[Friday's Devotional] - Diamond toughness

For our last material this week, we are looking at Diamond – probably the hardest material that exists.  The property of hardness means that when cut and polished into exotic shapes it looks beautiful and doesn’t wear down.  It is also used synthetically as a hard material to make cutting tools for machining any material.

 

We understand that the diamonds we find in mines today were created by compressing Carbon in the form of graphite (like the lead in a pencil) with extreme pressure and heat deep inside the earth, and have come close to the surface as a result of movements of molten rock or magma.

 

Diamond is rare, precious, tough and virtually unbreakable.  Disciples also need to be tough to keep shape in the face of the wear and tear of life.

 

When faced with the pressure to conform to the standards of the world, do you bend and flow to adopt the shape the world would push you into?  Or do you have a solid and tough character which is stable under intense friction or collision?

 

Are you a diamond in the rough? Or have you been cut and polished like a precious jewel?  Can you keep your character untainted in a world of conflict and un-Godly standards?

 

Lord, help me to be tough when I am faced with the pressure that would mould me into the shape of the world.  Keep me precious and close to you.  In Jesus name, Amen

Dave MacLellan

[Thursday's Devotional] - Scratch-proof Sapphire

“O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with colourful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
Isaiah 54: 11 [NKJV]

Sapphire is the foundation of Heaven, the New Jerusalem, second only in hardness to Diamond. It can be polished to a very high standard and is also mentioned as one of the gems in the garments worn by the High Priest.  The very throne of God is mentioned as being "the colour of sapphire".

You might not realise that sapphire today is not only used for jewellery but in man-made form it is commonly used as the cover or window for the camera in virtually all modern mobile phones – due to the scratch resistant nature, it means that you can take good pictures even when your phone has been kept in your pocket or handbag.

Scratches can dull the surface and spoil the appearance of a material, making it dull and unattractive.  In the same way as disciples we need to resist the scratches which will make it hard to see clearly through the window on our lens (through which we see the world).

Is your vision of the world clear?  Can you see through the mist?

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

1 Corinthians 13: 12 [The Message]

Lord, help us to be resistant to scratches and to see clearly what you would have us do.  Guide and direct us until we stand on the sapphire floor of Heaven.  Amen.

Dave MacLellan

[Wednesday's Devotional] - The Altar of Bronze

Bronze is the third material in the descending order of Olympic medals behind Gold and Silver.  It is composed of a mixture of copper and other elements (normally tin in Bible times).  It was used in the construction of the Tabernacle and later the Temple:

 

“Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.  Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze.  Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans.  Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network.
Exodus 27: 1-4 [NIV]

 

Bronze was chosen for the altar to withstand great heat owing to the high melting point of copper, and the material would be more suitable as it is cheaper and more readily available than gold or silver.  It also offers good resistance to weather, and was also used to make the wash basin in which the priests purified themselves, before offering sacrifices on the altar.

 

Although we don’t live in the time before Christ where burnt offerings were needed to cancel out the sin and be made right with God, we still need to come before God and seek forgiveness.  When did you last offer an act of repentance?  Do you need to get right with God today?  Take the opportunity to cleanse yourself in a prayer of repentance today.

 

Lord, I have sinned and need your forgiveness.  Help me to turn from my sinful ways and draw close to you again.  Thank you for the price paid in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.  Amen

 

Dave MacLellan

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Silver Coins

Silver is the metal that was used in coin form as a currency even in Biblical times – and is the basis of the UK Pound Sterling (the oldest currency in the world that is still in use).  So, whereas Gold might be considered as precious, Silver is a more common currency, with a lower value than Gold. 

 

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 silver coins: 

 

Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.  From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. Matthew 26: 14-16 [NIV]

 

This was the same Judas that complained when Mary poured an expensive jar of perfume (about a pint of pure nard) over Jesus’ feet to anoint him, saying that it could have been sold to give money to the poor (John 12: 1-10).  Yet we are also told that he “helped himself” to the money that the disciples used as he was the keeper of the money bag.

 

Like Judas we have been entrusted with the resources (our money and time) that God has given us.  We have been given the freedom to choose what we give and what we keep for ourselves.  How do we use this responsibility?

