Wrong doings or should I say. ( 1 John 5 v 17)

 It is the Roman Catholic church that have two classifications of sin,'mortal and venial',they see them as having different consequences. Most people don't talk about sin,even many preachers don't, and yet the bible speaks about sin often.Because most people are not Christians,they don't use the word sin,to them sin basically wrong doings, and are seen and judged on a human level .There main concern is the wrongs committed on humans by their fellow humans. Judgement only follows when people sin on human terms ,years ago when the death penalty was being passed,the judge would say,' and may the Lord have mercy on your soul'.and the good news is, He will ,if we call upon Him,and accept Christ as our Saviour. It is David Prior who has some instructive things to say about sin. He writes,'all sin is the same before God  we may speak of people being more wicked,or more righteous than others,but with God there is no distinction since all have sinned and come short of  the glory of God ( Romans 3 v23).  All sin is heinous to God , and all sin will be judged eternally,by a holy God ,which will mean, eternity in hell.

                                              'The good news is ,Christ Jesus came into

                                               the world to save sinners.'

Change ( Numbers 6 v 24-26

We live in a changing world,we need to adopt to change, some find it harder than others ,a man called Reinhold Niebuhr wrote a prayer on facing up to things that cannot be changed ,it goes like this.

                                                    'O God give us serenity to accept the things

                                                    what cannot be changed, courage to change

                                                     what should be changed,and wisdom to

                                                     distinguish the one from the other'

That is a very wonderful prayer,brings a challenge to all us,it brings two aspects as how we face change,the first one deals with what cannot be changed. Just before I started writing this daily reading,I received an email, as regards a young child who was very ill,it did not appear that she was going to live, alas I was informed she had died .There are so many things we cannot change, and will not change,sometimes we find that hard to accept that.So the prayer requests serenity ,to have a peace when  the difficult things that don't change,our Saviour said ,'ask and it shall be given you.'.

                                                

                                                                    John 14 v 27.

                                            

                                           ' Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you'

Half for-given. (

A man called Pusey wrote,'God does not half-forgive,so man must not half  repent',I am very pleased that God does not half -forgive ,and very relieved.To teach in anyway that God only half forgives sins,would mean leaving us under a cloud of guilt, and fear that I am not saved,having no assurance of eternal life. The thought that we are only half forgiven,  would undermine Christs atoning death,and would go against the clear teaching of scripture. It is in Hebrews, chap's 8- 10 in which it deals with the ineffectiveness of the animal sacrifices,and the effectiveness of Christs sacrifice. 8 v12 reads God declaring,' For I will  forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more'.Raymond Brown writes,' God remembers His mercy and forgets our sins.It is the devil who tries to remind us of both former sins and our present weakness'.It is the apostle John who writes in  Chap 1v9 of his  first epistle that,'the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sins'. It was Horatio G. Spafford who wrote the hymn ,'When peace like a river', the third verse reads.

                                            'My sin,O the bliss of this glorious thought !

                                             My sin,not in part but the whole,

                                             Is nailed to His cross and I bear them no more;

                                             Praise the Lord,praise the Lord,O my soul'

Bad places,bad people.( 1 Timothy 1 v 15 - 16 )

I read of Christians in Iran who have been sentenced to 10yrs in prison ,it is awful,yet it is,why ?well our Saviour made it clear it would happen,it goes with the territory (John 15 v 18 -25).We don't mention our fellow brothers and sisters suffering lightly, today its them ,tomorrow it may be us.One dear couple have been sentenced to serve time in a prison in one of Iran's worse prisons known for it severity on the inmates. I wander if God will use them to be witness'es in that dark evil place,it was CT .Studd   who used to say,''Some want to live within the sound, of church bells ; I want  to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell''.Gladys Aylward was a British born evangelical who was a missionary in China,during her time there she went into a prison where a riot was taking place,she stopped the riot,and God used her to bring a change in that prison. It could be that God may take us to the worst of places, and the worst of people,to be witnesses ,to be light in those dark places .

                                            Then I heard the Lord saying,''Whom shall I send?

                                             And who will go for us?' And I said,'Here am I.

                                              Send me!'

                                                                       Isaiah 6 v 8

                                              

Not now,later. ( Isaiah 55 v 6 - 7 )

A   Dr Piers Steel an expert at procrastination recently spoke on how one can stop daily dithering,that's what procrastination involves. Everyone is guilty of putting off doing what they should,not now but later.I remember a minister telling about a mother who used to stand at the foot of the stairs each morning,calling to her son to get up out of bed,she would hear him reply,'I'm coming,' but he kept lying on in bed. In her frustration  she cried out by saying,'will you stop your coming and come'.Recently a well known footballer,was disciplined by his club,for being late for his training session,seemingly he had fallen asleep. In Isaiah 1 v18 God is speaking,the first two words He say's is ,'Come now''. here is an invitation from God,come,and it is followed by ,'Now'.there is an urgency in this invitation,but alas we fail to respond, why the urgency?,if you are not a Christian,you stand in grave danger of going to a lost eternity.The minister was asking the congregation ,to shout out the blessings they had received,a lady who had been a Muslim,called out that she had got saved.In the light of the  uncertainty of life and the certainty of  death,I urge you to seek the Lord  Jesus while He can be found,call on Him while he is near(Isaiah 55 v 6)

                                                               'Don't procrastinate'

Where? ( John 3 v 36)

 Someone wrote of how,' many people lives exclude all personal spiritual dimensions, and are just content with a purely animal existence' That's very sad because we are not mere animals,we may live like that,and we may consider our pets as part of the family.There is nothing wrong with that ,all I would say is they are not part of our human family,there is a distinction between the animal and human family.Walt Disney and many nature programs,would break down the distinction between the human and animal family.Disney do it for fun ,and to entertain us,the nature programs are very serious in pushing forward the idea that we are all one that there is no distinction.In Genesis God made a difference,because we read that God said ,''Let us make man in our image'',(Gen 1 v 26 ). We also read that God has set eternity in humans hearts, (Ecclesiastes 3 v11).that is something we sense,the believers realises the reality of that by faith  in Jesus, and look forward to the glories  of being with God eternally.The unbeliever will also exist after death ,but not with God,and will exist under God's wrath for ever.So the question is this, where will you spend eternity?

Press on. ( Colossians 3 v 1 -4 )

 Paul is in prison,a Roman prison,for what crime?,of being a Christian,things have not changed,Rome no longer rules,yet many have stepped up to take their place.In many countries it is a crime to be a Christian ,there are political and religious powers where many Christians  are suffering,and dying, by those opposed to Christ. Such was Pauls experience,he would soon be beheaded,and under the Emperor Nero, many Christians would perish,horrendous deaths. Here is what  Paul wrote,to a beloved brother in the Lord.    'The time of my departure is at hand,I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.' For this warrior of Christ  was now going to be with Christ ,yes he had fought many battles (2 Corinthians 11 v 23 - 28).In spite of all he had experience,  he had never given up,he carried unto the end, and never once did he deny the faith,and so it was with confidence he was going to meet his death,but most important to to meet his Lord,and bask in the glorious rewards of heaven.So let us by God's grace, press on ,hold on , and strive on.

                               'I've wrestled on towards heaven, 'Gainst storm, and wind ,and tide,

                               Now like a weary trav'ller ,That leaneth on His guide;

                                Amid the shades of evening,While sinks lingering sand,

                                I hail the glory dawning, in Immanuel's land'.

                                                            A.R.Cousin.