Morning Musings

How I Should Be!

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Our preacher yesterday morning spoke on marriage, quoting the verses from 1 Peter 3: 1-7 about how the Lord expects a marriage to be. That is not an easy subject to speak on in this day and age. But it reminded me of a story I had read once….

      When I was a kid, my mum always did the cooking, and one evening, she dished up the evening meal saying, “I’m awfully sorry, but I didn’t watch the pot tonight, and your veges have all got burnt. But try to eat them anyway!”

   My Dad just said, “That’s fine Honey, I don’t mind burnt veges anyway, they have more flavour!”

The rest of us kids, just chomped our way through them making no comment, but drank a lot of juice to help them go down.

     Later that night as I kissed Dad goodnight, I asked him if he really didn’t mind his veges burnt like that. He just put his arms around me, and said,  “Your mummy put in a long hard day at work today and she’s real tired.  And besides… burned veges never hurt anyone!”
      Later on, as I thought of this story, it reminded me that life is full of imperfect things. And imperfect people. We have to make allowances for the imperfections of others, remembering our own imperfections. Not making excuses for ourselves when we can’t excuse others. I often forget things that I should have done, or put off doing other things when I know I should be doing them. I have to remember that if I make a mistake, to admit it, and not try to cover it up.

    How thankful we can be to remember that once we have confessed our sins (imperfections and shortcomings)   to God, He has forgiven us and cleansed us from all these mistakes!

So let’s enjoy life and keep short accounts with everyone….it is far more comfortable than trying to cover up, and pretend!


                              ENJOY LIFE NOW – IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!

Random Devotional Thoughts

What Does Your Past Show?

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    Our past often has a way of catching up with us, often when we least expect it! We see this at the moment as a well known politician in a certain country in standing for his seat again, has to face a court-case, of something that he did thirty years ago. Another scenario is that of hearing a certain person’s name that we knew years ago, and the memories that that name brings up. Often not good memories either. Why is it that we remember more vividly, the wrongs that were done in the past, more than the good deeds?

We do well to remember the verses in the Old Testament of the Bible, that tell us that a good name is better than riches (Proverbs chapter 22.verse 1).

   It brings to mind how our past has a way of catching up with us, sometimes when we least want it to. Another case of this was when a young adopted woman traced her birth father, and knocked on his door one day announcing she was his daughter! His wife and family had no idea of this young woman’s existence, and the shock was great. We can only imagine how they must have all felt!

   But this is nothing to how we will feel when faced with all our past unforgiven  sins. The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death, while the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)”

  For a gift to be enjoyed, it must be taken and opened….it is a two way thing. God has done His part in providing and presenting this gift; the least we can do is to take it and thank Him for it.

Uncategorized

What do You See?

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   Someone sent an email the other day telling the story of a professor who was setting his students an exam. He handed the papers all out upside down, and then told them to turn the page over. They found it was just a blank piece of paper with a large black dot in the middle of it. He told them to have a good look at it, and then write down what they were seeing.

   Without exception, they all wrote about the black spot, where it was on the page and the effect it had on the paper. The professor told them that not one had commented on the whiteness of the paper or the size of it in comparison to the black spot, and then pointed out the moral of the story….how much we concentrate on the wrong things around us instead of on the good things we see. That reminded me that I’m like that too, and it ought not to be !

  So whenever things annoy or grate on you, just remember to overlook the black spot in  the middle of the page and focus on the white size of the paper!!

Random Devotional Thoughts

…Five “R”s to Think About…

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     Our preacher this morning was talking about Daniel in the Bible, and he had five “R”s to hang his talk on.

     Daniel was a young teenager who had been taken captive by the enemy and found himself along with three friends, in a strange country with a language they didn’t understand. Not only that, but there were strange customs to get used to, on top of being homesick for where they had come from.      These four teenagers were part of a group that had been specially chosen to become part of the king’s  court, and were to be trained up in the ways of the land. So they found themselves back in school to learn this new language and new ways so they could stand before the king.       But these were four young fellows who had strong convictions of what was right and what was wrong, and  we can learn many lessons from them.

