Love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:7,8

In the words of the old song, “Love is a many splendored thing”, and how true even today. Love takes many forms, from the deep love of a mother to her new born baby, to the mature love of the old doting couple in the twilight of their years, and all the love we enjoy in between.

Do you remember your first date? Your first kiss? When you proposed? When you were overwhelmed by the feelings of love for your children? These are as nothing compared to the love shown to us by God. We are reminded that, “Anyone who does not love does not know God.” How sad to think that there are many who have never loved, or been able to love, and yet take the name of Christ.

But look at the credentials that God shows when the verse continues, “God is love”. Not almost, or nearly, not even mostly, but God IS love. Nothing less and nothing short of full love for all His creation. Faced with a love like that, our human love pales in comparison, so how can we turn our backs on the intensity of God’s unconditional Love? And yet we can do just that, so why not determine to live a live worthy of the love He shows us, and as the verse says, “ let us love one another, for love is from God”? Then there would be fewer problems in our churches and communities.

The Greatest Question

Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" Acts 26:28

I believe the biggest question you may ever wrestle with is whether or not there is a God. This is not a light or frivolous thing, but deadly serious. If you decide there is no God, saying you are an atheist, there is a risk you may be wrong and the consequences are great. On the other hand, if you believe there is a God, and act on that knowledge, the benefits are eternal. Of course this brings on many other questions, but you have to start somewhere.

Some folks look at faith as a kind of insurance policy, and will accept faith, live a good life here on earth, and eventually get into heaven. This is good, but is it enough? Believing that there IS a God, and believing IN God are two different things. It is fair to say that everybody has to answer the question for themselves, but if we are serious in our belief in an all powerful, all knowing Deity, who created us because He loved us, that would mean we should respond in some way. It is easy to agree that some superior being created us, and all things, but what happens if we do not respond in love?

Do we go to church? Maybe, but in a half hearted way? Do we say we are as good as the next person, but lack any moral compass? Maybe, but does that make us any better than the next person who might not even believe in God? Do we love our neighbour, brother, sister, as Christ loved us? Now we are getting closer to our best response, because make no mistake, how we respond to our belief that God exists, makes us the kind of person we will become. Yes, with repentance, that makes us more like Christ. Only then we are not just someone who believes in God, we become a Christian. What a difference, and for eternity!

The Gift of Grace

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8,9 ESV.

It’s your child’s birthday, and you buy a gift, wrap it lovingly, and hide it so that it can’t be found before the big day. After the family dinner, the cake is presented, the candles blown out, and now there is the giving of the gift. “Have you been good this year?” you ask. “Did you do everything you were told by mum and dad?” followed quickly by “Have you had good school grades?” If you have done all these things, we can give you a gift now. What a strange set of circumstances to unfold at a birthday party. What parent would do such a thing to their child?

I love the idea of God’s Grace. It’s free for the asking from a full heart. It has nothing to do with how much I deserve it, or have worked for it. I can’t brag about it, and I am saved through it. Going back to the child at the birthday party, the gift does not become anything to the child until it is given, and accepted. So it is with God’s Grace. It doesn’t become ours until we accept the gift that is offered freely. All we have to do is take it. None of us wants the justice we deserve, but we all do need mercy, and Grace is that perfect gift. It’s yours and mine for the taking, so why not accept it?

Conclusions

It is very important when doing a calculation in Mathematics or Science to arrive at the conclusion of any piece of work or equation, only after you have taken the time to calculate your way from the first line to the conclusion. That is normally the way things are done, and no student would be marked ‘up’ for jumping from the first line straight to the end. In fact it would be considered foolish because invariably the student would reach the wrong answer.

Why then, do we (and I include myself in this) persist in seeing a statement from a friend which may offend because of its source, and jumping to the most obvious, but perhaps wrong conclusion? In the past I have been caught out on social media when I shared something, but didn’t take care to notice where it came from. Fortunately, I have a loving family who saw it, and immediately told me what I had done and it was quickly removed. Of course it was an honest mistake, but my real concern was this: What would my family and friends think of me when they saw the abbreviations at the top of the post, and knew that they stood for a swearing phrase and against all that a Christian would stand for? As a Christian, it horrifies me that I might do the same thing again, and as a result I tend to look more carefully where a shared post comes from.

Normally, and in the vast majority of cases, there is nothing to offend or make me cringe when I read shared items. However, I am left with a dilemma when I see something from a Christian friend which is not in keeping with their faith or witness, and is obviously an oversight. Should I draw it to the person’s attention, or hope that someone else does? Or maybe leave well alone and try not to let it trouble me? In my own conclusion, I need to afford the same forgiving grace to others, that was afforded to me through Jesus.

