearly admonishes us to “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.“  In light of passages like that, falling into sin can be disheartening, to say the least.

In his last post, Isaac gave a brief overview of some of the different ways Christians have interpreted (and attempted to obey) the biblical commands to be holy.  Isaac will resume his biblical counseling series soon, but in the mean time I want to follow up on a comment I made on that last post.

I referred to an illustration in Jerry Bridges’ book “The Pursuit of Holiness.”  It wasn’t a major feature of the book, but for some reason I’ve never forgotten it, even though I read the book over 20 years ago.  It’s encouraged me on those occasions when I’ve been deeply discouraged by my own apparent lack of progress.  I couldn’t find it online anywhere, so my son duplicated it for me in a Word document.  (This may be the only place on the internet where you can find it!)

Here’s the illustration, followed by Bridges’ explanation of it from the book.

Some feel that such statements of Paul’s as “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15) are too strong for a Christian walking in the Spirit.  But what Christian can deny that this is often his own experience?  The truth is, the more we see of the holiness of God and His law revealed to us in the Scripture, the more we recognize how far short we fall…

As we grow in the knowledge of God’s holiness, even though we are also growing in the practice of holiness it seems the gap between our knowledge and our practice always gets wider. This is the Holy Spirit’s way of drawing us to more and more holiness…

I hope you find that little illustration encouraging when you fall, and a great incentive to get right back up and resume the pursuit of holiness.

If you’d like to read another endorsement of the book, Union University professor Ray Van Neste (an elder in my pastor’s former church)  shared a few thoughts about it on his blog a few years ago.  You can read that here.

Sin clings closely to us.  We’ve got to set it aside and fix our eyes on Jesus.

let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Strive…for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)