Follow, Follow

Social media is a wonderful way of keeping in touch with far off friends and family, sharing our little life’s incidents and surprises, and to some others who look on it might seem to be a bit of nonsense. I’m ok with a bit of nonsense, and some might say I AM a bit of nonsense. Sadly at the other end of the scale lies the fake news. In other words lies parading as truth. We are so easily led to believe such nonsense as well. We don’t seem to have good filters to sift out the fun from the harmful nonsense.

One of the most harmful ways to spread fake news, or lies, for the Christian is to cloak it in a little kernel of truth. We swallow the whole thing, while only seeing the bit we like, or in other cases, dislike. In other words we rush to our own false opinion, or fake news, and we then spread it around like a self fulfilling prophesy.

Paul had a situation where some folks, taken by his style of preaching and teaching, would pick the leader they trusted to believe. The essence of the gospel was missed. The author of the gospel, and the Saviour we worship is not a man, no matter how good we see him or her to be, but Jesus the Christ. Anything or anyone less is fake news and not the good news of the true gospel. The fault did not lie with the charismatic leaders in Paul’s day, it lay with gullible and easily led people who placed their trust in the wrong place, and with the wrong person.

Why do you go to church? Is it because you like the pastor? Does what he or she say, chime with your own thoughts, feelings and beliefs? Is it for the friends you have made there? The singing of your kind of songs or hymns? These are all the wrong reasons for being in church. There is only one reason for worship, one person worthy of that worship, and that is Jesus the son of God, our only Saviour. Until we see past the other ‘nonsense’ we cannot enter His courts with gladness, and in truth. There are still many who say, “I follow ______”, or “I follow ______”. I will let you fill in the blanks. If you or I CAN fill in the blanks, we are not there yet.

Brothers and sisters, some members of Chloe’s family told me that there are arguments among you. This is what I mean: One of you says, “I follow Paul,” and someone else says, “I follow Apollos.” Another says, “I follow Peter,” and someone else says, “I follow Christ.” Christ cannot be divided into different groups. It wasn’t Paul who died on the cross for you, was it? Were you baptized in Paul’s name? 1 Corinthians 1:11-13

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12,13

Grand Old Duke

You might just remember playing the party game and singing this song:

“Oh The Grand Old Duke of York

He had ten thousand men

He marched them up to the top of the hill

And he marched them down again.

When they were up they were up

And when they were down they were down

And when they were only halfway up

They were neither up nor down”

Now we find ourselves between Christmas and the start of a fresh new year, and after the events of the past year, possibly feel in “no man’s land”, or “neither up nor down”. Join the club, because this can be a dead week. Neither the fun of Christmas giving, nor the wonder of what lies in store for the year that’s yet to unfold. These can be down days.

We need to be reminded that although for us, every day is not the same, and our feelings go up and down, blow hot and cold, feel dark and depressed, our great God is none of these. It is important that we stop feeling, and start thinking and taking God at His Word. He is not subject to whims of feeling, but a sure and certain God in His dealings with us. So faithful pilgrim, when we feel down, remember, and hold on to these words which will get us through:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

All Done!

When our children were very young, after clearing their plate of dinner, they would lift both hands and say with a look of pride and achievement, “all done”. Christmas Day is all over, and in a way it is all done, but does it have to be? The turkey is almost finished and you are on to leftovers, wrapping paper is in the bin, the tree starts to look a little lost in the room, the carols don’t have the same ring now, and having eaten much more than you should, some plain, ordinary food is now needed. Christmas feels “all done”.

From early December, people were noticeable brighter, happier, and more likely to stop and chat than before. There is the anticipation of Christmas in almost every head whether a believer or not. Let’s face it we all like the feeling that Christmas brings, even if some do not accept the baby in the manger. It is impossible to miss the fact that something big is going to happen, and it means a lot to most people, if not everyone.

For the believer, Christmas is NOT a one day event celebrated once a year. It is, or should be, a way of living every day. The baby grew up, became a man, and was killed for doing good at the hands of a baying mob of his own people. He was unfairly and unjustly treated, and murdered. If the story stopped there we have no hope, and the baby at Christmas would be just like any other baby born at that time. But the story doesn’t stop there, this same baby who grew up, destroyed death, folded the grave clothes neatly, and left the tomb. From being very dead, to being very alive, He became our Saviour.

