Life Lessons

How Should We Behave?

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     The sermon we had at church yesterday was quite challenging. Once again, it was taken from the book of 1 Peter, chapter three, and the topic was forgiving others when they have treated you badly. Now this is not easy to do….our natural inclination is to hit back and to show the person a thing or two! But this is not the way that Peter is talking about here, and it certainly wasn’t the way that Jesus Christ taught His disciples to behave. If we treat bad behaviour with kindness, we never know what the end result will be. It reminded me of a true story I heard once…..

    One time we visiting some folk in an area we hadn’t been to before, and they took us for a sightseeing drive around the place.  As we drove along,  our driver pointed out a house across the paddock. It was an old place, but he said it had once belonged to his uncle and aunt. They were Christian folk and went to church regularly, and their neighbours next door weren’t, and didn’t. The man neighbour was really nasty to them, just because he didn’t like Christians and had no use for this church going business. He would do all sorts of things to annoy them, like throwing mud and stones  on their roof, and everything else he could think about, short of them having to get the police onto him.

     The ladies of both these households were expecting a baby each about the same time, and eventually had them. The Christian family’s baby did very well, it had plenty of mother’s milk, and it grew happy and contented. But the nasty neighbour’s wife didn’t have much milk for her baby, and it was fretful and cried a lot, and didn’t grow at all. The parents were very worried, and of course in those days there was nothing they could buy that would suit a new born baby like mother’s milk. So in the end the worried father went to his Christian neighbour, and apologised for the way he had behaved, and asked if there was any chance of them being able to get some milk from the lady with the good baby.

    The Christian man talked it over with his wife, and they came up with a plan.  He went to his neighbour, and said, yes, his wife had enough milk to feed two babies, and that they would help them out on one condition. If the non-Christian family was prepared to come and live with them, they would feed the weak baby as well as their own. But they had to come and live in, and sit through morning and night Bible readings around the table.      The neighbour was getting desperate by this time as his baby was always crying because it was hungry, and no-one was getting any rest. So they moved in with their neighbours, and the Christian lady fed both babies. The more the babies drank, the more milk she made. It wasn’t long before the sickly baby was looking nice and plump, and didn’t cry incessantly as it had before.

    By this time, the non-Christian neighbour was getting used to the Bible readings each day, and in fact, he even began to get interested to see what was going to happen next when it came to the story parts. By the time the sickly baby was good enough to not need mother’s milk so much and able to drink cows milk, its father and mother had started to go to church  regularly with the Christian couple.      The man who had been so mean to his neighbour all those years before, was now a changed man, and became one of the staunchest men in the church. All because the Christian neighbour decided to not pay him back for what he had done to them.      He was now able to have a good conscience before God, and the friendship of his neighbour who had tried to  annoy him so much before!

We are never the losers for following the ways that God has set out in His Word, the Bible.

Morning Musings

Lessons from my Garden!

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My roses take continual care to keep them looking how I want them to. I like to train them into standards, that are lifted up above the surrounding ground for other plants to grow beneath them.

    I can’t help thinking how like these rose plants each one of us are! This particular variety of rose is quite hardy, but nevertheless needs constant care to keep it how I want them to be. They need to be tied firmly to a strong stake to keep them from being moved by the wind. In the same way , we must be tied strongly to the stake of Jesus Christ, or else we will just blow from side to side and our spiritual life will maybe get damaged beyond repair. Nor will we be able to be a thing of beauty to those who see us.    I also have to take all the side shoots off the main stem constantly; they come with amazing regularity! How often we need to be trimmed in this way, otherwise the shoots take away from the growth of the main stem. If we allow other things to crowd into our lives, they will eventually take all the vitality out of what the Lord intends us to do for Him….after all, there are only so many hours in our day! We say we can’t do without this or that, but if we are involved with too many other activities, we won’t have the time we should be spending for the Lord.

    I find too, that there are many shoots that come up from the base of the plant as it tries to revert to its natural state of being a bush rather than a standard. If we don’t keep ourselves regularly in the Word of God (the Bible), we find ourselves reverting to our natural inclinations rather than following the Lord as He wants us to. We need to be vigilant in these things.     Another thing is, I look ahead to how I want the finished rose plant to look like. If one shoot looks strong and healthy and is growing out from the main stem in a suitable place, I will tie it upright to the existing main stem, thinking I will let it grow in its new position and then when it is strong enough I will cut off all the other heads when they have finished flowering. Yes, what we are doing now may be useful and being involved in the Lord’s work, but He can see ahead to a better task for us to do, one which will take the main head even higher. It may hurt the plant to have one stem fastened upright in such a fashion, and it may hurt us to be tied in some way that gives us pain and restricts us now, but the end result will enable our character to be a thing of beauty and us to be even more help to those around us.

