Old Sins ( Hebrews 7 v 25 )

In one of the episodes of Poirot  the Belgium detective ,he is heard saying, ''Old sins cast long shadows'', so true. Consider that sin in Eden a long time ago indeed ,that sin still casts a long shadow  over this present time.The shadow of death ,of sickness,of sinful behaviour lies heavy on us all at times,but it does not have to be that, for Christ is a Saviour,if we ask him he can save us.In Hebrews 7 v 25 ,we read,' He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.' No matter how long  a shadow your sin is,Jesus can forgive you and set you free from it.

Money ( Matthew 25 v 31 - 48 )

A famous footballers mother became upset when she heard how much he was being paid,but her son said to her,''mother ,as long as I am receiving the money I will make sure that I will use it for good. It is not wrong to be rich  it is what one does with the money we have. That goes not only for the very rich but for all of us,we are all responsible as to what we do with our money.Jesus said the poor we will have with us always,could that be that God has planned it that way in order to test us, to see what we will do.

Money ( James 1 v 9 - 11 )

I like football,when I was young I played for a team, and even help manage a young team,football has changed or should I say the rewards for playing for top teams have escalated.People are earning what amounts to a kings ransom,many people feel that this is immoral even obscene,the question is it?, I think that attitude is a bit hypocritical ,when millions of people do the lottery , a couple have just won over a 100 million pounds,.Is it wrong to be rich ?,should we give all our saving away,no,but it could  be  that because of our wrong attitude towards  money we may be challenged by God to give it away. The word of God tells   us that the love of money is the root of  all evil ,( 1 Timothy 6  v 10) the result is in their eagerness for money they have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with may griefs.Our Saviour told us,''No one can serve two masters,Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. ( Matthew 6 v 24 )

Not a good luck charm. ( Psalm 48 v 14 )

I ask myself how have I survived till now?,I am 75, by chance?,good fortune?,or was a greater power looking after me?. Now of course does that mean that if I had died earlier, God was not looking after me?.  I was a premature baby,how did I survive, my mother had a baby after me,he died shortly after birth.Why did I escape drowning when I was a young lad?,well so we go on asking questions,I am a child of God,I believe there are no second causes,only God. That does not mean to say I have not had difficulties,disappointments, there are those who blindly teach and proclaim a health and wealth Christianity,and ignore what the word of God teaches,as regards suffering,of course there Christianity comes with a price tag on it, paid for by their deluded followers.Gods providence leads in different paths,it is Peter Lewis who comments,'God is our deliverer but he is not a good luck charm, He gives us protection,but not  immunity,hope in trouble,but not freedom from trouble'

Evil (2 Timothy 4 v 1 )

Writing on the problem of evil Peter Lewis wrote the following,' Always it is always God who  is central . Evil is not ultimate, inevitable or final. The first and last word is with God'.When one thinks of the evil that has been perpetrated,in the past, the evil that is being perpetrated,and will be perpetrated,it appears there is no end to it.We cant even begin to write the list of types of evil that humanity is guilty of,it appears sometimes that evil is on the throne.It must appear to many people that evil does have the last word,but no, there is a sovereign God ,who will have the first and last word.. For evil whatever way it is dressed up ,is sinful,and God will be heard,will be seen,and most definitely will deal with all sin,yes the final and last word is always with God.

Perfect, no,Imperfect ,yes. ( Philippians 3 v 12 - 14 )

Sometimes you feel like the apostle Paul who said ,''What a wretched man I am'', (Romans 7 v 24 ) or the prophet  Isaiah who cried out,''Woe is me'', (Isa 6  v 5 ). Yes we can all feel like that ,but I read these words ,'Imperfect, but following on', yes we are all in the same boat,struggling on the sea of life. Let us not despair ,for Christ did not save perfect people,the gulf between what we are and what we should be,will always be there.We will always need Christ as Saviour,we will always be those sinners saved by grace.Only until we arrive in heaven will we be without sin,and we shall be what we should be. So now it is,'Imperfect  but following on'.

Who is responsible?. ( Habakkuk 1 )

I suppose what causes people to stumble at the doctrine of the sovereignty of God is the problem of evil. Now the Bible is not fairy tale it is about real lives ,real situations. It tells us many things that are challenging,bad things,God doing things that we struggle with, the prophet Habakkuk struggled with what God was going to do.The old hymn has those memorable words,'God moves in mysterious ways',reminds us that we will not always understand why certain things happen.Peter Lewis writes,'The Bible never allows us to consider the problem of evil apart from the problem of sin- and our  own status as sinners'.We live in a fallen sinful world ,God did not cause man to sin, it is a choice we made and we will always be responsible ,for what happen in Edens garden, and what has followed.