About this Blog Seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
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By Anushka, on 28th August 2010 We’ve had a lot of rain here in the southwest of the UK over the last couple of weeks. There have been a few days where the rain has started in the morning and not stopped until the evening. The worst that’s happened to me though is some very wet shoes, a few large puddles in the road and an overall feeling of dampness.
I’m extremely grateful that we haven’t been subject to the awful flooding that has devastated Pakistan recently, and that the weather here in the UK rarely causes such tragedy. It has seemed of late that there is one ecological disaster after another. This year we have also seen the destructive earthquakes in Chile and Haiti which have again prompted worldwide concern and relief efforts.
As well as ecological disasters, over the last couple of years the world has been experiencing what is probably the first GLOBAL financial economic crisis. There have of course been recessions and downturns many times before, along with periods of unemployment and failing businesses, but never before have the world’s banks been linked in such a global fashion. What happens in the USA affects the finances in Europe, and in Asia, and has a knock on effect all over the world.
People debate as to whether such disasters are indeed more common than they used to be, or if the effects of global communication and increased population simply make us more aware of these events. Brief research on this subject to be honest is inconclusive. Ecological disaster is such a wide subject with so many variables, and over the years there have been many improvements in science which render comparisons over the years difficult.
However the events taking place make me think of those verses in the Bible that talk about how we will know when the return of Jesus draws near:
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. – Luke 21:10/11, 25/26
Does this passage describe the world today? Remember that in the Bible “sun, moon and stars” often represents the leaders of the people. Whether or not we are close to the times of the end, or whether what we see around us is only the beginning, and I do believe that we are somewhere on that timeline due to the scale of all the wars, environmental problems, economic problems and inability of world leaders to sort things out, there is no doubt that we must sit up and watch and listen.
Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. – Luke 21:28
So what can we do? Should we give to charities, for example, the Disasters Emergency Committee? Should we reduce our carbon footprint? Should we watch the news to keep an eye out for the signs of the times? Yes, these are all things we can do, but most importantly, let’s pray for the soon return of Jesus Christ, the only person who can sort out all these problems.
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! – Revelation 22:20
By Dave, on 25th August 2010 The migration of the BibleQuizzes.org.uk and BiblePuzzles.org.uk domains to new servers was initiated earlier this afternoon. We were running out of space and bandwidth so this upgrade should allow us to expand for the foreseeable future. It would be nice if it was a seamless transfer, but each server has their own quirks and there are a lot of scripts to reconfigure to work with the new server and it is inevitable there will be some errors for the end user. The transfer should be viewable to everyone within 48 hours, but it may take a few more days to find and solve all the little problems. We thank you for your patience and apologise for any inconvenience the server move might cause you.
By Anushka, on 23rd August 2010 Ask a child what faith is, and he or she will probably tell you that it’s “trust in God”, or “believing in God”. Sounds easy!
Ask any Bible student the question, “What is faith?” and he or she will probably give you the following answer:
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1
Maybe it’s not so easy after all. This verse tells me that faith is a very difficult concept. First of all, what is it that we hope for, and what is it that we do not see? Hope in the Bible talks of the hope of God’s glory, and the hope of Christ and the good news of the gospel. That good news is the news of the coming kingdom of God, and it is that which we hope for.
We do not see God at the moment, and we do not see Jesus either. The word of God which has been given to us allows us to see those invisible things, and read about God’s purpose with the world. The Bible is a window through which we CAN see God and Jesus, and it offers us proof of those things we cannot see by its accuracy, internal consistency, historical details, and fulfilled prophecies.
But how do we get faith in the first place? And how can we increase our faith when we are being asked to believe in something intangible?
If, as children, we went to Sunday school, or our parents told us about God, we probably believed them automatically. Faith seemed natural, and we did not doubt that there was a God in heaven looking after us.
But sooner or later some incident, or simply the passage of time, will make us question that faith and look at its roots to see if we truly have a substantial faith or not. We may experience a serious illness or some kind of suffering. We may become overwhelmed by the suffering at large in the world. Perhaps we doubt God’s existence without physical proof. Perhaps unbelievers around us ridicule our faith and undermine the Bible.
The apostle Paul tells us how to get faith, and encourages us to grow our faith:
Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. – Romans 10:17
So if we want to verify our faith, if we want to question it, we shouldn’t be looking to man’s explanations – we should continue to read the Bible, and the words of Jesus. This means that when we feel spiritually low, or that our faith is lacking, we should do the one thing we probably don’t want to do – read our Bibles!