 

As a disciple, I have a duty to serve God and not money.  How do you address this aspect of life?  Do you think about giving back some of what God has given you?  Or giving some of what is yours to God?  Who is the owner of your resources?

 

Lord, help me to be generous and honest in my financial dealings.  Give me the wisdom to allocate my resources according to your will and not my selfish desires.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

 

Dave MacLellan

[Monday's Devotional] - Refined like Gold

This week we are looking at precious materials and relating them to aspects of our daily life as disciples, starting with the precious metal, Gold.  When Jesus was visited by the Magi from the East, the first gift given was gold, chosen to mark out the infant Jesus as Divine (coming from God).  Jesus was born to be King, with royal parentage.  What royal crown has ever been made without gold and precious gems? 

 

Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem was constructed using a large amount of gold, perhaps more than 21 tonnes of it was donated in one year.  Gold was, and still is, a valuable material, and whenever there is uncertainty about global currencies, the price of gold soars – and many national banks keep reserves in gold as a security which will hold a value more tangible than the global currencies which can be very volatile.

 

Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the Lord’s temple: the golden altar; the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence; the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary); the gold floral work and lamps and tongs; the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
1 Kings 7: 48-50 [NIV]

 

Gold is refined (made more pure) by melting which causes the less dense impurities to float to the surface where they can be easily removed.  In the same way, disciples are refined by spending time in the “furnace” of persecution, suffering or life-troubles.

 

Is the heat of the furnace affecting you currently?  Be sure that all times of refining will result in an increase in purity.

 

Lord, help me to be understand the precious nature of the way you created me.  Thank you for adopting me into your royal family.  Purify my heart in the refining fire of your crucible.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

Dave MacLellan

[Friday's Devotional] - The big reveal

On those house-build TV shows, once your house is built, the cameras come back in and you are invited to be amazed at the gleaming white open plan kitchen, or the fabulous views from the window.

 

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
Ephesians 3: 8-12[NIV]

 

Tucked away in this passage we see the “manifold wisdom of God” being made known to the heavens through the Church. The Church becomes God’s show home, where he shows his watching angels the beauty of his restored creation.  We are all familiar with Joseph and his coat of many colours (Genesis 37). When the Hebrew was translated to Greek possibly around 200 BC, the scholars used the word ποικίλος (poikilos) for multicoloured. The word Paul uses in Ephesians, that the NIV translates manifold is πολυποίκιλος (polupoikilos) – much variegated, many sided, greatly differing colours.

 

John Stott writes that the word “was used to describe flowers, crowns, embroidered cloth, woven carpets….The church as a multiracial, multicultural community is like a beautiful tapestry.” And J.I Packer would add ”.. and a multi-repair shop, where disordered and broken down lives made ugly by sin are being reconstructed in Christ like shape. The wisdom of God, … that directs the power that quickens the spiritually dead and makes new creatures of them in a new and lovely fellowship of holiness and love.”

 

Father – Build your Church.

 

Guy Mowbray

[Thursday's Devotional] - Building the house

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
1 Corinthians 3:10 [NIV]

 

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:4-5 [NIV]

 

In his preface to his book “The Young Church in Action”, J.P Philips writes:

 

“Perhaps because in their very simplicity, perhaps because of their readiness to believe, to obey, to give, to suffer, and if need be to die, the Spirit of God found what surely He must always be seeking - a fellowship of men and women so united in love and faith that He can work in them and through them with the minimum of let or hindrance. Consequently it is a matter of sober historical fact that never before has any small body of ordinary people so moved the world that their enemies could say, with tears of rage in their eyes, that these men ‘have turned the world upside down’! (Acts 17:6)”

 

What more can we add, the simple profound message is that the Holy Spirit can use a small body of ordinary people, united in love, founded on Jesus, to turn the world upside down.

 

Father – Teach us to be a fellowship of men and women so united in love and faith that your Holy Spirit can work though us.

 

Guy Mowbray

[Wednesday's Devotional] - Laying the foundations

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”
Isaiah 28:16 [NIV]

 

The foundation is the key to a building’s stability. If the foundation is sufficiently big and laid true, the house built on it will be less susceptible to ground movements as it bears the weight of the building. If the foundation is lacking, the building will be weak.

