Decisions

We make dozens of decisions every day. Some are important, and some are not. Some are known to others, and some are not. Some may be costly, and some are not. Good decisions which affect others will make you look good to your friends. Bad decisions make you look bad in the eyes of just about everybody. Of all these decisions, which will be remembered clearly by everyone? It isn’t fair, but the good decisions are easily forgotten, but the bad decisions are remembered for ever, or so it seems.

There is another problem with decisions. I think we will all agree that we make good and bad ones on a regular basis, but hopefully there will be a balance and not all one sided. However, you will probably know some folks who consistently make good decisions. They are in the minority, but are looked up to because that’s what makes for integrity. However, on the other hand, we all will know those ones who mostly seem to be making bad decisions, but even more importantly there are those who will suffer directly because of these decisions.

One swallow might not make a summer, but a wrong decision can have a serious and lasting impact on those on the receiving end. In a few weeks, I will be having knee surgery, and I hope the surgeon has a day of good decisions. Just one bad decision in an operating theatre can hold the outcome of life in the balance. But then we do trust the professionals, right? Surgeons, doctors, lawyers, professors get there by making good decisions and maintaining their integrity.

What about us? You and me? Have we made bad decisions? Absolutely we have, and some we would not want to be reminded of because they shame us. In among the many bad ones, there could be one that sticks, and the devil reminds us of it now and again, to keep us away from God. We are too bad. We don’t come up to the grade for a Holy God, and you are right if it was all up to what we did and didn’t do. Thanks to Jesus, our salvation is not earned by default, but it’s the free gift of Grace from a forgiving Saviour. The next time the devil reminds you of your past bad decisions, remind him of God’s grace. He has no answer to that because God is not only forgiving, but patient and His desire is for all to see heaven. There is a catch, because we have to accept the gift because it’s not forced on us. That’s all. It’s down to us to accept or reject! Our choice.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2Peter3:9NIV

Hacked and Scammed?

Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart. 1 Peter 5:8 TLB

We take great care that no one hacks into our computers, intending to scam us into doing something that usually costs us money, we don’t really want to do. But sometimes we fall for it, and the least savvy are always the target of these immoral people who have no scruples. We have all seen the reports of those who have been ‘reeled in’ and played like a big trout until money changes hands, and sometimes that’s a LOT of money! Perhaps we know someone who has fallen prey. We feel sorry for the ones who have been hacked and scammed, and have nothing but contempt for those who perpetrate these hateful deeds. Will they ever be caught? Probably not in this life.

That brings me onto my real point. When it comes to the faith filled life of Christianity, there are folks looking on who see our actions, and they don’t want to be hacked and scammed into a ‘religion’ that bears little resemblance to the Jesus in the Bible. They don’t want to fall for the trick of a shallow or false faith when there are bells ringing and lights flashing in their brains. Is the message true? More to the point is the question, is the messenger true? The devil’s scheme works well and the average person does nothing. They stay where they are because they don’t trust the messenger to provide the true message, and they don’t want to be hacked and scammed into a false gospel. Result? The devil wins because he is the one who sows those seeds of doubt and disbelief, and we fall for it!

When we fall for a scam in this life, the most we lose is some money and our reputation. This will pass, and we will be wiser for next time. However, when we fall for the devil’s scam, we lose eternal life in heaven, and get to spend that eternity with the devil and all his scheming demons in hell. What a waste! The moral of this little story? Live a life given over to the Jesus of the Bible, and live your faith so that others looking on will not be hacked and scammed by the father of lies, the devil. There is literally everything to lose!

Hallowe'en Excuse

The argument of hallowe’en being a bit of innocent fun for children, or an evil, satanic, devilish adult festival goes on in the Christian mind, and always will. There are good reasons for both protecting childish innocence, and exposing the work of satan in our society.

Let me broaden the thought to include a part right in the centre of these two extremes. As a user of social media I have seen many images which would verge on the immoral and immodest, and if you use these platform you will have seen them too. This is an occasion used and abused usually by teenage girls to dress in such a way to appear a bit of hallowe’en fun, but also a way to dress provocatively for their own selfies.

Necklines are way down, hemlines way up to the point you wonder if the aim is for them to meet in the middle. Am I exaggerating? I don’t think so. As a Christian parent and grandparent, I confess to being particularly worried at this time of year. While young girls are literally ‘dressing down’, there is an element of equally aged boys who will see these girls and (right or wrong) take them to be promiscuous and easy prey. Oh I know the arguments from both sides. Girls have a right to dress how they like, and boys have a right to behave how they like too. In a few years time these same young people will grow up, and have a family of their own. My prayer is that there will be no regrets carried into that new life, and that applies to the boys as well as the girls.

For these reasons I cannot wish you a Happy Hallowe’en, but that common sense and God will protect vulnerable girls during this hunting season. It may sound boring right now, but these words are truth at any age:

Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety. 1 Timothy 2:8-10

Revulsion

The images of Syrian men, women and children choking for breath and suffering from a Sarin gas attack in the outskirts of Damascus are etched on my mind, and I am sure they will be on yours too. I have heard many words which have been used to describe this atrocity, no matter who any of us think may be responsible. Words like; horrific, inhuman, unethical, immoral, and evil. Where does this sense of natural revulsion come from, because I have heard them used by people of great faith, some faith, and no faith at all?

The theory (yes it is just a theory) of evolution suggests that we have evolved initially from a big bang, and then by chance mutations, through single cells to the complex human beings we are. So where did our inbuilt, inbred and natural feelings of immorality and evil come from? Did that happen by chance in every part of the globe, and in every human being?

I do not think the feelings of revulsion are an accident. I believe God has placed in each of us the ability to know right from wrong, and good from evil. There is no coincidence that the word ‘evil’ is just one letter short of the name for the father of evil, the ‘devil’. So here is an observation and another question. Why do we see the evil of extreme acts of depravity so easily, but we are slow to recognise the same root of immorality and evil when it is closer to home, and in our own lives? Is it because it is so much easier to point the finger at another place, than to see our own shortcomings and sin?

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:20 NIV

Somebody's Lying!

“Don’t tell me lies. I can’t stand lies!” The words were spoken with chilling sincerity. A mum to her daughters and to her husband. I mean, as if we would! We were almost afraid to tell even the faintest whiff of a fib, never mind an outright lie. That has stayed with me, and to this day I cannot stand deliberate lies or deceit, given just to save face.

There was a terrible chemical attack on the innocents in Syria this past week. The perpetrators can fire the nerve gas rockets, and they can be big macho men, but they don’t have the backbone to tell the truth. Somebody is lying! There was another case of a celebrity accused and arrested for abuse that happened some years back. It is his word against a fistful of the abused victims who say he was a predator. Somebody is lying.

When a government or a highly paid famous celebrity shouts, “It wisnae me. It wis a big boy and he went that way” you can be sure something is wrong. The Shakespeare play Hamlet, has these words, “She doth protest too much”. It was a true saying then, and it is still true today. But just where do these and all lies come from? They come from an evil heart. Am I allowed to use the word evil, because we don’t usually like it because we are all sophistaced now to know that evil does not exist, but we are just misguided. The devil himself is in the hearts of these liars, after all, the following verse shows what Jesus thought about the source of lies and deceit: You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 NIV