Monthly Archives: May 2016

Morning Musings

A Christian or a Disciple?

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Are You a Christian or a Disciple?

Bible Study2    We heard a talk recently about the difference between a Christian and disciple. The word disciple is rarely used these days in general conversation, and we have nearly forgotten what it means. Talking about disciples brings to mind the twelve men who followed Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry, and as we stop to think about them, they did indeed leave everything they had for those three years and follow Him.

The word disciple comes from the word discipline….that is, a disciple is one who is disciplined to follow the wishes of another person. As we look around today, and even at ourselves, we realise how little discipline we practice in our daily lives. But unless we practice this, we will never achieve our goals. A top sportsman disciplines his life in the pursuit of excellence in his chosen sport.

So it is with those who say they follow Christ. Do we just follow Him when it suits us, or do we put His wishes before our own and put Him first? Unless we do this, we cannot say we are His disciples. In fact, He said that if we do not put His wishes before our own, we cannot be His disciple (Luke 14:27).

    Too harsh, you might think. The price is too high. But remember what He did for each of us when He left His beautiful home in heaven and came to live on this earth and put himself into a position when people disliked him enough to kill Him. He did this to atone for mankind’s sin. What is our response to this? Well, we will become a Christian and follow Him when it suits us. But don’t ask us to give up our pleasures and sports on His day. That is too much. Is it? We cannot be His disciple unless we practice this discipline. The challenge is there….it is up to each one of us to respond.

 

Random Devotional Thoughts

Encouraging Words

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Man TalkingThe old man was visiting his daughter and family one time. An opportunity was given in the church one morning for people to share some thoughts and he jumped up and began to talk. His family all visibly winced, as they knew Grand-dad was likely to go on and on. But what he said was very good….”I want to talk about encouragement”, he began, “ I need encouragement, you need encouragement, we ALL need encouragement! “ and he carried on. I remembered this incident when we got a letter of encouragement this week. It really lifted our spirits to realise that little things we have done over the years have been seen and taken notice of, and that they have been a help to others.

We often don’t realise what an impact our words have on other people, either for good or for bad. We never should pass by an opportunity to encourage others, or to make some positive remark. There is nothing more depressing than a person who always makes negative remarks, especially when they have been paid a compliment!

“Oh, this old thing,” they might say when they are told how nice their dress looks or something similar. How much better to accept a compliment graciously in the spirit it was given!

The Bible says that a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. (Proverbs

25:11). What a beautiful picture this comment conjures up! Something of inestimable value that will last for ever!

 

Grandma's Stories

What do You DO?

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Kids in ClassSarah was sitting on her seat listening to the other girls chattering around her. They were talking about all the sorts of things that young girls talk about while they were waiting for the speaker to arrive at the Youth Group. The elderly missionary soon arrived and was introduced to them.

He was rather a tired looking man, but his eyes lit up with enthusiasm as he began to talk. He described the village people from the country where he had been for so many years, and finished up by telling a story from his youth.

This happened long before the days of the animal rights movement and it illustrated his point extremely well. His father was a farmer and had a young heifer that fell into a deep pit one day.

“We tried everything we could think of to get that heifer out of the hole”, he said, “But nothing worked. It had made up its mind to lie there until it died. Well, Dad wasn’t going to let it die on him that easily, so he told me to go and get the electric fence unit and tie the heifer’s tail to it. We turned the fence on, and that heifer sprang to life with a blood curdling moo and scrambled up out of that pit as though a mob of dogs were after her!”

Everyone smiled at the picture this brought to mind.

“You know”, he continued, “I sometimes wonder if God doesn’t have to give us a jolt like that to get us moving some time. It’s all very easy to say why doesn’t someone do something when you can do it yourself. God needs to give us a jolt to get us moving in His work Don’t expect someone else to go; don’t expect others to give time or money when you could do it! We don’t need another message on these things, just get up and DO them!”

Sarah wriggled a bit on her seat….she knew exactly what he was talking about. How many times had she intended to write a letter to her Gran thanking her for the Christmas present, but hadn’t got around to it. Now the year was getting on and it still wasn’t done. What about the times when her mother had to ask her three times to get up and wash the dishes….she could have done them the first time!

“Please God, help me to be better at doing these things”, she whispered in her mind, “and not put off doing things when I know I should do them!”

The last song was given out, and Sarah felt better about singing the words of it….”In the house and out of doors, Washing dishes scrubbing floors, Mending, ironing washing too, All the things I have to do….I’ll do it all for Jesus, I’ll do it all for Jesus, He’s done so much for me!”