Reflections

        It was a gloriously mild winter day.  We had gone back to our home village while in the area and parked at the end of the road beside the local wharf. There were a couple of fishing boats discharging their catches to the waiting truck which had come for them, but other than that, it was the most peaceful scene one could imagine. There was no wind to break up the great reflections on the water, and each moored boat was sitting upon its own reflection.

   But then a fizz boat went roaring up the channel and the picture was completely smashed. The water became a churned up mess, and the reflections gone for the time being.

   This is just like gossip or a bit of temper in our lives. We may look great on the outside, and mostly be what we ought to be, but then one of these disturbing factors comes roaring through our day. The picture is gone, and the damage is done. Resentment sets in and the water of our day is disturbed. In some cases it takes a lot of time and effort to make it right, if indeed it can ever come right

    Let’s make sure that we curb our tongue and keep the water of our day with the beautiful reflections of God’s love!

Our Anchor of Hope

Last week we had the opportunity of sailing from one harbour to the next in Northern New Zealand. It reminded me of the many happy times we had been sailing ourselves when younger, and when we would spend weeks at a time enjoying the experiences that came along.

It reminded me particularly of one valuable lesson we learned very quickly during those years. At first when we went a quiet bay for some rest and relaxation after a day of sailing, we would drop the anchor, and then go inside for a hot drink. Then if, after a while, we could see that we weren’t in quite the same place as we had been when the anchor went down we would realise that we had drifted, and were much further out in the bay. So we would lift the anchor, and go forwards again, and put out more rope this time, pulling back on it to make sure that it had a good grip in the mud on the bottom. We soon learned to make this check every time the anchor went down.

    It’s a lot like that in life at times. There will be times when we think we have a good hold on things and then we find that the winds of life have picked us up and carried us where we don’t want to be. It is in times like this that as we stop and take stock of what is happening around us; we are to go forwards once more and drop our anchor into the hope that God gives us in His Word, the Bible.

    It is no use merely dropping the anchor; it is not the anchor that does the holding, it is what the anchor is sitting on. If the bottom has a lot of weed on it, the anchor will just slide along the top of it allowing our boat to drift. It is only as we put out more rope and pull back on it making sure that there is a good grip on the bottom, going through the weeds into the mud beneath, that we can rest in staying in one place. The rope is like the rope of faith in our life… the longer it is, the better the grip. The more we trust God in our difficulties, the stronger our faith becomes, and the firmer grip we have in the storms of life.

    Without hope in our life, everything seems pointless, and we tend to get depressed. So it is that without the hope of God’s salvation, we have nothing to look forwards to. God doesn’t intend His people to be swayed around in the storms, but we must do our part by digging deep into His Word for ourselves.

Near Enough!!

    We were working on a project together, and I was thinking it was time we were finished. “Well, that’s near enough”, I said as I put my gear down. My brother looked at it, and said, “Near enough is not good enough, Gwenyth, you’ll have to spend a bit more time on it!” Those words have stuck with me for over forty years, and whenever I am tempted to think “Near enough”, they come back to haunt me!

     King Solomon was one who chose what was good, but it was not the best. When he first became king, we are told that one night he had a vivid dream. In it, he heard God tell him to choose whatever he would like and it would be given to him. At this stage, Solomon was still new to being a king, and the thought of having to solve disputes between people at times was overwhelming. So he asked for wisdom to be able to govern the people he was over, as he should. God replied that seeing he had asked this thing that was not so much for himself, but for the benefit of others, that he would be granted this in abundance. Not only that, but he would  also be  given wealth and health.     We see as we read through  the book of Second Chronicles in the Bible, chapters 1-10, how God did indeed bless Solomon with great wisdom  and wealth. But there were times when Solomon thought he knew better than God and acted on his own feelings and desires. He felt that if he had princesses of the neighbouring countries as his wives, that  their fathers would not come to war against him.  But these young women came from pagan backgrounds, and as he listened to them, they gradually wore him down from his belief in the one true God Who had given him all that he had. He felt he had done near enough to what God wanted.     As a result of trying to please his many wives, he even got far enough away from God to make the idols that they wanted. Not only that, but he even placed them in God’s temple that he had built!  Solomon was near enough, but not good enough; he had chosen what was good, but not what was best!

    We have to be so careful that we don’t wander away from God’s instructions to mankind, or we too will miss out on not only what benefits us, but God’s best for us!

How Much is Your Soul Worth?

       Every now and then we get a pamphlet in the mail asking if we are thinking of selling our house. They say that they have clients wanting to buy in our area! They will come and give us a free appraisal of our property, they say, hoping we will take them up on it.

     They say that it is every young married couple’s dream to own their own home, and if we manage to save up enough for our deposit, it is a real thrill when we are finally given the key to our new place!     We say we own this or that. But whatever we own, really owns us! If we have a car we have to service it regularly. If we own a house we have to keep it maintained or it loses its value. If we buy a lawn mower, we have to use it or the place soon looks untidy.   . As time goes by and we might need to move away, we put our house up for sale. We wonder then how much our house is worth, but it is only worth as much as someone will pay for it!