 

We build our lives on all sorts of foundations. As Christians we sometimes become very passionate about “our church”, it becomes the source of our friendships, social life, purpose and passion. But then the church will disappoint us, because it consists of fallible people who don’t always get it right, because they are like us! Someone once quipped, if you find a perfect church, don’t join it or it will cease to be perfect.

 

This even happened in the early church; Paul says:

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
1 Corinthians 3: 4,5 [NIV].

 

A few verses later, Paul pointed out, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 3:11 [NIV]

 

So let’s not build our foundation on anything other than Jesus Christ, then we have a foundation, firmly placed, and he who believes in it will not be disturbed. Let's look at our own lives and place them on the foundation and see where we might be misaligned and in need of correction. Let’s bring all our ministries and all our building and lay them on the blueprint of our foundation, Jesus Christ and see if the lines match up.

 

Father – Forgive our self-interests and criticisms. Teach us to look to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith.

 

Guy Mowbray

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Choosing the plot

“They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
Luke 6: 48,49 [NIV]

 

We are very familiar with the parable of the Wise and Foolish men building their houses on rock and sand, from Matthew and this shorter version in Luke.

 

How often we choose the easy option, we build on sand, run after the exciting self-gratifying “quick wins”, the latest fad or feeling, rather than giving time and effort to the things that might require more challenge and commitment. But finding that solid rock, that sure footing on which to build is essential if we are to build a strong structure to our lives.

 

As for the Rock, the Bible is littered with references ...

 

"Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock”
Isaiah 26:4 [NIV]

"Ascribe greatness to our God the rock, His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.”

Deuteronomy 32: 3,4 [NIV]

 

When Jesus was asked what the most important thing was, he replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew  22: 37 [NIV].

 

This apparently simple summary takes us back to our plans.  The expression means every part of your being, your emotion your thought; your very life force, should be directed to loving God. If everything we do and say, feel and think is so grounded in love for God, then we have a solid foundation.

 

Father -  help us to build our lives on you, the rock, to Love you the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind.

 

Guy Mowbray

[Monday's Devotional] - Planning the build

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established
Proverbs 24:3 [NIV]

This week our Devotionals will be on a theme of "building".

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’”
Luke 14: 28-30 [NIV]

 

One of the recurring themes of the multitude of house build/restoration programs on TV seems to be that the original budget or timeframe proves insufficient – ‘The windows cost more than we thought’.  Jesus advises us to count the cost – but he is not talking houses, he’s talking discipleship, be it personal or corporate; your own self as a Spiritual Temple, or the Body of Christ, the Church.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in “The Cost of Discipleship” challenges us to think whether we expect God’s grace too cheaply:

 

“Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.  Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has.… it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.”

 

Grace calls us to follow Jesus, both as individuals and as a Church. It is the most costly gift, given freely in love, free to receive, but which calls for a response with all of our life, a call to the life we were created for.  Perhaps we need to regularly ask ourselves “Who is the Architect for our plans?”

 

“The astonishing paradox of Christ's teaching and of Christian experience is this: if we lose ourselves in following Christ, we actually find ourselves. True self-denial is self-discovery. To live for ourselves is insanity and suicide; to live for God and for man is wisdom and life indeed. We do not begin to find ourselves until we have become willing to lose ourselves in the service of Christ and of our fellows.”
[John R.W. Stott, Basic Christianity]

 

Father – teach us to discover ourselves in you and you in us.

 

Guy Mowbray

[Friday's Devotional] - Reflect

So far this week we have looked at individual parts of Psalm 16.  Today, let’s just look at it all.  Read it to yourself.  Maybe once, maybe twice.  Perhaps in the morning, at lunch and in the evening.  Pray it to the Lord.

 

“Protect me O God; I trust in you for safety.  I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from you.

 

How excellent are the LORD’s faithful people!  My greatest pleasure is to be with them.

 

Those who rush to other gods bring many troubles on themselves.  I will not take part in their sacrifices; I will not worship their gods.