This makes us want to live like every day is Christmas, giving us a hope for the future and a spring in our step for all to see. So why did the baby come in the first place? One of the reasons is all wrapped up in Jesus’ words in John 10:10: I came to give life—life that is full and good. So, let’s make every day of the year our very own Christmas celebration.

Real Love

Your love must be real. Hate what is evil. Do only what is good. Romans 12:9

The source of doing good, is real love. Not an artificial or superficial love, but a deep and genuine love. Christmas is a time when so much good is done by many people. You see it in the nursing homes, hospitals, on the streets, and in every family as we celebrate and enjoy the reason for the good that we do. It’s in the love of the baby in the manger who grew into a young man, eventually giving His life to show us what real love is. He is our example, from the cradle, through the grave, to the resurrection and ascension. Jesus is God, and is now where He started out before coming to earth to be the example and Saviour we needed.

So, while we are hating the evil in the world, remember the source of the ultimate love is Jesus. We are tempted to watch the evil that men do in the name of their false, barbaric religion, but we should never lose sight of love and the force and power it contains. What kind of God do you want to rule your life? A god of terrorism, hate, and death? Or a God of pure love who is the embodiment of goodness? My vote is already cast!

So what should we say about this? If God is for us, no one can stand against us. And God is with us. Romans 8:31

Epitaph? What Will It Be?

One of the believers was named Joseph. The apostles called him Barnabas, a name that means “one who encourages others.” Acts 4:36

We are good at putting ourselves in a good light, even when things don’t look that way to others. No one likes to be thought badly of and the natural thing is to act and behave in such a way that others will like us, and maybe even think we are funny.

Our National bard put it well when he said, “Ah wid some power the Giftie gie us, tae see oorselves as ithers see us”. Wise words, but not always heeded. We don’t get a complete picture of Barnabas in the New Testament, but what we do know should give us a goal.

If you are in a crowd of friends, and some pick on you, put you down, and belittle you my guess is that you don’t feel good about yourself and are not likely to help others to feel good about themselves. If, on the other hand, there are a few friends who help and encourage you, and even see past your faults to boost your confidence, I suggest that will make you want to do the same and help others. What an encouragement we can be, if we but take the time and opportunities when they arise.

You must have noticed that Barnabas did not confer this ‘encourager’ title on himself. It was the apostles around him, noticing how he acted with others, who called him “one who encourages others”. What a lovely, amazing, and yes Christ like trait to possess. When the time comes for others to put a headstone over your grave, what kind of person will it say you had been? A Barnabas? A son or daughter of encouragement? In our openly sarcastic society, I earnestly pray that simple prayer, and with God’s help it may just happen if I let His love shine through. Will you join me?

The Journey - Lost

You are having a great trek through some of God’s greatest handiwork, whether mountain, valley or meadow and your walking companion just won’t shut up. That sounds unkind, but you must know what I mean. The two of you have peeled off from the rest of the group, and while you want to drink in the beauty of creation, your companion wants to talk and talk and talk! To make matters worse, when you do try to get into the conversation, it becomes very noticeable that your thoughts are not seen as important. In fact as you talk, your friend is already deciding what they will say next.

Have you ever wondered why some friends lose their way in their own Spiritual journey through life? I have noticed that we have a habit of asking God to step into a situation, and before He can guide us with His answer, we are already mouthing the next request having decided we know how to fix the first problem on our own. We don’t like it when that happens to us, so I wonder how God feels when we do it to Him?

Have you noticed that bad listening companions have few real friends?

To answer before listening— that is folly and shame. Proverbs 18:13

The Journey - Peace

One of the greatest benefits of a journey, whether on foot, car, ship, or by air, is the sense of peace it affords. Usually, a journey or voyage is undertaken as part of a holiday, and part of the pleasure is the journey itself. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or fancy or even expensive, for example a long quiet walk in the countryside. Peace is hard to come by when we are engrossed in our everyday lives of work and responsibilities which can be a burden.

However at Christmas, we tend to set our pressures aside and enjoy the journey through the month of Advent right up to the Holy day of Christ’s incarnation, and that same Spirit will even linger for some days afterwards, as we finish off the leftovers of our big Christmas dinner.