    Maybe we only own something small like a mobile phone. It has to used responsibly or else it controls us! How many people do we see walking down the street not watching where they are going because their fingers are busily going on their gadget. They feel lost without having it in their pocket or hand. We don’t own these things, they own us!

    But you know,  we all have something that is worth much more than any house or gadget.  This is our soul, that we are each given at our first breath. This is the part of a person that lives for ever….every new born baby has this in them, and it will never die….our bodies may die, but our souls never will.

    The Bible asks the question….”What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”     Nothing in this world, whether it be a house or a car; a mower or a phone is to be compared with a person’s soul. These “things” only last a short while….they either break down or become out-dated, but our soul will last forever!

    Let’s make sure that we take the time to think these things through and make the right decision about what we put first in our life.    How much is your soul valued at? What is it worth?  We are told in the Bible about a man who gathered as much of this world’s goods that he could. Most people would have classed him as a very successful and wealthy man. But one night, God said, “This night your soul is required of you, and what is going to happen to all your wealth now?”     We never know when  some disease will overtake us, or if we might have a sudden car accident that will result in our death, so it pays to look into these things and get ready for the “trip” at the end of our life! We can find out all we need to know from God’s Word, the Bible, and the best place to start reading it is the Gospel of John, the fourth book in the New Testament.

Neil.

     We went to the funeral last week of an old friend of many years. We had seen him periodically over the years since we all grew up together, and he was always a joy to meet. His hearty “Ho,ho,ho” would ring out during the conversation each time, and he never failed to ask “How are doing Brother?”  We knew what he meant, and also knew what he wasn’t asking. My mind went back to the time that Neil became a Christian….this is how it happened….

    We grew up together in a small country area that was serviced by a large timber mill where most of the men folk of the district were employed. It was the sort of place where everyone knew everyone else and all of their business as well. The  district was sort of loosely divided into those who attended the local church and those who didn’t….Neil was one of those who didn’t.     There were about half a dozen young fellows at that time in the early nineteen-fifties who were at a loose end at the weekends and who used to get together and roam around the road (there was only the one road in the place!). One Sunday afternoon one of the men who went to the church was on his way home from delivering the children who had been to the Sunday School and he stopped when going past this group of loitering young chaps. “Hey,” he said as he pulled up, “Why don’t you guys come to the service tonight? We’ve got a good preacher speaking, you want to come and hear him!”     So later on most of the group did turn up at the service, sitting rather sheepishly at the back of the church. There was some hearty singing to the old pedal organ playing the hymns, and then the preacher spoke. He was indeed very interesting, talking about the way the stars were all put in place  by the Great Creator, and then telling the timeless story of Jesus Christ.

   For the next few Sundays, the group turned up again at the church, and then after that most of them drifted off having lost interest. But for some reason Neil kept on going, and one of his mates turned up as well. The next Sunday, Neil was walking along the road heading for the church when Keith pulled up beside him in his old Morris 8 car. “Where are you going?” he asked. “I’m off to church”, Neil said. “Well, hop in,” said Keith, “That’s where I’m going too!”

So for the next few Sundays, the two boys went to the little church together. There was a variety of preachers, some of them local men and other visitors who came and preached the old, old story of how Jesus Christ came to earth to pay the price of sin for all people.     Gradually these truths began to sink into the hearts of these two young men and they became convinced of the truth of what they were hearing and turned to the Lord in all sincerity. Their other old mates left them alone now, knowing that they weren’t interested in the old ways of loitering around the roads.      Neil spent every spare minute with Keith and the two of them would talk of what they were learning from the Bible and from the church services. Later on Neil left the district and moved to the big city. Over the years he had his ups and downs, as we all do, and for a period neglected his Bible reading. But when things got a bit tough for him, he turned back to the Lord with all his heart.

    Keith met up with him again one day, and said, “You seem to be happy all the time….why is that?” “Well, it’s like this”, Neil said, “I know I wandered away from the Lord for a while, but I realised that I was in the wrong, and I asked  God for forgiveness for my slack way of life. There are things in my life that I can’t change now, but I’ve confessed it all to the Lord, and I’m back into reading the Bible again. That’s why I’m always happy!”     It was always a joy to meet up with him after that, and to hear his cheerful “Ho,ho,ho” which preceded his conversation. So it was a shock to hear that he had had a severe stroke which he didn’t recover from. Keith felt honoured when he was asked to take his funeral service, and this was the story he told about Neil during the service.

   Of the original group that had wandered the roads on those Sundays long ago, some had passed on, but there were still a couple of them at the funeral service. They are old men now, and have never come to see what Neil saw all those years ago and sadly they haven’t made preparations for this, the greatest trip of their lives that will overtake them shortly. This is the trip that Neil prepared for, so that we can be confident of where he is now…. rejoicing in the presence of his Saviour in heaven!

