Old shoes are the best

Some things in life are so normal that we don’t think about them and then when they happen we seem surprised. Take for instance things wearing out and needing to be replaced. Shoes for instance. We feel comfortable in them, they seem to grow with us and we are quite happy to wear them for a while longer but sometimes they just need to be replaced. They grow used, worn and old and we don’t even notice it.

Lots of things are like this in life in fact nothing really is permanent. But we all like constancy to some extent and even people who are constantly up for new things have habits and routines in the way that they do certain things. To some extent you could say that we yearn for things that are lasting and eternal.

My blog today is written to remind you that the God I trust is an eternal God. Even Jesus, the Son of God, when described by a prophet hundreds of years before his coming is described as the one ‘whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting’ (Micah.5.2). He is also described as ‘the everlasting Father’ or the ‘Father of eternity’ (Isaiah.9.6). God is an eternal being, the great un-begun beginner and the ultimate originator of everything.

Life is not eternal on this planet everything is degenerating. However humans were created in the image of God and are in eternal in the essence of our being i.e. as the old preachers used to say “we have a never dying soul”. Quaint but true!

The question is where will be in the great eternal existence that lies beyond this world? How do we know it exists? Why are Christians so convinced? All the questions are answered in one person, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God who came into the world from heaven. He has all the hallmarks of being God - supernatural power, knowledge that is beyond the mind of humans, fulfillment of prophecy, the virgin birth, flawless humanity – which is why Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God but that discussion is not for just now.

What can the Lord Jesus offer to us creatures of time who have a longing for eternal life and all its values? Jesus said that He came that we might ‘have life’; He gives to those who realize that they are spiritually dead in sin, ‘eternal life’. He can offer this because he by his death ‘offered one sacrifice for sins for ever’ (Hebrews.10.12). The question is have you got eternal life? If not your soul will be lost forever. This is not annihilation but an eternal existence separated from God and all that he is i.e. love, justice, peace, safety, strength and so on. The solution is ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved’. Salvation is freely available through faith in Jesus, the Son of God.

Listen on seekthetruth.org.uk

Twenty five life changing words

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

To most Christians these are familiar words. When I was young old preachers described this verse as 'the gospel in a nutshell'. They meant that this one verse sums up the good news of what Christianity is all about in 25 words.

If you count 12 words from the start of the verse the next word is SON

If you could 12 words from the end the next word is SON

Do you think it is significant that the central word of the verse is SON, I do? Jesus Christ, the SON of God is central to the Christian message.

He was born of a virgin girl as predicted in the Bible.

He is the perfect Son of God but he lived for 33 years in an imperfect world and contrary to all the norms of life he was perfect and faultless - the Bible calls it, sinless.

He lived a life to display what God is like. The Bible describes Him as God revealed in flesh.

He died for our sins. The Bible says this in numerous places i.e. 'Christ died for the ungodly' (Romans.5.6), 'while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Romans.5.8).

He is the only way of salvation. The Bible says 'neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved'

Finally one of the ways of reading the verse that was explained to me was to insert your name into the text. It makes the verse keenly personal to you. Why not try it but best of all believe it.

For God so loved Stephen Baker that he gave his only begotten Son that if Stephen Baker believes in him Stephen Baker should not perish but have everlasting life.

By the way the verse is written to apply to all. If it had my name in it it would exclude you. If your name was there it would exclude me but it says WHOSOEVER which means it includes everyone.

Inevitable

The late Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister and leader of the U.K. Labour Party said, “A week is a long time in politics”. The last week of October must have been so for the Eurozone leaders when they met in Brussels to find a solution to the Euro crisis. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor said, “If the Euro fails, Europe fails.”  There is an inevitability about her words and possibly caused her fellow national leaders to pull back from the brink of total collapse. They agreed a bailout plan initially for Greece but also for other countries that are tottering such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland, who also have major debt problems. Many newspaper financial commentators are sceptical about how this plan is going to be implemented in time, they have heard euphemisms before but they want to hear words that will work. One lady said that they were just kicking the can down the road. We understand her words to mean that at some point in time someone has got to pick the can up, though battered and damaged, it has got to be addressed, there is no point in kicking it further down Debt Avenue.

When I worked with our Gospel Van in Cornwall, it was said of the weather, that if it rained for two weeks there would be floods and if it didn’t rain for two weeks there would be a drought! It was inevitable! It always puzzled me as to why an area that has so much rainfall, could not conserve it in reservoirs for the influx of tourists that can treble the population of the county when the sun shines. Management of the earth’s resources is vital as the world’s population tops seven billion people and over one half of them live in poverty and with no clean water supply. Every human being is dependant on water, our bodies are seventy percent water and we cannot survive many days without it. In many places in Africa they don’t kick their cans down the road, they carry them to a point where clean water is available, fill them up, put the vessel on their head and carry it home, sometimes at a great distance. Share Africa is a Christian Charity that is helping village communities in different ways, paying for books and the education of children. They also have a well sunk in the village and pump the water up into a storage tank for families to draw their water from and save them a long walk to the river. Other charities do similar things and are commendable for their involvement.

If you jump off a cliff with nothing to control your rate of descent, you will according to gravity go downwards, accelerating at 32 feet per second, per second, it is inevitable that you will hit the ground, damaged or dead.

 If you hold a live power line in your hand with bare ends and if you touch those ends together, either a fuse will blow or you will suffer a shock that could kill you. 

If you hold a gun to your head with a chamber full of bullets and squeeze the trigger, it is inevitable that you will die. You do not need me to illustrate incidents that are life threatening, it is common sense to avoid such situations.

Allow me to ask you a question and in so doing I am not insulting your intelligence. If you can reason that things that are fatal must be avoided, why are you choosing to ignore the warnings in the Bible about your agnostic/atheistic position and where you will spend eternity?

It is inevitable that a person who believes that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Saviour will spend their eternity in Heaven, whereas an unbeliever will be in Hell. I can almost hear the shouts of disapproving readers, so I will tell you what the Apostle John said in ch.3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” That is conclusive isn’t it? These are not my words they are God’s words and we should sit up and take notice. It is futile to play the ‘good-works-card’ to deceive oneself into thinking, I’m all right, I’ve never done any one any harm, I always pay my way and never steel anything from anybody. I’m all right, I can carry on living as I do and when it comes to the end, if there is a Heaven, then I will go there because God would never send me to Hell.

Is the direction your life is taking leading to an inevitable outcome?

Jesus said “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” If a person builds their life on the shifting sands of the philosophies of men, that life will catastrophically fall, it is inevitable. The life that is standing on the Rock Christ Jesus will never flounder but will stand for all eternity.

I have heard Anguillians call their island, ‘The Rock’. People from other places may not have heard that but to folk that live there it means something to them. The Lord Jesus Christ is also called the Rock and to those who believe, He is the most precious person alive. Augustus Toplady wrote, ‘Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee; let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sinthe double cure; save from wrath and make me pure.’ 

In the wilderness the children of Israel drank of water from the smitten rock, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:4  “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”

The soul that stands on the Rock Christ Jesus is saved and satisfied, both are inevitable. Why? Because He said so!

God bless.

Written by Stan Burditt Nov 2011