The ‘If’ question!

When someone questions our ability to do something, it can provoke a sense of pride that wants to prove them otherwise. Some have stretched themselves to perform reckless acts with varying degrees of success. The Bible says, ' Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.’ God is never guilty of pride, which is on a list of things that the Lord hates.

People have been heard to say, ‘If God would do this or that… I would believe.’ But God does not try to ‘prove himself’ on our terms. Faith in God is not about what we want Him to be or do but about accepting who He is and what He has done.

One day, the devil came to Jesus saying, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ Jesus was in the desert and had been without food for some time. The suggestion was that He satisfy His hunger and thereby prove His power. But the Lord Jesus had not come to perform miracles to gratify His own desires nor to showcase His power for popularity. His works were always for the glory of God. On another occasion, Jesus said, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.’ The work of God, His Father, was more important to Him than physical food. Pleasing God was food for His soul.

The world has become a very angry place!

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When I read the newspapers, watch the news, or just generally observe the behaviour and reactions of people in society, I become aware, very quickly, that the world is an angry place. I am not saying that this is unjustified, I am just noting what I see.

Beneath the surface in many lives is an irritation, an annoyance at what life is delivering. 

There are a whole host of things that aggravate people: 

1. how people drive
2. the response to the pressures of financial commitments
3. the rising cost of living
4. the frustration of coping with under-funded and overused public services 
5. the general pressures of life. 

We live in a world where there are so many reasons to be agitated and angry.

I am sure that psychologically and physically, anger does not have a good outcome in people's lives. There may be some good side effects, such as increased adrenaline empowering you to protect yourself or giving you the motivation to do better and improve your situation, but the side effects of constant agitation and anger have got to negatively affect our health. 

Learning lessons from History

 

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I was thinking about what to write, and as part of selecting a topic, I was browsing the Liverpool Echo website online. Not only was I shocked by the variety of news items, but I was amazed that the ‘Echo’ has been doing its job of communicating news for so long - it was first published in 1879. 

 

That got me thinking. How long have the local newspapers on the Wirral been publishing, and how many have ‘gone the way of all the earth’? The oldest one I came across was the ‘Birkenhead and Cheshire Advertiser’, printed from 1863 to 1946. No doubt someone will know of an older paper. If you do, get in touch and pass the information on. Newspapers began appearing across Europe and the UK as early as the 1600s.

 

Ukraine - lessons for life

 

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In February 2022, Ukraine quickly came to dominate news reports worldwide. People who disagree about all kinds of things are united in sorrow at the heart-breaking turn of events and in sympathy for the men, women and children who are suffering so much. Many have worked hard and given generously to help alleviate their plight.

The sad comment of one Ukrainian MP was that “history is just repeating itself time and time again, and I don’t understand what is wrong with us humans and humanity, why we don’t learn from the lessons.” That is true, and in His Word, the Bible, God tells us that we should take heed to and learn from events in the world. We will consider three obvious but vitally essential lessons from the current situation in Ukraine, which will be for your eternal blessing if you pay heed to them and act upon them.