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By Gordon Rumford, April 30, 2012

“Little girl, I say to you, get up.”
Mark 5:41 (NIV)

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It is not easy to grade the difficulty of some of my visits but one particular situation I sometimes am involved in is the death of a child. As a parent I have some small idea of what is happening to the parents emotionally as they stand by the deathbed of their child.

I have come close to losing one of my children but my son was spared and so I cannot enter fully into the suffering of such parents who lose a child. I do not even wish to imagine how much pain it involves to say “Goodbye” to your child. Visiting parents on such an occasion is the hardest part of my work.

Jesus was in such a situation in our verse today. A man named Jairus, who was a ruler in a synagogue, had come to Jesus pleading for Him to come and heal his little girl who was dying. Jesus started on the way to the man’s home. As they went along some men from the home of Jairus came with the bad news that the little girl had died and so Jesus should not be bothered any more.

The man’s heart must have broken at the news but Jesus said something marvellous to Jairus. “Don’t be afraid, just believe.” Mark 5:36 (NIV). So on they went to the home where the young girl lay. Jesus spoke to the crowd and told them to stop the weeping as the little girl was not dead but asleep. The crowd attending the home laughed at Jesus. They knew the child had died and did not understand Jesus’ comment.

Continue reading 'A Minister’s Worst Visit'»

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By Gordon Rumford, April 29, 2012

“…neither do I condemn you…go and stop sinning.”
John 8:11

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The story of an adulterous woman being brought to Jesus for judgment (John 8:1-11) is one of the most touching incidents recorded in the Gospels. Apparently the men who accused the woman had caught her in the act of adultery.

It is obvious that those who brought the woman had little concern for her redemption. They only brought her to Jesus in order to trap Him in His words. If Jesus said, “Let her go.” the accusers would then say to the Jews that Jesus did not uphold the law of God concerning people who sinned as she did.

If Jesus had said that she should be punished as the Law of Moses stated, then He would be speaking against the law of the Romans and the accusers would see to it He was soon in trouble with them. So it did not matter if Jesus said, “Yes” or “No” the trap would spring and Jesus would be caught.

The accusers of the woman were not as clever as Jesus however, because He presented them with a third alternative. “Let the one here who is not a sinner be the first to cast a stone at her.” This statement by Jesus confused them. Not one of the accusers there had the arrogance to say that he was not a sinner so no one was willing to pick up a stone to cast at the woman.

Yet, there was one person there who was not a sinner. That person was Jesus and He did not pick up a stone and throw it at her.

Continue reading 'The Friend of Sinners'»

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By Gordon Rumford, April 28, 2012

“When I was a child, I talked like a child,
I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child…”
1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)

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As I grow older I find it easy to recall things from my distant past such a family picnics, working on my grandmother’s farm, fishing at the trout pond behind her farmhouse and other pleasant things. Happily I do not recall many unpleasant things that happened in childhood.

As a child I could hardly wait until I grew up so I would be able to make decisions for myself. Having to answer to my parents seemed like such a boring existence. As an adult I would do exactly what I wanted to do and no one would say, “No.” to me. Being my own boss sounded great. My, oh my, I had a lot to learn about life.

I believe that most children think as I once did. It is the childish notion that being an adult would mean total freedom. We would make lots of money and have expensive things. Then as we grew up we discovered that life as an adult was not as much fun as we formerly thought. Life served us up some difficulties in health, finances, or family matters. Now being a child looks much better than this adult thing.

Continue reading '“Wait ‘Til I Grow Up”'»

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By Gordon Rumford, April 27, 2012

“And why do you worry about clothes?”
Matthew 6:28 (NIV)

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As I thought about our modern western society and some of our troubles I was going to make the title for this devotional, “The Curse of Advertising”. One of the very dangerous things we face in the western world is the onslaught of advertising that has been designed by psychologists.

Psychologists have carefully determined what appeals to the public and they have helped companies shape their advertising to attract people based on their instincts.

Advertising may be subtle or advertising may be blunt. Whatever the approach we must be wary of the temptation to buy on an impulse. It is easy to have the persuasive aspects of the advertising take control of our minds and cause us to choose the product in the ad.

While advertisers would not likely admit it, much advertising appeals to our sense of greed. The product looks so delicious, or necessary to our happiness. I was shocked to GOOGLE the expression “indulge yourself”, and find that there is a whole school of thinking that urges us to be pleasure seekers.

In our verse today, Jesus seeks to bring His listeners back to reality by making the very strong statement that we should not concern ourselves with worrying about what to eat, drink and wear. Eating is essential to continued life. Water is also required. Clothes to keep us warm and protected from the weather are also necessary to sustain life.

How can we keep from worry about these needed things to keep us alive? In the context of our verse Jesus calls on us to look at the birds that do not sow, reap, or store away food for winter. Somehow they manage. Then Jesus asks, “Are you not much more important to God than birds are?”

Of course we are more important to God. Once we establish that fact, Jesus then calls on us to go on seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness first. Actively submit to the Lord and His will for you is the message of Jesus. God knows we need all those other things.

If you are a child of God, you sin against Him if you worry about your daily necessities. Worry is distrust or lack of faith. If your children worried about how mom and dad were going to provide for them you would be upset. You want your children to trust you and not be concerned about things that are your responsibility as parents.

What Jesus is saying is that first we need to seek God and His kingdom. He is not suggesting we should not seek life’s necessities. Instead we should put God’s kingdom above even our daily need of food and clothing. If we put God first we shall discover that the other needed things shall come along as well. That is the promise.

So, as Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34 (NIV)

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By Gordon Rumford, April 26, 2012

“Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 26:39 (NIV)

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A man recently left the office of a specialist in one of Toronto’s largest hospitals after being told that the cause of his acute pain could not be addressed surgically. The surgeon said the man might try alternative modalities of treatment but did not hold out any hope they would help his particular problem. The patient chose to stand in line at the cafeteria to feed his depressed spirits with “comfort food” on his way out of the hospital and to go home.

It happened a surgeon was a couple of people ahead of him in the line up and recognised him. The surgeon had performed two procedures on the man for a totally unrelated problem. But because the surgeon had referred the man to the other specialist he was interested in knowing how it went.

The patient briefly stated that there seemed no cure for the pain. The surgeon offered words of sympathy and the man responded that he was encouraged in the knowledge he was older and not younger facing this problem that apparently could not be resolved.

Continue reading 'No hope'»