Faith is still a difficult concept. The problem is that if there was an empirical proof of God’s existence, no faith would be required, and God would not know who His true believers are. By requiring us to have faith, he knows that we are truly interested in finding Him. Having faith does not negate a logical approach to believing in the existence of God, and does not mean we don’t need to study the Bible, but it gives us a quiet confidence in the things that we read, knowing that the kingdom we hope for will not be long in coming. Sometimes it’s best to go back to basics and look at things the way we did as children:
In God I trust; I will not be afraid. – Psalm 56:11
By Anushka, on 20th August 2010 Ever since Jesus told the disciples to preach the gospel in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) Christians have been spreading the Word and telling other people about Jesus. However we seem to have reached a time in history where it’s perceived as wrong to push your personal beliefs onto others. Society has a ‘live and let live’ attitude.
In the context of all the religious persecution and intolerance of the past this can only be construed as a good thing. In everyday life we meet people of different beliefs and lifestyles and accept each other without prejudice. But how do we share our hope for the future without being perceived as pushy or bigoted, and having people run a mile when they see us?
Firstly we must ensure that we are happy with and clear about our own beliefs. We need to know that if someone does ask about what we believe we can explain it clearly and logically, and back it up with scriptural teaching should our reasoning be questioned.
If we are not yet confident in our own faith, now is the time to challenge ourselves. What are the answers to those questions we always put to the back of our mind? Let’s talk to people, do research on the internet or in books, and most importantly never stop reading the Bible and praying for understanding.
I think the key to preaching in the 21st century has to be in the personal approach. Strangers are not accepting of being told what they should believe if they haven’t initiated the conversation. It’s all about the soft sell these days. So how can we make preaching more personal?
First there is the approach to take with those we don’t know, the ubiquitous man on the street. We must persuade people to come to us and engage with us as rational human beings before talking about our religious beliefs. Some ways we can do this are:
- Get your church involved local community projects: summer fairs, musical groups, or children’s clubs.
- Put information out there where people can see it if they want to: start a website and promote it, write articles for your community newsletter, advertise in newspapers or on local radio.
- Get involved in charity work with a Christian background and promote it wherever you can.
Then there is the approach we should take with people we already know. Before we even think about discussing religion with someone we know we should become their friend. Be a good friend, listen to them, share your problems, and do some social activities together if you can.
By then you will know them well enough to tell them about your religious activities, going to church and other social church functions, and a little bit about what you believe. Then if they are interested you will be the very person you want to talk to.
I take a lunchtime walk past a local church, and their notice board this week says:
No-one cares what you know until they know that you care!
Once we have shown people the effect that God has on our lives in a practical sense and how it makes us into better people at heart, maybe they will be interested in learning about how God can change their lives too.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. – Romans 12:2 (New Living Translation)
By Anushka, on 17th August 2010 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
This is a very well known Bible verse, and one that many of us will have known from childhood. I know that I personally was given this particular verse as a memory verse at Sunday School many times – and consequently tend to gabble it quickly without really thinking about what the words mean.
I suspect the same is true of many familiar Bible verses, so let’s stop and really think about what this one means afresh.
The wages of sin is death
Wages are what you earn for doing a job. If I do one hours work I am entitled to one hours pay, so in the context of our phrase, that implies that when we sin, we EARN death. We deserve it. Regardless of the many good things we may do in our life, every time we sin (and we all do!) we earn ourselves death.
Of course the problem with earning death is that it’s a one-off thing. Earning money is different – we can earn a few pounds or dollars one day, and a few more the next. But once you’ve earned death that’s it, you’ve had it! So why can’t we earn eternal life to negate it?
There are other religions out there that seem to work on that very basis. Religions with the concept of reincarnation appear to tot up all one’s bad deeds and weigh them against all one’s good deeds, and the net result determines what position you take within the hierarchy of life forms in your next life.
This is not how God presents life and death to us in the Bible though. He says that for us eternal life is going to be a gift, and that gift has been provided because He sent His Son to die for our sins. Because of Jesus, God will forget our sins if we ask him to, and give us eternal life, not because we’ve earned it, but because he WANTS to give it to us.
How thankful I am that I don’t have to earn my eternal life! I’m pretty sure my bad points would exceed my good points if anyone was counting.
We should never forget that we don’t deserve eternal life, and we don’t deserve the kingdom that’s coming, but that God in His mercy has seen fit to choose those of us that want to be there. Make no mistake – he wants us ALL to be there.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9
So let’s thank God for His gift, and try our hardest to be worthy of it, knowing that eternal life is freely given to us and is worth far more than anything we can ever earn.
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