 

You, LORD are all I have, and you give me all I need; my future is in your hands.  How wonderful are your gifts to me; how good they are!

 

I praise the LORD because he guides me, and in the night my conscience warns me.  I am always aware of the LORD’s presence; he is near, and nothing can shake me

 

And so I am thankful and glad, and I feel completely secure, because you protect me from the power of death.  I have served you faithfully, and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.  You will show me the path that leads to life; your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure for ever.”

 

Amen.

 

God bless you.

 

Phil Hemsley - (originally published in 2004)

[Thursday's Devotional] - Protected from the power of death

“And so I am thankful and glad, and I feel completely secure, because you protect me from the power of death.  I have served you faithfully, and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.  You will show me the path that leads to life; your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure for ever.”
Psalm 16:9-11 [GNT]

 

It’s so liberating being a Christian – if we really trust God to keep his word.  Trust in God brings security, and with security comes freedom to do what is right and good.

 

I was talking with a work colleague.  He told me of his parents who now needed paid care, and how he’d never thought about pensions and the like until he saw their problems.  And it’s true.  It can make things much easier to have money saved when times are difficult – aren’t we stupid not to?  But is it right to save money in case I might need it in my retirement, or is it better to help those who are definitely in need today?  Listen to the Lord – hasn’t he promised to look after us.

 

We are ‘protected from the power of death’ which allows us to serve Jesus faithfully.  And at the end of our time on earth… “I have served you faithfully, and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.  You will show me the path that leads to life; your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure for ever.”

 

Amen.

 

God bless you.

 

Phil Hemsley - (originally published in 2004)

[Wednesday's Devotional] - Nothing can shake me

“You, LORD are all I have, and you give me all I need; my future is in your hands.  How wonderful are your gifts to me; how good they are!

 

I praise the LORD because he guides me, and in the night my conscience warns me.  I am always aware of the LORD’s presence; he is near, and nothing can shake me”

Psalm 16: 5-8 [GNT]

 

It’s good to remind ourselves that we are safely under the Lord’s wing; to look at the gifts he’s given us and realise that they really are the important and good gifts…. Our lives, our ability to love, our ability to feel joy, sadness, hope….our very consciousness comes from Him.

 

And if we listen, we can hear the Lord guiding us.  But maybe you are like me… it’s not always easy to be aware of the Lord’s presence.  Yes, I know he’s there, but I’m not always aware of him – and I can be shaken!  But then there is the rock to step back onto.  I find if I am ‘shaken’, maybe impatient with someone at work, it’s because I’m looking at the problem through my eyes.  And on a good day I’ll realise this, and step back and try to look at things from the Lord’s point of view.  He loves that person – what right have I not to.  And on a good day that will influence my behaviour, and that will sort the problem.

 

“Lord, please make us more constantly aware of your presence.  And make us aware when we drift from your presence, so that we can stop, turn back and rely again on you.”

 

Amen.

 

God bless you.

 

Phil Hemsley - (originally published in 2004)

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Being with the Lord's people

“How excellent are the LORD’s faithful people!  My greatest pleasure is to be with them.  Those who rush to other gods bring many troubles on themselves.  I will not take part in their sacrifices; I will not worship their gods.” 
Psalm 16: 3-4 [GNT]

 

I find it’s true.  It really is a pleasure to be with the Lord’s people. 

 

A week or so back I was playing a round of golf with a good Christian friend.  At one point I suddenly thought “Isn’t this great!  Spending time with someone I love.” … of course, I didn’t say it – after all, men don’t do that.

 

And I’ve just spent a week in Switzerland at a business conference.  It was hard work – particularly the evening cruise on Lake Zurich.  As we sat round the table for dinner we enjoyed conversing with each other.  But I found the discussions I really enjoyed, and which ‘sparked my soul’ were those with the Christian couple next to me.

 

But what about those who worship other gods?  Yes I enjoy their company, but we don’t worship the same God.  It is a lower pleasure to talk about cars, mobile phones, or even power stations!

 

“Lord, thank you for the pleasure of being with your people.”

 

Amen.

 

God bless you.

