Empathy ( John 11 v 35 )

  What is empathy? ,it is described  in the following way,' The ability  to understand and share the feelings of others', some say it has three components,' Cognitive ,that means, listening ,knowledge, understanding ,judging and problem solving.  Next we have, 'Emotional' , which leads us to the last component,' Compassionate' .One  of the results from personal suffering, we gain is an understanding of others who are suffering. That's very important in life, Queen Victoria felt the death no her beloved husband Albert  greatly, but is recorded how she visited a particular lady who had suffered the loss of a love one, she did not say much but just sat quietly with her. One aspect of the book of Hebrews is, the highlighting of  Christ's as our high priest, we are reminded that He suffered ,and that  He was tempted in everyway, just as we are, yet He did not sin. When we come to Him  he fully understands how we feel in our suffering, so we  are encouraged to approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (  Hebrews 4  v 14 - 16 )

                                               No one understands like Jesus                     

                                               He's a friend beyond compare.

                                               Meet Him at the throne of mercy

                                                He is waiting for you there.

                                                No one understands like Jesus

                                                When the days are dark and grim,

                                                No one is so near, so dear as Jesus,

                                                Cast your every care upon Him.

                                                              ( Words  John Peterson )

                                                 

Troubles ( 1 Peter 5 v 7 )

 Job 5 v 7 reads ,'Yet man is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly upwards'. no one who has ever lived, or who ever live will escape some degree of trouble, Christian or non -Christian. Trouble is no respecter of  persons, there is no escape from it, but there is a God in heaven who has a special love for His children, consider dear child of God this wonderful verse from Psalm 55 v 22.

                                                   'Cast your cares on the Lord

                                                   and He will sustain you;

                                                   He will never let the righteous

                                                   be shaken'

If  you read the Psalm written by David, you find  he experienced so much trouble in His life, he had many enemies, and even experiences trouble from a friend. Overwhelmed by trouble he declares, 'Oh , that I had wings of a dove! I  would fly away and be at rest'. But that does not happen, instead he is driven to the one place,  and one person, the place of prayer, and the person of God. Dear child of God no matter how severe your troubles are, now, or in the coming days, don't give in to despair, have faith in God . William Plumer wrote the following,' Rivers of sorrow may roll over us, and mountains of care rest upon us, but if we cast all on God , He will sustain you'

Secure. ( Isaiah 12 v 2 )

I worked for 20 yrs as a support worker with the mentally ill, I visited people in their homes, monitoring them, seeing  if thy were taking their medication, supporting them in different ways. Mental illness has different levels, it can be very severe and disabling, often irrational fear controls the lives of those who suffer mental illness. for some the safe place is bed, there they don't have to face life and all that means. I wonder were your safe place is?, In the peanuts cartoon strip ,there was a character called Linus, who carried about with him a security blanket, there were those who tried to rid him of  it, with no success. But gradually he outgrew his security blanket , I wonder have you got a security blanket?, quite possible you have. Now of course we live in a very insecure world, and most of us experience fear, and feelings of insecurity. I need not go down  the list of reasons, nor  am I judging anyone.  Looking back on my own life, and those times when I felt insecure and fearful, there are two words that come to mind, 'Trust Me', the Me being God. Remember the character of God, as one who can be trusted, totally, He is not a fair weather friend, He is one who can be relied upon in times of difficulty, remember Child of God , He is your security.

                                              Begone unbelief, My Saviour is near

                                             And for my relief , will surely appear

                                             By prayer let me wrestle and He will perform;

                                             With Christ  in the vessel I smile at the storm.

                                              His love in time past forbids me to think

                                              He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink;

                                              Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review

                                              Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through.

                                                                 (Words John Newton).