Your Biggest Decision

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

It’s the most important question and occasion in your life. You are staring at your choice of life across a fancy restaurant table complete with the romantic candle and a twinkle in your eye. Or maybe you are walking barefoot across an empty beach at sunset together, hand in hand. Or maybe even on bended knee, looking up to those beautiful eyes, and you whisper “will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”. So far so good, it’s all looking so right, and then she says, NO!!

That is enough to put anyone on a downer. Imagine you did the same to Jesus? You got close, and then decided you wanted to complete your life by making Jesus the head of the rest of your days here on earth, until you get to share heaven with Him and all those loved ones gone before? You are looking into those compassionate and eternal eyes, asking if He will accept you. He stops you and says, NO! That is unthinkable, or is it?

The most famous of all Bible verses is John 3:16, and the wording is simple and easy to understand. Words like “WHOSOEVER believes”, “will NOT perish”, and “have ETERNAL LIFE”. What’s not to like? So, would Jesus ever say “NO” to you when you approach Him in simple faith, with a heartfelt desire to spend the rest of your life as a Christian, living and growing in your Spiritual life? NO. NEVER. NADA. ZILCH.

If any convincing is still needed, then how about this verse? Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door [of the church] and knock. If ANYONE hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him (restore him), and he with Me.”

Extremist

More than 200 young girls have been kidnapped from school in Nigeria by an Islamist group who have announced that the girls will be sold, and their crime? They should not have been in school. Are we getting used to this kind of extremism, and accepting that it ‘just happens’? After all, it is so far away and doesn’t affect most of us.

What about 9/11 and 7/7, are we getting used to the idea that these atrocities ‘just happen’ and we can’t do much about them? What about a young girl, shot in the head by the Taliban because she spoke out about the right of girls to be educated? What does the name Lee Rigby mean to you? What about shooting Christians as they come out of church? And while I am at it, what about mock crucifixions, beheadings, and hands being chopped off in a barbaric way? We are in grave danger of getting used to these atrocities, and accepting them, with some very senior politicians even being apologists for their groups and actions, calling Islam a religion of peace.

Can I make a suggestion? How about we drop the words ‘militant’ or ‘extremist’ from the descriptions ‘Islamist Militant’ or ‘Islamist Extremist’, and while we are at it, what is the difference between a Muslim and an Islamist? They use and refer to the same ‘holy book’. Maybe we should only and always refer to all of these groups as Muslim, after all, they are all cut from the same cloth, and go to the same mosques, and many become radicalised under the brainwashing of the leaders there. I would even accept the name ‘Muslamist’ as a description.

So, what does it take for us to wake up? If not the thought of 200+ young girls being kidnapped, sold and abused by Muslims, what will? While writing this, the news carried another story of more young girls being abducted in Nigeria by the same group, and for the same reason and purpose. If these events don’t touch your heart, you are already dead inside. Anytime soon, I expect to see a politician or Imam on TV saying they do not represent the normal Muslim population. Really? Where is the Muslamist backlash? How big a minority or tragedy do you need?

Two Faced

Two faced, that’s what we, as a society, are. Hypocrites that speak with a forked tongue. Let me explain what has annoyed me this morning.

Two deaths. Two very different deaths, but both from drug misuse, and treated so differently by the media. First, and for me the more important is the loss of life of a young woman aged 17, who takes a ‘substance’ while on a night out. Maybe for the first time, but certainly the last. A waste of a life that was spread out before her, but she never got to see. Her candle snuffed out by an unknown and dangerous person, known only as a ‘dealer’ and who will probably never be brought to justice for murder.

The other death reported on the same news stream, is that of an actor. A celebrity who is known by movie worthies world wide, and the media reports? They are evenly split between reporting how great an actor he was, and how he has raised the bar for other actors, and then almost as an afterthought, the fact that he died of a possible drug overdose. This man is shown as a hero, who gets accolades in his death, possibly more than in life, and his loss of celebrity is mourned over the fact that he died from a drugs overdose.

Yes, we are two faced. What kind of message do we as society give our children? Is it ok to be a celebrity and take drugs, but receive praise on endless media reports, or do we mourn an equally important but unknown young girl who loses her life due to being misled by our very same confusion over whether drug use is acceptable or not, and is a footnote on the news? Sadly both have families who mourn their loss, but can we please not elevate drug taking actors to celebrity sainthood? As we say in Scotland, “Gonnae no dae that”?  

