“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job 1:21
I well recall reading some books given to me, that were written by an author I had never heard of before. As I read the books I grew concerned by the ideas the author had. For example the main thrust of the books concerned the matter of praising the Lord at all times. With such a teaching I heartily agreed.
But the author went on to say that we were to praise the Lord FOR all things. That was when I started to become concerned. The author gave an illustration that if our unmarried daughter came home and told us she was expecting a child we were to praise the Lord for this new situation in her life.
I could not accept the idea that God was to be praised for a sinful act that had been committed. If a young person was pregnant outside of marriage this was wrong according to the Bible. Hence Joseph decided to divorce Mary when he learned she was expecting (Matthew 1:18-19). Obviously Joseph did not praise the Lord for the situation, rather he quietly chose to divorce Mary.
Continue reading 'Praise the Lord!'»
“…you have obeyed from the heart…”
Romans 6:17
One the farm we had two draft horses that were used to haul heavy loads. I often rode on the hay wagon beside my uncle as he drove the horses along gathering up hay.
It did not take long for me to see that the larger horse was lazy and let the other horse pull most of the load. It was frustrating to my uncle to have to constantly prod along the larger and stronger horse.
When one of our children is trying to do a written assignment for school or university there are times when we observe they are not trying very hard to do the research and write the essay. We might say to them, “Put your heart into it.” What we are calling on them to do is to stop wasting time and get to work energetically and with some enthusiasm.
Various factors can interfere with our enthusiastic effort on a project, or with a matter that we should be doing our best to accomplish. What our writer is saying in the context of our verse is that the Christians in Rome had been delivered from slavery to sin and become slaves to righteousness.
This is a very brief yet rich way of speaking of the person outside of Christ and the one who is in Christ. It refers to the state we are in from birth and what God does for us through Jesus.
Continue reading 'Put your heart into it'»
“Take, eat; this is my body.”
Matthew 26:26 (KJV)
It has been many years now since I conducted the funeral service of my beloved father. At the reception following the memorial service for my father a friend of his gave me a photograph of my dad that I still have in my study 27 years later.
It was taken by this man as he sat in the bow of my father’s boat looking back at my dad as he steered the outboard motor along the lake where the family cottage was. Every detail of the photo spoke of my dad and I really enjoy looking at it and remembering that special man in my life.
When Jesus walked this earth photographic cameras were not around. It is likely that it was in the early 1800’s that the first permanent photograph was made. So we do not have any images of Jesus.
Isaiah 53:2 tells us “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him…” (NIV) So Jesus was not a particularly handsome person that would attract attention.
The painting of Jesus that have come down to us through the centuries that depict Him as quite attractive are clearly wrong.
Continue reading 'A Photograph of Jesus'»
“…anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me…”
Matthew 10:37 (NIV)
For many people the idea of an all or nothing approach to Christianity is foreign. I suspect the majority of people who call themselves Christians would take an approach to Jesus as follows. Jesus is an optional extra on life’s journey. He comes along for the ride and can be helpful to us when the going gets difficult. The way a lot of people treat Jesus is to give Him a brief bit of time on Sunday and then largely ignore Him during the week unless a disaster happens.
Jesus never intended Himself to be an add on to people’s lives. What He taught was that He would take over the life of anyone who chose to follow Him. In His teaching recorded in the Gospels we get a clear picture of Someone Who invaded people’s lives and caused a revolution in their thinking and behaviour.
Our verse today is a call by Jesus for a radical allegiance to Him. He makes it clear in no uncertain terms that He must come first in our lives if He is to be in our lives at all. In what He said about love to Him we must recognize that He touches a most precious part of our existence, our children.
While the occasional father will abuse his children we obviously recognize that Jesus is referring to normal fathers who have a great love for their children and would even be willing to die for them if necessary.
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“…and Matthew the tax collector;”
Matthew 10:3
The disciples of Jesus were a group of very different people. Peter and his brother Andrew were partners in a fishing business (Matthew 4:18). Peter was dominant and Andrew quieter. Thomas (the pessimist and doubter John 11:14-16; John 20:24-25) was a fascinating person to have in the group, and why Jesus picked Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him, we may never know.
Simon the Zealot seemed very opposed to the Roman authorities presence in Jewish territory and on the other side of the equation was Matthew the tax collector, also a Jew, who worked for the Romans collecting taxes for the Romans from his fellow Jews.
Luke 8:2-3 makes it clear that some women also went along with Jesus and had the means to financially help support the group. Rabbis in Jesus day thought women were not worth teaching and so Jesus is seen going against the practice of His time to include them with the men. Luke makes this reference without apology or explanation.
Continue reading 'An Interesting Club'»
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