Love ( 1 Corinthians 13)

 We hear the word love often mentioned in songs,an old song comes to mind the words ,'Love is a many splender thing, it's the April rose that only grows in the early spring'.That's based on romantic love,that  St Valentine's love,I still give my wife a Valentine's card,and some chocolate,she bought me rose's.There is nothing wrong with doing that,but we should know that love goes much further than that.Love is vital in our relationship,it should be the glue that holds our marriages together.One sometimes hears of a loveless marriage that's unfortunate, we should not be surprised if such a marriage does not last.Paul stressed the importance of love,he wrote if we have not love no matter about our sacrifices,or our spiritual gifts,or our faith that can remove mountains, we are nothing.To manifest Christian love is not optional,there is no get out clause ,we have to love.that means we have to forgive,because someone has hurt you deeply,or hurt someone you love.It is challenging to me as I write this,what if,yes ,what if,will I still love them?. You may be saying to God I can't forgive that person they have hurt me so much,what is the answer? Well we must look at the cross,the cross is the greatest act of love ever manifested,God could easily have said I've had enough , but He didn't, He chose to love us,how do we know that? just look at the cross,dear Christian this is the moment for you to pray and say as you forgive me, so I will forgive that person who has hurt me.

Hope ( Psalm 42)

 Spurgeon said,'Hope itself is like a Star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity,and only to be discovered in the night of adversity'. When difficulties arise I turn to God in prayer,when a young lady recently told me about her problems,I said, let us have a little word of prayer.When a man in the church told me about a procedure he was going to have in hospital,I said I would pray for him. When I witness I remember that person in prayer,why am I saying this? to be boastful ? no, I am reminding myself and reminding you to look beyond ourselves to God. Romans 4 v 18 reads ,'Even when there was no reason to hope,Abraham kept hoping- believing that he would become the father of many nations'. I like those words ,'Abraham kept hoping', My son who knows a bit of Spanish ,said that in Spanish  the word hope and wait,mean practically the same .

                                                                    Psalm 43v 1

                                                         'Why am I discouraged?

                                                          Why is my heart sad!  

                                                           I will put my hope in God!

                                                           I will praise Him again-

                                                            my Saviour and my God'

He had not changed.( 2 Corinthians 5 v17)

 'We are all going to need a lot of forgiving on our way to our final rest',(B Webb/BST),it was written about Christians,that may sound strange,but the fact is,as Christians we still sin,in word,in thought,and in deed. That is a fact that cannot be denied, a certain famous Christian said I'm not a sinner,even though the Bible says,''If we claim to be without sin,we deceive ourselves,and the truth is not in us''(1 Jn 1v8) We must remember that,but John does not stop there in chap 3 v 6, we read,' No one who lives in  Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him'.It is John Stott who writes the following,'It is not the isolated act of sin which is envisaged, but the settled habit of it, indicated by the verb poiei ,to do or to practice'. In v9 we read,'No one who is born of God will continue to sin', again we turn to what J/ S writes ,'' He is not able to sin habitually''.If there is no permanent change in a person's life,and they persist in their sinful ways,then they are not Christians.I knew someone  who was a abuser,sent to prison ,professed to be saved was baptised,but it was obvious he had not changed.

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Have you a hero? (John 13 v 37 -38)

My son Brian  spoke of the man who was his hero,and so now in a sense he is villian,he has fallen of his pedestal I think it's a foolish thing to put someone on a pedestal and call them your hero.I'm sure many people put king David on a pedestal,by all acconts he was a good looking person,he was very brave,won many battles,and so we could go on ,yes he was a very great man,but then he fell of his pedestal.Take Lord Nelson ,a very brave man,he won so many battles,but he fell of his pedestal,he committed adultery,with Lady Hamilton.Putting people on a pedestal and making them your hero is leaving yourself open, to disapointment.It may seem that I'm being cynical,I'm not, I have friends and I love them,and I admire them,but they are not my hero's,I don't put anyone on a pedestal.When Peter was talking to our Saviour ,he looked at John and he said,what about him?,and Jesus said ,'You must follow Me' (John 21 v 21-22),and in Hebrews 12v2,we are told to 'fix our eyes on Jesus'.If we do that we will never go wrong,we will never be disappointed.

Choose. (John 21 v 21-22)1

In John 6 v 66 we read,'From this time forth many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him'.They did this because they misunderstood something Jesus said,people turn back from following Jesus  for many reasons,the list is endless . My son Brian tells in his book ,'Be Still' how a friend and him went through a time when they were let down by a particular leader in his church.They were disappointed and disillusioned, it was someone they admired ,but he had done somethings that was wrong,Brian said he was his hero ,he waned to be like him,but he let him down,they were both in a crisis of faith.Brian phoned his friend one evening to ask him how he was,he said,'Sometimes I sit on the end of my bed and think is this all worth it,and then I choose to believe. Sometimes Brian,we just have to choose to believe even if we don't feel like it'.

Honesty the best policy ( Numbers 32 v23 )

I found ten pounds recently lying on the floor of a shop,so I was faced with a decision,do I keep it?,after all it's only ten pounds.but I handed it into a worker ,who reported it to her superior,and that was it.Not really I shared with  the shop worker how there time in the past when I had little money,if I would find money I  would hand into the local police station  I knew if it wasn't claimed in a certain time it would become mine,I must confess I hoped no one would claim it,times were hard. I do believe honesty is the best policy, after all on one has to live with one's self,and who wants a guilty conscience?I remember reading about Maria ,Hudson Taylor's wife, in case you don't know Hudson founded the' China Inland Mission', it is worthwhile to read about him.Back to Maria she served with her husband in his work.She died aged 33 of Cholera,one the things she said before she died,that there was nothing between her and God.What she meant was,that was no sin between her and her God. On confessed sin even in the believers life ,it will not affect your standing before God,but it will affect your relationship with Him.So what's the answer? well it is John who tells us,'If we confess our sins,He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness'.( 1 John 1 v 9 )

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Legalisim (Matthew 23)

 As I get older I get more emotional and can cry easy,our dear Saviour  was an emotional person,we read how he wept,I'm sure He must have laughed , In Mark 3 v 5,we read that he became angry at the Pharisees ,it all happened when our Saviour visited the synagogue,there was a man present who had a shrivelled hand. There were Pharisees present,they watched Him closely to see if He would heal the man, for it was the Sabbath.I must confess that one writer says this about the Pharisees.'They were good religious men and we should feel sorry for them,Jesus was not sorry for them,we read ,'He looked around at them in anger and was deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts,or their hard hearts.No He didn't feel sorry for them,and He did not let them,stop Him from healing that poor man. Jesus was not breaking the law, He was challenging these so called law keepers,who had added unto the law,and in doing that they destroyed the true essence of the law. There are so many religions that are legalistic and they make life terrible for people.As Christians we must keep the commandments,but we must not add on those things that  we become like those Pharisees. Let me just add, we are not saved by the law,but we must live by moral boundaries that God has laid down.