I watch the news, as you do too, and there is little evidence of peace in our world today. There are many, far too many, wars, famines, and terrorist attacks that we can ask ourselves, where is this peace of the Christmas Child? The scenes we see on the manger are so quiet, happy and peaceful that we can be forgiven for missing the tragedy of the world outside that little stable scene. Because even in His birth there were tragedies and much slaughter of innocents. So I find myself asking, where is this peace that was promised, and then I remember it is IN the baby, not around the Christmas season, or even the pursuit of a peace treaty. We can only see and know real peace when we, and the world, see who the bringer of peace is. I believe if we all believed in the Baby who became our resurrected Saviour, there would be no war. The absence of war, ultimately brings peace as these verses clearly show:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11

He Don't Say Much

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. James 5:12

Wait a minute. Is this verse telling us to be thrifty with our talk, only saying yes and no??

There is an old quote by a comedian about the previous US President Calvin Coolidge, which said “He don’t say a lot, but when he talks, he don’t say a lot”. That’s all well and good, and a nice quote to pass on, but what if you are faced with it in your own conversations? What if you want to know someone a little better because you think they have had an interesting life. Or maybe you have been introduced to a celebrity and you start up a conversation only to find it is one way and you are doing all the talking. Irritating to say the least, and probably infuriating!

We don’t all have the gift of the gab, or been to Blarney to kiss the stone, but really? Does it have to be so much hard work to talk? Most of us can hold a decent chat, even with a stranger we have just met, and there are some folks whose job depends on it. When you see your doctor, you expect him or her to talk so that they can get to the bottom of your ailment. If you are caught speeding or shoplifting, you need your lawyer to put forward a good defence to the judge. A fundamental skill of a hospital nurse is to talk to ease your worry and therefore speed your treatment and recovery. On a lighter note, you come home hiding a secret from your wife. It may be a nice surprise, but do you really think she will let you off with a yes, no, maybe and ok? I didn’t think so.

Why then is it not evident to the one you are speaking with when they respond in monosyllabic words, without even trying to make conversation? For a start it’s rude, and it does nothing for the intention you have of breaking the ice, or getting to know them better. In fact, you are turned off, and there is less chance you will get caught that way again, so you avoid chat altogether, and only indulge when placed in a situation you can’t avoid. As I think about it, I am smiling because you will be the one that’s embarrassed, not the person with no communication skills. And at the end of the day, that is what it is, communication. We learn it in Nursery, and hone the skill through school until you have it covered. Apparently there are some who have not been to that particular school of life, and I don’t know if I should be annoyed with them, or feel some pity. The problem is I can’t ask them!!! As Christians I believe we are expected to be able to talk, to communicate even at a basic level. So, does the Bible say anything about our God given gift of communication? It does, so how about these good words for starters…..

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18

In your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect

1 Peter 3:15

Abuse

In recent weeks there has been a lot of coverage in the news media of many counts of child sex abuses under the framework of the UK football associations and coaching staff. It transpires that many have hidden these abuses for years partly because they felt they would not be believed, or were too embarrassed to tell their story to the police. I have some thoughts on the matter which you may or may not feel are connected. These are my opinions only.

These abuses did not happen overnight, or even in the recent past. We have been getting news of similar abuses drip fed involving youth groups, and even major churches. Every time I hear the problem being discussed by so called experts, they always skate round their own responsibilities. This is especially true of our politicians. It tells me that we are seeing the tip of the iceberg and there is a lot more to come.

If you are old enough to remember the lifestyle and morality of 40 years ago or even more, you will have witnessed a massive change in our attitude to sex in all its forms. Think about the way that sexual freedom has been advocated and manipulated. Magazines, newspapers, film and TV have all sold us the lie that love is sex, and is a commodity. We have lost the meaning of marriage, and the pure love of a couple in the form of a man and his wife. Our nation has turned its back on morality at the hands of the liberal agenda of free love which was pushed in the 1960s and has only become worse as time passed. There is an old saying, “when you open the floodgates, you can’t tell the water where to go”, or as the Bible says, “We have sown the wind and are reaping the whirlwind.”