 

Phil Hemsley - (originally published in 2004)

[Monday's Devotional] - Psalm 16

I used to struggle with Psalms, but then I found them in the Good News translation of the bible, and I realised that they are prayers, and I understood them.

“Protect me O God; I trust in you for safety.  I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from you”
Psalm 16: 1-2 [GNT]

This really sets our relationship doesn’t it.  He looks after me, protects me, gives me all I need.  I realise this.  I then trust Him for my future.  I then thank Him for all I have.

Simple really.  But do we do it?  Do we really trust in Him, or do we take out insurance?  Do we trust in Him, or do we rely on ourselves, on our strength and our wealth?  Do we really recognise that all good things come from Him and regularly thank Him for them?

If you answered “yes” to all those questions, well done – why not join the rest of us as we thank Him now. 

“Lord Jesus, all I have that is worth having comes from you.  Thank you.  Please show me all I have that is not good, and which does not come from you, and please help me rid myself of it.  My Lord, help me to trust in you for everything, for ever.”

Amen.

God bless you.

Phil Hemsley - (originally published in 2004)

[Friday's Devotional] - Doubting Castle

5 – Now there was a castle called Doubting-Castle

 

 

In The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian and his fellow pilgrim Hopeful take a short cut away from the narrow path and end up in the land of Giant Despair, the owner of Doubting-Castle.  They are apprehended and imprisoned in a dungeon.

 

In the course of our lives, we often leave the straight and narrow path.  Sometimes we leave the path because our friends are not walking along it; sometimes we leave the path because the going gets difficult, and sometimes we leave the path because we are distracted by the things of this world.  It is easy to grow cold in our love for God.

 

Whatever the reason, leaving the path ends in trouble.  Thrown into the dungeon of Doubting-Castle, Christian and Hopeful, find themselves lonely and depressed.  They would die without reaching the Celestial City.  But then Christian makes a discovery.

 

“Now a little before it was day, good Christian, brake out in this passionate speech, ‘What a fool am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty.  I have a key in my bosom, called promise that will (I am persuaded) open any lock in Doubting-Castle.’”

 

So Christian and Hopeful used the key to leave the castle and to resume their journey.

 

John writes,

 

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1: 8, 9 [NIV]

 

Every one of us has left the narrow path at one time or another.  But God never abandons us; he promises forgiveness to all who turn back to the path which leads to the Celestial City.

 

Lord God, thank you that if we confess our sins you will forgive us.  Thank you that you for your promise that you will never leave us or forsake us.  Help us to be strong and to walk with you through the wilderness of this world.  Amen.

 

David Long

[Thursday's Devotional] - Vanity Fair

4 – Vanity Fair

 

 

Bunyan’s pilgrim, Christian and his friend Faithful come to the town of Vanity in which is a perpetual fair called Vanity Fair.  The fair is full of distractions and things to buy.  Bunyan comments:

 

“Now the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town, where this lusty Fair is kept; and he that will go to the City, and yet not go through the town, must needs go out of the world.”

 

It is impossible to go to the Celestial City – impossible to be a pilgrim – without passing though this town with its distractions and immorality.  Vanity Fair, then, is a picture of the world as we know it, with its standards and values opposed to those of God.  We cannot avoid living in the world, but we don’t have to make its values our own.

 

Christian and Faithful attract attention from the inhabitants of Vanity Fair because they are different and they are not interested by the merchandise on offer.  Unwelcome attention results in arrest.

 

Bunyan is making the point that as Christians we should be leading different, distinctive lives from those around.  We are not meant to blend into society like chameleons.  Our attitudes to possessions, money, sex and power are not to be like those who do not have Jesus as their guide.

 

Paul writes:

 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Romans 12: 2 [NIV]

 

Be a rebel, Paul says!  Don’t go along with all that is evil in the world.  Instead be transformed, be changed.  Transformation is a process, not a single event, so it takes time.  And transformation is not something that we do ourselves, but something that God does to us through his Spirit if we will allow him.

 

Lord God, help me to recognise the values of the world for what they are.  Fill me with your Spirit so that I might be changed to become more and more like my Saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

David Long

[Wednesday's Devotional] - Upon that place stood a cross

3 – Upon that place stood a cross

 

 

John Bunyan’s pilgrim, Christian, continues on his way, burdened with a load on his back.