Don’t Leave it Too Late!

   In our Daily Bible reading, we came to the story of how God told Moses to get the people of Israel prepared to leave the land of bondage that they were in. But of course the king of Egypt didn’t want to lose his slaves that were building his great edifices, so each time Moses went to him and said, “The Lord says to let My people go to worship Me”, that the king refused to even contemplate the matter. That is when God sent the ten plagues one after the other until in desperation he finally almost pushed them out of his land when the eldest son in every Egyptian family mysteriously died  at the same time.     The interesting thing in this story, is that at first the king “hardened” his heart, but then after  the first few times of refusing to let them go, we read that it was God who  hardened the king’s heart. How could this be, we might wonder. Why would God do this and still send the plagues on the land?

      If a person persistently refuses to hear God’s message, then one day He will take them at their word, and they will lose all desire to follow Him. The following story illustrates this point perfectly…..      Many years ago, a cousin of ours showed some interest in the Gospel message, and we took him to a lot of the church services where the Gospel was plainly preached. He was clearly touched but never came to the point of actually making a commitment to become a Christian. So he dropped off going with us, and we lost touch with him.    A year or so later, he called to see my father-in-law, and must have been talking about health problems. Then he said “You know Uncle, I had a vivid dream the other night. I dreamed I was in a wide open space, and I knew that God was up there somewhere behind the clouds. Then I saw a great big blind come down between me and where God was, and I just know that I couldn’t come to Him now, even if I wanted to!”

    Shortly after this conversation, he took ill and passed away still in that frame of mind. What a lesson for each of us to learn! God says….”My Spirit will not always strive with man” (Genesis 6:3) , and although He has great patience, it eventually wears thin and ceases….He takes us at our word.  We have to be careful we don’t pass this point of no return!

Who’s Driving Your Car?

   Sarah was sitting in church one Sunday morning with her mind only half on what the speaker was saying. ….

   “I’m going to tell you a modern day parable to illustrate what I’m trying to get across to you”, he said, “We hear people talk about being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit, and allowing Him to control you’. The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us….we are not to be controlled by strong drink like a drunk person, but we are to allow Him to control us in the same way….”

    Sarah suddenly sat up when she heard the preacher say….”It’s like this. Imagine you are driving your car along the road of life, and you see a hitch-hiker with his thumb up asking for a ride. You somehow know that this is the Lord Jesus asking to come into your life. You have the choice of either going straight past Him or stopping and giving Him a lift. Most people will just go straight past Him and not give Him a thought. But perhaps you think you would like to ask Him into the car with you.     You stop and let Him in….but where are you going to put Him? In the luggage compartment? No, you are not that mean. In the back seat then? Well, no, you would like to talk to Him a bit on the trip. What if He asked for the keys of the car? No way, you think, I’m driving this car and I want to go here or there where I please.     This is just what we all do with the Lord Jesus…we might let Him drive a short distance after we’ve been to camp and got a spiritual lift, or after hearing a good speaker at church. But then you simply HAVE to make a stop along the way, and when you get back into the car, you are back behind the wheel again!”    Sarah sighed. Why did preachers always have to put you on the spot? She knew very well that there were times when she did wrong things and went to wrong places or looked at wrong things, and that Jesus certainly wasn’t driving her car at those times.     The preacher finished his talk, but the things that he said stuck in Sarah’s mind, and as she got older she always thought of this little parable whenever she was tempted to do something she knew wouldn’t please the Lord.     She really DID want to let Him drive her “car” but it wasn’t always easy. After all what was it the Lord Jesus said to His disciples?  “If any person will follow Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me”. (Luke 9:23)

Missing Out!!

    I had been having a lot of trouble with the files on my computer. For some reason, they kept disappearing….I would put an afternoon in working on one, click on close and when the sign came up asking to save it or not, I would click on that and then turn it off. Next time I would open it, it would present me with an empty file! 

    It was most frustrating to say the least, and in the end I would save it under another name to keep it. I was able to find out in the end, that I should save it before clicking the off button, and so far there has been no further trouble!

    It reminds me of what it must be like in Christian things….to spend  your life going to church, listening to the sermons, maybe helping out in different ways, and even to call God, “Lord”, and yet to not know Him in a personal way or  to be able to call Him “Our Father” from personal experience.

     There will be those who get to death’s door, and not have Him to take them through. There is a parable in Matthew 7:21-23, where the Lord talks about those who get to Heaven’s gate, and God says “Depart from Me! I never knew you!” They will reply saying, “But Lord, we’ve cast out demons in Your name, and prophesied too, as well as done many  other wonderful things!” But God will still say , “Depart from Me! I never knew you!”

    So it pays to take stock of oneself, to see just where we are at with Him. If we have our special time alone with Him, reading His Word (the Bible) and talking with Him each day,  then we know that we know Him, and that He will welcome us into His eternal home when the time comes for us to leave this earth.

See what God has to say to YOU.