     These four boys Resolved that they would not follow the heathen ways of this new land….after all, they knew the One True God, and believed that He would look after them.      They found that the food they were given to eat was of the very best, but Daniel was suspicious about where it had come from. When he found out it had been offered to the foreign idols first, he was horrified! He Resisted eating this food that he was being given  and went to the official in charge of their group and asked if it couldn’t be Removed from his diet. He asked that he be given just vegetables to eat and water to drink, instead of the rich food and wine that they were now being given.

    Then it was the official’s reaction to be horrified! If they didn’t look as healthy as their companions the next time they went before the king, he could lose his job or worse still, his head! But he agreed to do it for a week and then check them out.     His mates saw what he was doing and asked about it. So Daniel was able to Recruit them to do as he was doing, and when the four of them finally came before the king, the Result was that the king found that they were ten times better than all the rest of the group still eating the king’s food. They were more alert, fitter and trimmer of figure than any of the others, so they were allowed to stay on their diet.

    So this story from the Bible shows us many lessons that we can learn…. first of all we must RESOLVE to do what is right, then RESIST what is holding us back, and REMOVE ourselves from temptation. We can then RECRUIT others to follow our way, and the RESULT will be an eternal one for God’s glory.

     True, there may be bumps along the way, and times of testing, but it will all be worth it in the end . So never give up, and keep looking up!!

Random Devotional Thoughts

What is Holiness?

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       Holiness? What is that? It’s a word that has just about disappeared from our vocabulary these days, and certainly its concept has gone from man’s ideas when every person does what is right in his own eyes! 

    Holiness is everything that is right and just and good. God is a Holy God, and expects His people to be the same. We can never reach the heights of God’s perfection, but with His help, we can all do better than we do. There is no higher commendation than the one that God gave to His servant Job (pronounced Jobe) when He announced to Satan that Job was perfect and upright, and one who abhorred evil in any shape or form (Job 1:verse 8) . Yet when Job saw himself in God’s presence at the end of the story, he realised how far short he was of God’s standard, and said he repented in the face of God’s holiness and greatness. (Job 42: verses 5-6).

      As we go forwards into the year of 2024, let us each one strive to do better  with God’s help, than we did last year. Yes, we might be a good person, and yes, we may feel no need of changing our ways or thoughts, but let’s remember that we don’t see ourselves as God sees us. He says, “For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3 verse 23) and as such we are under His judgment unless we come before Him and confess that we are worthless in our own selves, and that His way is the only way. Jesus Christ said when He was here….”I am the way, the truth and the life….no one comes to the Father (God) except by Me”.  This statement is found in the book of John, chapter 14, verse 6.

    Just remember that if this is wrong, we have nothing to lose, but if it is right, we have everything to gain. 

Life Lessons

New Year of Hope!

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       We always hope that a new year will bring better things than the one that has just gone! But what about this coming year of 2024? In spite of all the predictions around the place, no-one knows for sure everything that will happen in this coming year! From a view of the nations around the world, life seems pretty uncertain for a lot of people, and yet this is exactly what the Bible predicts will happen. Nation will rise against nation, until the end of time. No matter how much the leaders think they have the answers, unless they take God and His laws into consideration, things will remain in uncertainty for this year as well.

    There is talk of AI and other new things that are being invented all the time, things that our grand-parents, and even our parents, never dreamed of! In the life time of older folk still alive today, just think of how things how evolved in that time!  From the days of horse and cart on the farm, then to tractors to move things, and then today the size and speed of farm machinery is mind boggling.

      Think of how in other spheres, technology has made such great strides, and even now it is not slowing down. Think for example, of how warfare is changing all the time, and when the idea of an underground network of tunnels contributes to modern warfare, it is mind boggling! Even the very idea of destroying a country only to take over the rubble that has been created doesn’t make sense.

   Without taking God into the equation, there is no hope of an everlasting peace left for this world. But those who have put their trust in Him have an everlasting hope, a certainty and knowledge, that all will come right in the end. While mankind refuses to acknowledge God, and just relies on their own  wisdom, things will never improve.

