What is your Name?. ( Romans 8 v 29 )

According to one writer the Jews in NT ,times had two names, one was a Hebrew name and the other a Greek name, Thomas is the Hebrew , and Didymus is the Greek for a twin. Peter is the Greek ,Cephas  is the Hebrew for a rock,Tabitha is the Hebrew, and Dorcas is the Greek for a gazelle.My  first name William originated from the Normans,my second name Alexander originated  from the Greek.The meaning of William is, resolute protector,and the meaning of Alexander is,defender,and protector of  man. I would like to think that I live up to what the meaning of my names, but I doubt it.Of course I have another name ,Christian,it used to be, that people would say they were Christians   and yet they had never accepted Christ as their Saviour, had never been born again. Yes I accepted Christ as my Saviour, but  the challenge for all who call themselves Christians is , do we seek to live up to the name we bear.?.I assume it means that we should be Christlike,for after all Gods purpose for all Christians is that they may be conformed to Christs image.In the words of a little song,'Be like Jesus this my song,in the home and in the throng,be like Jesus everyday I would be like Jesus'.May all of us who bear the name Christian, seek by the grace of God, to live up to, that name.

Loneliness ( Hebrews 13 v 5 )

In Genesis 2 v 18, God declared, 'It is not good to be alone' we are social beings,we need others, one would think in this overcrowded planet,we would never feel alone,or even be alone. Yet the fact is many people feel alone,the elderly suddenly find themselves alone as their long life partner dies .  Old age brings different challenges, loneliness can be one of them,but it does not only apply to the elderly,many people feel lonely,and especially at a time like this, when we are in lock down.Looking back in my life especially when I was younger I felt lonely,yes even as a Christian. The Bible tells us that God will meet our needs, ( Phil 4 v 19 ), He is able to meet your needs. again in looking back  I can see how God brought people into my life, I have never had a multitude of friends,but there have been different individuals who became my friend. In spite of this I have still felt lonely at times. It was Nicky Cruz who wrote a book ,the title being,'Lonely , but never alone', that sums it up,yes as to ..human companionship ,we may not have that always ,but we do have one who is with us, and that  one is our Saviour., here is what he said,'' I am with you always.''( Matthew 28 v 20 ).Friends or no friends, He is with us,in  sickness and health, in poverty or wealth,in the ups and downs,in twists and turns,in the  dark days,and in bright days,He is with us ,not just for part of journey of life, but for all of life,and even when we go through the valley of the shadow of death He will be with us.( Psalm 23 v 4 )

More than. ( John 21 v 15 )

Becoming a Christian brings with it real challenges, when people came to Jesus,he would tell them to count the cost, in Luke 14 v 25 -34 Jesus tells the crowd.That if they  are going to follow Him ,they must hate their nearest and dearest,immediately we may be stunned at such a statement, hate, surely not?.What on earth did He mean? it is W. Hendriksen who tells us,''The word hate has the same meaning- to love less- in Gen.29 v 31  ,'Jehovah saw that Leah was hated,v 30, clarifies this by reading, ''Jacob....loved  Leah less than Rachel ( They were both his wives) Jacob had a favourite son Joseph, he loved him more than any of his other sons.( Gen 37 v 3 ) In Matthew 10 v 37 ,our dear Saviour said  ,''He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me''. We see this illustrated in Gen 22 when Abraham is commanded to take his only son, whom he loved and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering.God was testing Abraham,  what was that test? would he reverence God more than his son,he passed the test, he was restrained at the last minute from actually slaying Isaac.Jesus says to all, if you want to follow me then you must love me more than anyone else, or anything else.Yes there is a cost in following Jesus ,are we willing  to pay the cost?

