Grieving. ( 1Thessalonians 4 v 13 -18 )

I would like to share something by Dale Ralph Davis,which I hope will be helpful, on grieving,,'Sometimes in the church there is such an impatience with grief. Why isn't Allan 'over' Carol's death or Connie over Tom's since it's been eighteen months- why can't that mother get beyond the death of their ten year old. I do not deny  that believers may deal with loss in grotesque and twisted ways. However, the persistence of grief is normal not pathological. With passing of time the acuteness of sorrow may lessen but its ache remains. I recall a Christian woman in her seventies telling me that her husband had been dead thirteen years and still she felt the loneliness and missed his companionship. She was a well balanced  mature , joyful Christian woman. But she lost the person she loved, and in one way, she had never gotten over it. Nor should she. Great love has the greatest pain'.

We are making a difference. ( Matthew 5 v16)

 The Medical missionary news,Stand by me, The Missionary Aviation Fellowship,and so we could go on, these are just some of the many Christian organizations that are involved in helping the worlds needy people.History is full of Christians working for the good of mankind ,they have and are making a difference to millions of peoples lives.Dale R. Davis,writes the following,'They are the ones who are the salt of the earth( Matthew 5 v 13) that is,who keep society and culture from rotting into complete  decay,who keep the world from being worse than it is' One day an agnostic confronted  Spurgeon as to his  Christian beliefs. Spurgeon pointed out how unbelievers organizations failed to provide any definite and ongoing program of help to thousands of needy people.By  contrast he pointed to the various works that flowed from evangelical faith. He closed by paraphrasing Elijah's defiant challenge  before the prophets of  Baal( 1 Kings 18 v24 ), ''The  God who answereth by Orphanages, LET HIM BE GOD! End of discussion.'' I know that there secular organizations involved in helping people,but even so it is still a valid argument, that Spurgeon put forth.

Daffodils ( 1Corinthians 15 )

There is something lovely about daffodils ,they burst into bloom as winter is ending,they are very popular,we see them in parks, we see them by the roadsides ,I have  some in my garden,not enough,one can never have enough daffodils. It was the poet Wordsworth who penned those lovely  and unforgettable words.

                                                       'I  wandered lonely as a cloud

                                                       That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

                                                       When all at once I saw a crowd,

                                                       A host ,of golden daffodils;

                                                       Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

                                                       Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Yet another poet  Robert  Herrick wrote

                                                         Fair daffodils, we weep to see

                                                         You haste away so soon;

No matter how beautiful any living thing is,the bible says,'What is seen is temporary' but then it goes unto  say,'but what is unseen is eternal'.(2 Corinthians 4 v18)  The good news is this, for all who are trusting Christ,there  will be a glorious eternal future, in which we will not die, change and decay will be no longer

                                                           'What a day that will be'

Disasters ( Genesis 19 v 14 )

Disasters continually  happens and are very sad,when we think of all the suffering involved,but along side  that ,there are lessons to be learned..Often in considering life ,the thought  that strikes me is how God is not mentioned ,I watched a movie recently and that thought struck me again,it came over as if God didn't exist . Even though the heavens declare the glory of God,people are blind as regards God,He is not in their thoughts Psalm 10 v 4 .Disasters should  be a wake up call, to turn to God. it is also a  reminder as Gordon Bridger  writes ,'that life is short,death may come to us at anytime; that this life is not all there is;  and that we should be ready to meet with God, to repent  of our sins and to put our trust in the Lord. 'Man is destined to die once,and after that the judgement'. ( Hebrew 9 v27 )

                                                      'Where will you spend eternity?

The Cross .(Galatians 6 v 14 )

 It is John Stott who writes,'The cross enforces three truths- about ourselves, about God,and about Jesus.' So what does it tell us about ourselves? ,it is a truth that many people don't like, and even some ministers don't like, that we are sinners,surely ministers preach that, then why don't they ?.The cross tells us how serious our sins are,and how horrible our sins are,I was witnessing to a person once, and he protested,that I was mentioning sin again,he was a Muslim,that religion that does away with a Christ on a cross, they think that if the prophet died on the cross,he failed.Where as if He had not died on the cross he would have failed,without His death on the cross, sin could never be forgiven. The cross teaches us about God, and the dilemma He was faced with, how can He solve that which He hates, sin ,and His love for mankind, His answer was the cross on which the Son of God would die, His justice would be satisfied,and He could offer, out of a heart of love,forgiveness to sinful humanity.The cross tells us about Jesus willingness to go to the cross, no one forced Him , He laid down a marker ,that we must accept  His death on the cross or we won't be accepted,it is simple as that.             

                                          'On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

                                          the emblem of suffering and shame;

                                          and I love that old cross where the dearest and best

                                          for a world of lost sinners was slain'.

                                                       Words George Bennard 

Enemies. ( Matthew 5 v 43 - 48 )

 President Abraham Lincoln( at the end of the Civil War) when a Northern victory was assured and many wanted to punish the South for the ''rebellion''. On March 4, 1865, when Lincoln  delivered his second inaugural speech said,''With malice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in the right,let us.....do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and lasting peace, among ourselves,and with all nations''. Kenneth E.Bailey writes,that  Lincoln exhibited makrothumia. The English language does not have a precise  word for this vital character trait. Arabic does; it is the word halim. This  form of patience characterizes the person who has the power to demolish the enemy,but out of love chooses not to do so' 

                                                                  'Jesus said'

                                                           ' Love your enemies

                                                            and pray for those

                                                            who persecute you'

How soon.( Mark 10 v 13 - 16)

 I was only a little lad,and I remember a day I went into a shop ,there was no one in the shop,and I tried to steal some children's comic books,and I got caught.Being so young nothing happened, yes I was young, thinking about this ,a thought came to me,''How soon our fallen nature manifests itself'. One of my first spiritual experiences, was at a children's meeting, the speaker spoke of a circus performer,who used a large snake in his act,and the act went wrong,and the snake crushed the performer to death.The children's speaker liken  what that snake did,as to sin and its consequences.Again I was very young but that night I asked Jesus.  into my life,the point is this, children  have a fallen nature,and they need to ask Jesus to be their Saviour, like I did. Many ministers appear to avoid these truths,instead of telling children the good news of salvation.

                                                  'Jesus said,' Let the little children

                                                   come to Me'