    So how can we have hope in this year of 2024?  Keep looking upwards, and not at what is going on around us. That is not to say to shut our eyes to the current events, but to realise that God has all things in His control. Yes, He could simply wipe out all these evil men who are doing these atrocities, but we must remember, that He has given each person a free will to choose to do right, or choose to do wrong. If we choose to do wrong, then we have to bear the consequences, but the trouble is, that it always affects other people.

So let us take heart, and look up to the One in Whom is all goodness and righteousness. Then for us, there will be a New Year of Hope!

Morning Musings

Our Helmet of Hope.

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     David, the man who wrote the book of Psalms in the Bible, could say… “For You are my hope, O Lord GOD: You are my trust from my youth” (Psalm 71:5).

 I was listening to a preacher the other day who was talking about hope. Not hope with the thought of it may or may not happen, but hope as a confidence and certainty. Where God is concerned, His Word is Truth and it will stand firm. We can have every confidence that what He says will happen, WILL happen! He will do it, He always keeps His Word.

    There is another verse in the Bible where it says to put on the helmet of the hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Once we have this helmet firmly on our head, no matter how many darts of doubt and fear Satan fires at us, we can overcome them.

    The law in New Zealand says that it is compulsory for every cyclist to wear a helmet while riding their bike on the road. It is no use carrying it on the handlebars of the bike, because that won’t keep us safe if we have an accident. We have to have it on our head  to be safe  and protected. Every time we have an impact, we have to adjust it and wear it properly again.

   So it is when troubles hit us on our ride through life, we have to adjust our helmet of hope in God and His Word, and get on our bike and go on again. Every negative thought that Satan gives us, we have to counteract with our helmet of hope, and count our many blessings.

  It is no use counting our blessings on our fingers and our troubles on the calculator, we are to do it the other way around. Every new morning we are to put on our helmet of hope and count our blessings; then we are to firmly fasten it with thanksgiving to God, and to resist negative thoughts which come from the evil one. We will then be able to face the New Year next week with a positive and confident “hope” as we continue with our summer holidays or go to school or work which ever applies to us.

Life Lessons

Lessons to Learn from Fishing…..

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    Summer is here!  It’s the time of the year again, when one’s thoughts turn towards fishing.  Over the years we have been able to do this, and as with so many of our activities, there are lessons we can learn from this pastime.  It’s wonderfully relaxing to be able to be on the water unless there are no fish around in which case one can feel rather frustrated. However, if it is a nice day, just being there is relaxation in itself, and if nothing else, we can enjoy God’s wonderful creation.

     When the fish are biting well, and one or two come into the boat, all the trouble seems worthwhile. That reminds us that nothing worthwhile in life just happens without some effort. Nothing tried is nothing gained, just as in other phases of life.     Sometimes only undersized fish get caught. This is when one has to just throw them back to grow some more We have to be honest in this and not keep them. If one is caught by the inspector, a  heavy fine and sometimes even the confiscation of the boat is likely to follow.     Other times, a big one might get on and be brought right up to the side of the boat, only to have it give a final flick of the head  and get away. At times like this it doesn’t seem fair…..after all that effort to have it get away! That reminds us that life isn’t always fair. At times it is grossly unfair. But this is how we learn to cope with disappointments…..things won’t always go our way!

    Another lesson to learn is to kill the fish immediately they are brought into the boat. It is not fair to let creatures suffer unnecessarily, and to die of  slow suffocation is anything but kind.     Learning to cast with the rod doesn’t just come naturally. As with most things, there is a certain knack to learn to get the line far enough out. The same principle applies here as with other things….practice makes perfect! If at first you don’t succeed, try again as the old saying goes.     Last but not least, is that time spent with family or friends is never time wasted. Let’s make sure we take the time to enjoy the things that God has given us to freely enjoy. It would be sad indeed to have to face Him one day and hear Him say, “ I  made all that beauty for you to experience, and you never took the time to enjoy it!”

See what God has to say to YOU.