Lost cause ( Colossians 1 v 27 )

 A humanist Joseph  Krutch said this,'' Ours is a lost cause and there is no place for us in the natural universe, but for all that we are not sorry to be human'' .I think the word natural says it all, he is looking at things from a purely natural sense, when he looks us  all he sees is the planets, and stars. Contrast this with what the word of God says,'' The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands''  (Psalms 19 v 1 ). There is a saying that goes, 'There are none so blind as  those who will not see', in other words, they are to stubborn and unwilling, to acknowledge God, the great creator. That would knock them of their throne, they will be held accountable for this when they stand before the God who made all things .CP  Romans 1 v 18 - 20. The humanist says that ours is a lost cause, there is a real sense of hopelessness in those words, in one sense its true, the human race , have rejected God, and so they go on their way, on a broad road that leads to destruction, not oblivion ,but to an existence of total lostness, and pain, cut of from God, no comfort, no hope ,and no escape. I want to turn you away from the words of hopelessness ,to the God of hope, who so loved  you and me that He gave Jesus to save us, from ourselves, and our lostness. The  words of a little song goes, 'I have a hope that will surely endure after the passing of time', that hope is to be found in Jesus, and in Him alone.

Muttering ( Hebrews 12 v 1 - 2 )

 Are you a mutterer ?I must confess I am, and I am reminded of this by my wife, who tells me to stop muttering. The fact is I have always been a mutterer, Let explain what muttering is, it is one speaking to oneself in a low voice, complaining expressing dissatisfaction, or annoyance. I jokingly said to my wife, when my family came to see me when I was born, they heard me making low murmurings, my mother said ,oh , he is muttering, and so it continues. I don't think it is a joke ,it is something we do  out of habit, a habit that we need to break, a habit I need to break, where do we start?, by being honest, But the problem is this, as with all habits, they are hard to break, yes lets start to involve all wrong habits, swearing ,lying, violence, alcohol, over eating, sexual, covetousness, we with the list goes on ,and on and on. Yes they are hard to break ,with good  intentions we try ,but  fail, it becomes like new  year resolutions, we make  them, we break them. So what  can we do? Lets take them seriously ,see them for what they are, bad habits. first of all pray, confessing there sinfulness, and ask forgiveness, and ask for  God to help you. God may require you and direct you to receive professional help. In faith go forward ,praying continually, relying on God each step of the way, in the strength, of your Saviour.

Prone to wander. ( Jude v 24 - 25)

 A  minister Robert Robinson in the 18th century wrote a lovely hymn ,'Come Thou Fount of every blessing,' based on the words 1 Samuel 7 v 12, which reads, 'Thus far the Lord has helped'. These words were spoken by Samuel the Prophet, at a time  when their enemy  the Philistines where a great threat to them. Samuel encourages the people of God to direct their hearts to God, to serve only Him, for as per usual, they had wondered away from God, worshipping other  gods, making themselves idols. They responded to Samuels words and put away the idols, and turned from the false worship. Having done that Samuel reminds them how God had helped them up to now, inferring that He would continue to do so, which he did. Like Israel of old ,we can so easily wander from God, we start living like those around us, morally confused, doctrinally confused. We need all of us, to stay close  to God, and if we do , He will help us, I leave the last verse of that hymn with you , as  a prayer.

                                              O to grace how great a debtor 

                                              Daily I'm constrained to be!

                                              Let that grace, Lord , like a fetter,

                                              Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

                                              Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,

                                              Prone to leave the God I love;

                                              Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,

                                              Seal it from Thy courts above.

                                                                    Amen.

Deck chairs. ( Matthew 9 v 9 - 12 )

While on holiday ,we went to the town of Weymouth ,and spent time on the beach,  our youngest son and family were with us. My two grandchildren had great fun ,and we hired deck chairs, when one returned them you received your deposit back .So when  we took them back ,a young fellow was sitting at a table, it was he who would give us our deposit back. As I looked at him, it reminded me of the account of Jesus who came to a man called Matthew who was collecting taxes, and Jesus spoke to him, simply saying ,''Follow Me'', and he did. I took the opportunity  to tell  the young man that story, challenging him to trust Jesus. He said to me, why?, so I said to him, He will forgive you your sins, save you from hell, take you to heaven , and give you a new life. He did not respond much to what I said, I then  said, I would pray for him, and he said thank you. Will you pray for him?, and if you are not a Christian, Jesus is saying to you,'' Follow Me''.