When hate and love collided'.( Colossians 1 v 13 -14)

What is the opposite of hate? 'love,' there is a song the title being,'When love and hate collide', I don't have to tell you there have been  many wars fought,but the greatest war  ever fought took place on a hill far away were three cross'es stood,and on that middle cross a great battle took place.Hell in all it's awfulness aided by fallen humanity collided with love personified in the person of Jesus .That love defeated the enemies of God, now there was hope for the hopeless,death died a death, eternal life beckoned for mankind,eternal glory in heaven awaits all who embrace Christ as their  Saviour .Peace with God could become a reality,no longer would we be shut out from His presence,from being lost to being saved,to have a hope that will surly endure after the passing of time.When Jesus cried ,'It is Finished', it was a cry of victory ,hate and love had collided,and love had won the victory.

                                                     'On the cross Jesus won the victory for us,'

                                                                           ' Hallelujah'

Paradise. ( Revelation 21 v1 -8 )

 It was John Milton who  wrote a book called ,'Paradise Lost',God placed our first parents in an earthly paradise,then the unthinkable happened,in a moment paradise was lost because our first parents sinned,and everything was changed,not for the better,it was catastrophic a terrible disaster,of monumental proportion, the very universe must have give a shudder. It would affect the whole of humanity ,but it would also effect creation ,( Romans 8 v 19- 22),the earthly paradise would now have a curse upon it ,( Genesis 3 v 17-19).We are at odds with creation and creation is at odds with us. Daily we hear of the damage being done to our planet and so it continues and its not improving, Finbar Furey sings a song that only partly  tells the damage being done to our home planet earth.here are some of the words from it.

                                           Look at our world now,she must have been beautiful

                                           When her rivers ran clear and her skies were so blue.

                                           Blue jewel in the sky,so precious to all of us

                                          The oceans are choking the rain forest's almost gone,

                                           How could you destroy what you didn't own.?

Yes it is very  depressing what is happening to our planet,but God has a plan ,and you can be part of it,John Milton touches on it when he wrote another book 'Paradise Regained', a new heaven and a new earth( Isaiah 65v17/2 Peter2 v13/Revelation 21 v1 ) .It is for a new people ,who are part of God's new creation( 2 Corinthians 5 v17) they are those who have trusted Christ as Saviour, their sin has been dealt with,the result  will be for them,'Paradise Regained'.

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Ethics ( James 5 v 1 -6)

 My wife's car has a problem,the garage said it would need a new engine, and the cost would be very high, I told a friend who is a mechanic,one of his suggestions was just trade it in,without revealing that there was a problem.I told him I would not do that. We went to see the garage that said it needed a new engine, one of the things they said was trade it in,and I told them the same answer.The point is it would be ethically wrong to do that as a Christian,or even if your not a Christian. So many people are acting unethically, one of my sons is a salesman,and he tells me that so many unethically practices go on,as a Christian he tries to be ethical. If as a  person you do not have ethics,then anything goes,a mam I know had a position in his job ,and he said that before he became a Christian he was really bad,in other words he didn't treat people fairly.Again a man I know who had a very high paid job in a bank ,he told me that a number of years ago,many people were given mortgages they couldn't afford to pay back,someone raised that issue,he was not liked for raising that issue as many people were making a lot of money out of it.Where there are people who are in charge  who  can't be challenged ,be it in politics.business, then ethics will not count.There are people who are very successful  the questions it raises,'How many people did they walk over,how many lies did they tell,how many times did they break their word?. It is not just business I'm talking about ,I know of ministers who did not act ethically,the wealth and prosperity people do not act ethically.,a Christian should always aim to act ethically.

