Russell's Thoughts

Thought for the Day

"At least with separate water fountains blacks and whites each had water to drink."—Herman Cain

Holy Father?

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church is called, and allows himself to be called, Holy Father.  The following verse would make me fear to take such a name.

"Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."  Matthew 23:9

This does not, of course, teach us to shun the term father as it pertains to natural parentage, but it does mean that we are to have no man to be God's vicar to us.  We are not to have the very type of priesthood that pervades the Catholic church because each believer is a "vicar of Christ" equally with every other.  There is to be no father among us, and there is to be no priesthood.  We are all priests for our own selves.  We certainly need apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Eph. 4:11), but we must not have priests.  Each man is his own agent with God, and God addresses Himself to each man directly.  As far as the Holy Father is concerned, there is none other than God.

Indolence! Thy name is Russell.

I go through periods, sometimes months in duration, when I find it difficult to motivate myself to do anything at all.  During such periods, projects go unstarted and unfinished, relationships deteriorate, and character flaws are magnified.  I wonder why this occurs, and I struggle with controlling and overcoming the phenomenon.  Whatever excuses my mind gropes for, there is no doubting that this is a serious flaw in my person that must be corrected.  Maybe as I sense a time of indolence overtaking me, I should engage in many extra activities to overwhelm it and put it off.  Maybe what is needed as it approaches is a major shift in the types of activities in my routine.  Perhaps the problem is merely boredom.  If so, then the solution is simply discipline to persist in my activities and the introduction of some new thing.  As I endeavor to rise from the latest period of profound laziness, I will reflect on this and try to find ways of beating the problem.