It’s amazing how many lessons there are to be found in the garden, from weeding, to pruning, to spraying….all these things having to be attended to constantly.  No wonder our Lord said, ” I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.” (John 15:1-8)

Morning Musings

Robbery!

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    We always feel aggrieved and hurt, if not downright angry when something of ours has been stolen. I remember the feeling of disbelief when I looked at our yard one morning and thought it looked strangely empty. Then it dawned on me…our runabout boat wasn’t there! We had only owned it for ten days, and now it was gone!

   Then came all the fuss of notifying the police and insurance company, and the trauma of wondering where it might have been taken to. How dare someone come into our yard while we slept and take our boat!!

    But do we ever stop to think how much we take what is not ours without even giving it a thought? Being late for work is one example, and leaving early another….this is taking the boss’ time that we are being paid for. How many times a day do we look at our smart phones and check our emails while we are at work?

    I remember another time, when we owned a farm and needed to have a dragline to come in and clean the drains out. The driver was a chain smoker who rolled his own cigarettes. It really hurt to see that machine stop so many times a day while he was rolling the next smoke!! We were paying him by the hour for rolling his cigarettes!!

     But even worse is what we rob God of. Rob God? How can this be? What does it matter anyway, we might ask.

    Because when we disobey God, He is being robbed of our service, worship, obedience and glory. Taking what is not ours is not honouring to God! At the same time we are being robbed of a clear conscience, peace, inner joy and fellowship with God.

   But Jesus Christ paid the price of these things to God, and has restored what had been stolen. Now it is up to us to find out more about these things and to respond positively to Him!

Morning Musings

How I Should Be!

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Our preacher yesterday morning spoke on marriage, quoting the verses from 1 Peter 3: 1-7 about how the Lord expects a marriage to be. That is not an easy subject to speak on in this day and age. But it reminded me of a story I had read once….

      When I was a kid, my mum always did the cooking, and one evening, she dished up the evening meal saying, “I’m awfully sorry, but I didn’t watch the pot tonight, and your veges have all got burnt. But try to eat them anyway!”

   My Dad just said, “That’s fine Honey, I don’t mind burnt veges anyway, they have more flavour!”

The rest of us kids, just chomped our way through them making no comment, but drank a lot of juice to help them go down.

     Later that night as I kissed Dad goodnight, I asked him if he really didn’t mind his veges burnt like that. He just put his arms around me, and said,  “Your mummy put in a long hard day at work today and she’s real tired.  And besides… burned veges never hurt anyone!”
      Later on, as I thought of this story, it reminded me that life is full of imperfect things. And imperfect people. We have to make allowances for the imperfections of others, remembering our own imperfections. Not making excuses for ourselves when we can’t excuse others. I often forget things that I should have done, or put off doing other things when I know I should be doing them. I have to remember that if I make a mistake, to admit it, and not try to cover it up.

    How thankful we can be to remember that once we have confessed our sins (imperfections and shortcomings)   to God, He has forgiven us and cleansed us from all these mistakes!

So let’s enjoy life and keep short accounts with everyone….it is far more comfortable than trying to cover up, and pretend!


                              ENJOY LIFE NOW – IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!

Random Devotional Thoughts

What Does Your Past Show?

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    Our past often has a way of catching up with us, often when we least expect it! We see this at the moment as a well known politician in a certain country in standing for his seat again, has to face a court-case, of something that he did thirty years ago. Another scenario is that of hearing a certain person’s name that we knew years ago, and the memories that that name brings up. Often not good memories either. Why is it that we remember more vividly, the wrongs that were done in the past, more than the good deeds?

We do well to remember the verses in the Old Testament of the Bible, that tell us that a good name is better than riches (Proverbs chapter 22.verse 1).

   It brings to mind how our past has a way of catching up with us, sometimes when we least want it to. Another case of this was when a young adopted woman traced her birth father, and knocked on his door one day announcing she was his daughter! His wife and family had no idea of this young woman’s existence, and the shock was great. We can only imagine how they must have all felt!