Suffering ( Job 23 v 10 )

A friend has been suffering from cancer, in spite of drugs ministered ,he has been in great deal of pain,and it has steadily increased. He is in a hospice at this time ,nearing that point of death I have been praying that the Lord would take him home.As I arose to go to bed I asked myself,I wonder was he still in the land of the living,and then I thought this is not the land of the living ,it is the land of the dying. That dear person is going to the land of the living,there will be no death to where he is going, he is  going to a place where there will be no more suffering. We always want to know why?.his family may be asking ,why,  he had to suffer?, he was a godly man, surely he didn't deserve to suffer,of  course he didn't ,why had his wife and family to watch him suffer?. Good people suffer, godly people suffer,lovely people suffer,so why?,but the answer  is, we often do not know . For him thankfully, he will be  finished with suffering, and the Lord who suffered ,will more than compensate him. The apostle Paul who knew his share of suffering,wrote 'For I am convinced, that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future ,nor any powers, neither height nor depth,nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  ( Romans 8 v 38 - 39 )

The good shepherd ( Isaiah 53 )

Here is the best known  and best loved Psalm. 'The Lord is my shepherd ;I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me  beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art  with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the day of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ' In John 10 v 11,  Jesus said ,''I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd giveth his life  for the sheep''.The question is,is He your shepherd?,let me remind you it is not enough to know the Psalm,one must know the good shepherd, then all the blessings of this lovely Psalm will be yours.

Two kinds of people ( John 11 v 25 )

Let us continue to look at Romans 8 v 5 - 11,which deals with two types of people,we considered the person who lives according to the flesh,or their sinful nature.This time we will consider the person, a Christian ,who possesses the Spirit of God, and what that means. Now we are told that every Christian has the Spirit of God within them. God no longer takes residence in a temple made with hands,that is all gone,the Christian has become a temple ( 1 Corinthians 3 v 16 - 17 . 6 v 19 ) Leon Morris writes,''The Spirit is not an occasional visitor; He takes up residence in God's people'', and goes on to remind us ,that ''Paul is not identifying Christ with the Spirit, but he is saying that in the indwelling of the Spirit none less is Christ, is present,''Spirit in you' is impossible apart from 'Christ in you'.  William Barclay writing on the Spirit filled Christian,  as one who is, 'Spirit -controlled,Christ -controlled,God -focussed'. It is the Spirit that enables us to live a godly life, it is Spirit that bears witness that we are children of God  ( Galatians 4 v  6 - 7 ) It is the Spirit who is linked with our resurrection,W.Barclay has some very meaningful and encouraging words to say on this,''The Spirit-controlled life,the Christ -centered life,the God  - focussed life, is on the way to life.Daily it is coming nearer heaven even when it is still on earth.......It is like Enoch who walked with God and God took him, As the child said;''Enoch was a man who went walks with God- and one day he didn't come back''. He points out that there are those  who say ,that we say the Spirit - controlled man is on the way to life;but in point of fact every man must die.Yes that is true, we are all involved in the human situation .Sin has come into the world so like everyone else we will die,but as Jesus said in John 11 v 25, that the one who believes in Him will live even though he dies.

Two kinds of people. ( Matthew 7 v 13 - 14 )

Romans 8 is a wonderful chapter, and I was  struck with v 5 - 8, contrasting those who have the Holy Spirit and those who don't. In other words the Christian , and the non-Christian.Let us consider the non- Christian, they are described as those who live according to  the flesh ,or as another translation puts it,those who are dominated by their sinful nature.This can mean religious people as well as those who are not religious ,but whoever they are they will always be walking the broad that will lead to destruction.L. Morris writes ,that such a' person outside of Christ sees nothing beyond the here and now and, however  altruistic( unselfish ) he may be,in the end, is wrapped up in the things he wants  or on that which he has set his seal of approval' He goes on to say,''They may  have good intentions, but their horizon is bounded by the things of this life''.As our Saviour said to Peter, ''your mind is not set on the things of God but the things of men''( Matthew 16 v 23 ).No matter how much they try they cannot please God,and of course pleasing God is the last thing on their mind.. On the whole they are absorbed with  the   things of this life.,God is not in their thoughts,William Barclay puts it like this  ''they  are passion - controlled,or lust- controlled, or pride- controlled, or ambition- controlled.'' Such a life  is without Christ, and such a life can only have one destination, a lost eternity.