The light shines into our darkness. ( Romans 1 v16)

 When will it ever end,my dear wife is with a friend from our church,her daughter has cancer,she is in a hospice, she is waiting on a phone call,need I say anymore .Forty years ago I was in that position,my dear wife had cancer,need I say anymore.Every human that is born is going to die one way or the other,it is to say the least not very nice. We were never meant to die ,John Calvin writes the follow as regards our innocent states,'Adam was wholly free from  death,his earthly life truly would have been temporal; yet he would have passed into heaven without death,and injury'.It makes one realise what he lost and what we lost,for we read,'Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man,and death through sin,and in this way death came to all people'(Romans 5 v 12) John Calvin further states,'Death,therefore,is now a terror to us;first, because there is a kind of annihilation,as it respects the body; then, because the soul feels the curse  of death,namely,alienation from God'. Into all this darkness we have the light of the gospel blazing forth bringing hope,for we read in Romans 5 v 19,'For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners,so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous'. Yes the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord'.(Romans 6 v23)

                                                    'Sin changed everything for the worse,

                                                  Calvary changes everything for the better'

Faithfulness ( Exodus 20 v14 )

 I buy a newspaper once a week,it's consider an up market newspaper ,but I have noticed recently that they have a liberal agender ,as regards the sanctity of marriage..Time and again  I read articles on people who have extra marital affairs,hear's an example,'Are you in a 'tolyamorous' marriage?',that means turning a blind eye to infidelities within one's marriages,so they give examples of married couples who supposedly don't mind their husbands /wives having other sexual partners .One so called expert states,'I think we are starting to recognise  that you can have a really beautiful , fulfilling relationship and nourishing relationship,but it may not be openly exclusive,and if you can make peace with that,then  that's going to be OK'  ,is it?, no, far from it ,these articles don't take into account the carnage that infidelity brings into multitudes of families, the children especially suffer the most.When we go against God's order there is always going to be  consequences,people suffer ,society suffers.Many still take vow's and say ,'Till death do us part'. God expects us to keep our vows, God expects us to be faithful, of course the people I am writing about are not Christians,but even if you are not a Christian being faithful is important, of course it does cost,marriage is not a fairy tale,it brings it's challenges,but in spite of everything, it is worth being faithful in your marriage.

Moral values ( John 3 v 36 )

Moral values have changed in society ,there are things today that were unthinkable when I was younger ,but now they are acceptable. Years ago living together and not married would have been considered a sin,and for Christians it would have been totally unacceptable.In churches we don't hear much preaching on morality ,even though God's moral standards have not changed.We do not want to  be like the hardened Pharisees,but it is important that we grasp the reality that God has moral standards ,that we must live by. In Ephesians 4 v 17 ff we are told a number of things,that we are to be different than unbelievers,to be honest ,to not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths..To get rid of all bitterness,rage and anger,brawling and slander,to be forgiving. In chapter 5 we are told that there must not be even a hint of  sexual immorality,no obscenity,foolish talk or  coarse joking.God does not look kindly on sinful behaviour His wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.Look on the cross,look on Jesus, suffering untold agony for our sin,He bore the wrath of God that was our due,that when we trust Jesus as our Saviour, we are free from that righteous wrath of God.no longer will we face eternal suffering,instead we can look forward to the eternal glories of heaven,where Jesus has prepared a place for us. In that lovely hymn ,'Beneath the cross of Jesus',by Elizabeth C. Clephane, we read the following words,as regards the cross

                                             ' There lies, beneath its shadow,but on the farther side

                                        The darkness of an awful grave,that gapes both deep and wide;

                                        And there between us stands the cross,two arms outstretched to save;

                                           Like a watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave.

                                            

Hasty words and actions. ( 1 Peter 2 v 21- 23 )

 There was a very popular song in Victorian times,called ,'After the ball',written by Charles K. Harris, about a man who lost his sweetheart,and it should never have happened ,His young  niece asked him why he was lonely,had he no sweetheart?,well he went on to tell her the story,of the sweetheart  he had,and lost. He went to a ball where he was to meet his sweetheart,when he arrived ,he saw her being kissed by another man, well that finished the relationship,he would not listen to anything his sweetheart said,He still loved her but it was finished,years passed and she died it was then he received a letter from the man who kissed his sweetheart,it was her brother.It was king David who acted in a very hasty spirit because someone  offended him,but fortunately a lady called  Abigail stopped him.(1 Samuel 25)  A person I know spoke in haste and lost his job,hasty words and hasty action can cause us great deal of trouble,The wise words of James comes to mind,''Be swift to hear;and slow to speak'', (James 1 19 )

                                           '  The evil of haste under a worldly 

                                              impulse is truly fearful'.

                                                      'Charles Bridges'