Who is responsible for this decline? Is it down to one person or group? No, the issue lies at the door of the generation who turned a blind eye as attitudes changed, and no one wanted to be called a prude, or unenlightened. We swallowed the lie of the devil that everything would be ok. After all, the experts were in control. Now, 40 or 50 years later, we act surprised when one abuse is reported after the other and each one seems worse than the last. Let me ask a personal question. What do you see or think when you watch the TV dramas and soaps, or go to the movies, or read the salacious celebrity newspaper gossip? Have we become so used to the blatant sex scenes that we no longer bother that they are there? Have our consciences been seared with a hot iron so that all sensitivity is gone? Would we think of making a complaint?

Can you honestly say there is no connection between our loss of national morality, and the increase of sexual abuses of all kinds? When morals started to drop on the UK TV, a lady called Mary Whitehouse stood up and warned us of the consequences of this increase of sex scenes on TV, and what did society do? They laughed and said she was a crank. The truth is she was right. Can you honestly say she was wrong? The Christian way of life is sneered at, ridiculed, and dismissed as irrelevant, but God’s Word tells us clearly that sexual abuse is wrong.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practise homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9,10

The Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe. They will obey spirits that tell lies. And they will follow the teachings of demons. Those teachings come through people who tell lies and trick others. These evil people cannot see what is right and what is wrong. It is like their conscience has been destroyed with a hot iron.

1 Timothy 4:1,2

The Journey - Alone in a Crowd

In any walking group, there will always be that one person not walking with the rest, but slightly off to one side, and not really a part of the main conversations. They will have signed up for the walk, probably for the fresh air and exercise, but there is not much interaction with the others. In fact, they will have real friends in that group, but some will walk alone. Are they being antisocial? Rude? Or maybe they don’t relate well to the route or the small talk? Whatever we think of their actions, let’s not be too harsh on them or rush to judgement.

It is possible to be lonely in a crowd, and even within a group of good friends. The reasons can be many and varied, but at the core there is a human being feeling very much on their own. Perhaps due to a recently diagnosed illness of a family member or even themselves, or maybe due to the raw memory of an anniversary which was life changing and one that may have happened years ago. Sometimes both good and bad memories have the same effect of us wanting to step outside the group for a while.

Christmas is a happy time for families, and groups of friends, and it is the season for church fellowship evenings, when fun and laughter is the normal and expected fare. As walkers on the journey of life, in a strange way, this can be almost unbearable for some good Christian folks. Yes even those who value their faith completely and sincerely, and are well aware of the significance of the baby in the manger. If you see, or suspect some friend struggle with the season, why not draw alongside? Not to speak nice words of comfort or wisdom, but just to show without a lot of speaking that you care. That can mean the difference between a bad Christmas, and a bearable Christmas to your friend.

The Lord is close to those who have suffered disappointment. He saves those who are discouraged. Good people might have many problems, but the Lord will take them all away. Psalm 34:18,19

Spare a Thought at Christmas

It’s the time of year for happiness. Kids love the mystery of the surprise gifts under the tree, and adults love putting the tree up, with Christmas lights, tinsel and glitter. There is a certain magic in the festive air for both children and adults alike, especially true when the real meaning of the season is not lost. We must never lose sight of the fact that we celebrate the baby Jesus, who is the ‘reason for the season’.

Sadly, this is not the season of love and peace for everyone, so as you celebrate, remember those who are not so fortunate. They are all around you, and in numbers you wouldn’t recognise because some will go along with the festive flow while feeling empty inside. With others it is more obvious. The homeless poor are in our towns, and we let their presence blend into the background where our consciences are not bothered, but we get some relief  by dropping a coin or two in a charity box found in every shop. Your lonely friend is not so easy to spot.

It’s at Christmas, more than any other time of year, we must look beyond the lights, bargains and carollers, to the one who made the season possible for us to enjoy. Jesus slipped into this His world almost unnoticed, and He came to the lowly and humble of His day. So as we sit around the family table enjoying the good food and company, yes, remember the lonely and those who are less fortunate and don’t have much, but more than anything else give thanks to God above for the gift of His Son. The season is called CHRISTmas for good reason, so go ahead and celebrate your heritage with thanks as the child of God that you are!!

She will give birth to a son. You will name him Jesus. Give him that name because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21