 

“He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below in the bottom a sepulchre.  So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the Cross, his burden loosed from his shoulders, and fell from his back; and it began to tumble and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in and I saw it no more.”

 

Christian’s burden is sin.  He has been weighed down by all of the things he has done which have fallen short of God’s standards.  But at the Cross, the burden is taken away from him and his sins end up in the grave.  They have been dealt with; they are as good as dead; they cannot stop Christian enjoying a relationship with God.

 

People come to faith in all sorts of ways.  There is no pattern.    But all of us, whichever route we have come to faith, end up at the Cross.  The Cross is where we are put right with God because of the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus.

 

Peter writes:

 

Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds have you been healed.  1 Peter 2: 24 [NIV]

 

Sin kept us from enjoying the presence of God, who is holy.  But we have been put right with God through the death of Jesus on the Cross.  Now, no matter what we have done in the past, we can be forgiven if we put our trust in Jesus. 

 

Lord God, thank you for the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Thank you that my burden of sin has been taken away from me.  Thank you that I can live my life in the knowledge that you love me.

 

David Long

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Fly from the wrath to come

2 – Fly from the wrath to come

 

 

 

In The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian reads of God’s judgement, and it is his fear of this that starts his search for salvation.  As he is out walking, he meets a man called Evangelist.  Hearing his desire to be put right with God, Evangelist guides Christian to a wicket gate (the narrow gate of Jesus’ parable) and gives him a scroll on which is written the words, Fly from the wrath to come.

 

Evangelist brings both bad and good news. 

 

Firstly, there is wrath to come.  There will be judgement, and we will have to answer for all of our actions before the throne of God.  Speaking to the crowds in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

 

Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  Matthew 7: 13, 14 [NIV]

 

This is reality.  Many walk the road to destruction.  The route is wide and well-trodden; the gate is wide enough for us to enter without having to lay aside any of our sins, our selfishness or our pride.  This is the easy option.

 

But secondly, Evangelist brings good news:  there is also a narrow gate, the wicket gate, and that leads to life in all its fullness.  But we need to search for it, and not many find it.  It is wide enough for us to squeeze through, but not wide enough for us to take our prejudices, misdeeds and all the things that are not of God.

 

Notice that there is only a choice between two gates.  There is no middle way: no medium-sized gate where we can travel with some of our sins and worship God when the mood takes us.

 

Lord God, thank you for those who pointed me to the small gate and for those who encourage me along the way.  Help me, too, to be a guide to those who seek the Saviour.

 

David Long

[Monday's Devotional] - As I walked through the wilderness

1 – As I walked through the wilderness of this world

 

 

In 1677, John Bunyan wrote the first part of his book, The Pilgrim’s Progress, while imprisoned in Bedford gaol.  Translated into over 200 languages and never out of print, Bunyan’s allegory has been more widely read than any other book in English except the Bible.

 

The Pilgrim’s Progress tells the story of a man called Christian who lived in the City of Destruction.  It covers his conversion, the trials and joys of his life until he reached the Celestial City.  Bunyan tells the story as if he had dreamed it.  Here is how he begins:

 

“As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where was a den; and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and as I slept, I dreamed a dream.”

 

I am struck by the opening words: The wilderness of this world.  How many of us see the world as a wilderness?  The world is our home; we grow up in it, marry, have children, grow old and die in it.  For many of us the world is a comfortable place.  Of course, life brings its ups and downs, but overall, for us in the rich West, life is not such a bad experience.

 

But woe betide us if we start to adopt the world’s standards and ideals.  The world measures success in terms of money, possessions, power and good looks.  These are not what God values.  The world may be our physical home, but it was never meant to be our spiritual home.

 

Peter writes,

 

Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  1 Peter 2: 11 [NIV]

 

That’s who we are: aliens and strangers.  Christians don’t belong here; it is as if we are foreigners.  We don’t fit in completely.  We march to a different drum beat.  We swim against the current.  We look forward to a different future.

 

Lord God, please give me wisdom to live my life in a way which pleases you as I walk through the wilderness of this world.  Amen.

 

David Long