Facebook - Good or Bad?

The social media site Facebook seems to divide people into two very different and opposing groups. Those who don’t have a problem with it, and probably use it, and those others who have no time for the nonsense which pervades its pages. It is usually the case, that the latter group are very vocal in their distaste of the medium as a way of communicating. So, I have a simple question for you. Does Facebook do more harm than good?

There can be no doubt that Facebook is successful, with over 2 billion active users worldwide by Sep 2012, and used extensively by all ages. But that alone does not mean it is a good thing. I know generalising is not a good thing, but I find that regular internet users are normally on Facebook (ok, ok so not in all cases!) and those not on Facebook are a very vocal resistance group. Maybe there is good reason for this opposition, but what is it based on?

As a Facebook user, let me give you some annoying irritations:

* The posting of nonsense

* Sharing personal stuff that should stay private

* Expressing bad language or outrageous opinions

* Posting something publicly that you wouldn’t say in person

There are these benefits:

* Choosing my contacts (friends)

* Offensive people or posts can be ‘unfriended’ or ‘blocked’

* Finding and keeping in touch with old long lost friends

* Using ‘Groups’ to keep contacts together, for example a Church

For me, it comes down to a communication tool which I may, or may not choose to use. I have given you a start, so what do you think? Is Facebook a good thing, or do the negatives outweigh the positives such that we should pull out?

A Literal Hell?

This question has been on my mind recently, because I read part of a magazine given to me by a member of another faith group which said about the second coming of Jesus Christ: ‘ the righteous dead and the righteous living would be taken to heaven, but the unrighteous will die’. It is the words ‘unrighteous will die’ that got me, so I did a bit of self reflection. Do I believe in hell, or more importantly does the Bible say there is a literal hell?

The group in question believe that the saved will get to heaven but the unsaved will be annihilated, and that from earthly death until the resurrection, everyone is in a ‘soul sleep’ without consciousness until the second coming, and then the righteous go to heaven, and the unrighteous ‘really die’. So, the bad and evil people of this world will not suffer in hell for their murder or abuses, but just fade away. Not only that, but after their earthly death, they would not be aware of their previous existence, never mind their evil deeds. The word that comes to mind is ‘convenient’, after all who wants to think about a place of torment, let alone believe in it? Personal story. Some time ago I met parents who turned from Roman Catholicism to Jehovah Witnesses because their daughter had taken her own life, and their church saw it as a mortal sin, but if their daughter did not go to hell, or heaven, that gave them comfort, hence the move to become Jehovah Witnesses. Seventh Day Adventists among others also hold similar views, but is this right according to Scripture?

The absence of hell from some doctrines does not mean it doesn’t exist, after all the vast majority of mainstream faiths do believe there is such a place, and it isn’t enough to naively say that a loving God would not send anyone there! Isn’t our God one of love, but also justice? Without both there is no balance, or reason for either. That’s what my Bible tells me anyway. So, it’s a sobering thought, but in case you are wondering, yes I do believe there is a place of punishment for willful sin after we die, and in my opinion, that would be a literal hell.

Made It!

Here we are, into 2014. We made it in spite of the pitfalls of the past year. For many, 2013 will be remembered for bad health, bad news, bad decisions, and the list could go on, but here we are at the start of a new year. It’s like having a blank piece of paper and starting to write your own story. Last year, this year, they are just the same except time has moved on, right? Oh so wrong!

Looking back we can see the whole year as it was. We have the benefit of hindsight, but no one has the gift of foresight to see what we will write on our blank sheet of paper in 2014. So we must take it slowly and patiently. No use in wondering or worrying what we will be doing in September, when we don’t know what tomorrow holds. When I was (a lot) younger, I went to camp and loved the fun and games, especially at night. We didn’t have a torch as we looked for hedgehogs in the nearby woods, but we did have a hurricane lamp that hung on the centre pole of the bell tent. You know one of those useless lights that you held above your head to see as much as you could while stumbling in the darkness, trying to find the path (and the hedgehogs)?

It is no surprise then that we have this advice in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” There is good reason that we cannot see too far ahead of our lives. Who would really want to know what awaits us in the coming year? I don’t. Looking back gives me good reason to be thankful I didn’t always know what the next step was. So back to the verse. I am sure that God knows what is best for us, and only allows the light to shine on our feet, and that next step we take. Useless for finding hedgehogs, but great for living our life. What is this light? It is His Word. The Bible. So where better to set your year in motion than by reading the timeless light He has given. His Word. It is eternal, and can be trusted to get us through this day, and indeed every year we are given!