   But this is nothing to how we will feel when faced with all our past unforgiven  sins. The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death, while the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)”

  For a gift to be enjoyed, it must be taken and opened….it is a two way thing. God has done His part in providing and presenting this gift; the least we can do is to take it and thank Him for it.

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What do You See?

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   Someone sent an email the other day telling the story of a professor who was setting his students an exam. He handed the papers all out upside down, and then told them to turn the page over. They found it was just a blank piece of paper with a large black dot in the middle of it. He told them to have a good look at it, and then write down what they were seeing.

   Without exception, they all wrote about the black spot, where it was on the page and the effect it had on the paper. The professor told them that not one had commented on the whiteness of the paper or the size of it in comparison to the black spot, and then pointed out the moral of the story….how much we concentrate on the wrong things around us instead of on the good things we see. That reminded me that I’m like that too, and it ought not to be !

  So whenever things annoy or grate on you, just remember to overlook the black spot in  the middle of the page and focus on the white size of the paper!!

Random Devotional Thoughts

…Five “R”s to Think About…

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     Our preacher this morning was talking about Daniel in the Bible, and he had five “R”s to hang his talk on.

     Daniel was a young teenager who had been taken captive by the enemy and found himself along with three friends, in a strange country with a language they didn’t understand. Not only that, but there were strange customs to get used to, on top of being homesick for where they had come from.      These four teenagers were part of a group that had been specially chosen to become part of the king’s  court, and were to be trained up in the ways of the land. So they found themselves back in school to learn this new language and new ways so they could stand before the king.       But these were four young fellows who had strong convictions of what was right and what was wrong, and  we can learn many lessons from them.

     These four boys Resolved that they would not follow the heathen ways of this new land….after all, they knew the One True God, and believed that He would look after them.      They found that the food they were given to eat was of the very best, but Daniel was suspicious about where it had come from. When he found out it had been offered to the foreign idols first, he was horrified! He Resisted eating this food that he was being given  and went to the official in charge of their group and asked if it couldn’t be Removed from his diet. He asked that he be given just vegetables to eat and water to drink, instead of the rich food and wine that they were now being given.

    Then it was the official’s reaction to be horrified! If they didn’t look as healthy as their companions the next time they went before the king, he could lose his job or worse still, his head! But he agreed to do it for a week and then check them out.     His mates saw what he was doing and asked about it. So Daniel was able to Recruit them to do as he was doing, and when the four of them finally came before the king, the Result was that the king found that they were ten times better than all the rest of the group still eating the king’s food. They were more alert, fitter and trimmer of figure than any of the others, so they were allowed to stay on their diet.

    So this story from the Bible shows us many lessons that we can learn…. first of all we must RESOLVE to do what is right, then RESIST what is holding us back, and REMOVE ourselves from temptation. We can then RECRUIT others to follow our way, and the RESULT will be an eternal one for God’s glory.

     True, there may be bumps along the way, and times of testing, but it will all be worth it in the end . So never give up, and keep looking up!!

Random Devotional Thoughts

What is Holiness?

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       Holiness? What is that? It’s a word that has just about disappeared from our vocabulary these days, and certainly its concept has gone from man’s ideas when every person does what is right in his own eyes! 

    Holiness is everything that is right and just and good. God is a Holy God, and expects His people to be the same. We can never reach the heights of God’s perfection, but with His help, we can all do better than we do. There is no higher commendation than the one that God gave to His servant Job (pronounced Jobe) when He announced to Satan that Job was perfect and upright, and one who abhorred evil in any shape or form (Job 1:verse 8) . Yet when Job saw himself in God’s presence at the end of the story, he realised how far short he was of God’s standard, and said he repented in the face of God’s holiness and greatness. (Job 42: verses 5-6).

      As we go forwards into the year of 2024, let us each one strive to do better  with God’s help, than we did last year. Yes, we might be a good person, and yes, we may feel no need of changing our ways or thoughts, but let’s remember that we don’t see ourselves as God sees us. He says, “For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3 verse 23) and as such we are under His judgment unless we come before Him and confess that we are worthless in our own selves, and that His way is the only way. Jesus Christ said when He was here….”I am the way, the truth and the life….no one comes to the Father (God) except by Me”.  This statement is found in the book of John, chapter 14, verse 6.

    Just remember that if this is wrong, we have nothing to lose, but if it is right, we have everything to gain. 

See what God has to say to YOU.