War is a time for courage

 “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

    “War is a time for courage, isn’t it Dad?”     
    “Yes son, war is a time for courage.”
    “If a war comes Dad, don’t worry, I’ll go and fight” said the boy.
    “No son” replied his father. “I don’t want you to go and kill another man’s sons for my sake. A son means more to his father than you will ever know, until you have children yourself. I would rather you went to prison than became a killer. Why should you take the life of a man you don’t know, just because another man you don’t know, in London, says you should?”
    “But dad, if there's a draft, and I don’t go, people will call me a coward.”
    “Yes son, they will call you names to induce you to become a killer. They will try to persuade you to become a killer by saying ‘you’re fighting for our freedom’ and ‘you’re defending us from foreign aggression.’ The government and the country will tell you all sorts of deceptions to hide from you, and themselves, they’re actually telling you to kill another man’s sons - men made in the image of God, just like we are.”
    “I heard they send you to prison if you don’t go to war” said the boy.
    “Yes, that’s true.”
    “It doesn’t make sense” said the boy, “that they will take away your liberty, and make you a prisoner, because you won’t kill random strangers. In normal times the government would send people who gun down complete strangers to jail.”
    “Yes” said his father. “But war is not a normal time, and that is why war is a time for courage. Let us pray God that He gives it to us.”

    This story comes from conversations with a man I knew in Devon, whose father was imprisoned in Dartmoor in World War I, as a conscientious objector. 

We're Precious - not Average

Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
Psalm 116:15

    It’s not true what the world says about us. The world teaches, in many subtle and unspoken ways, that we are just average. The subliminal message we are constantly exposed to is:
“You’re just average, there’s nothing particularly special about you.”
    I bumped into a friend of my wife’s sometime in the last year (I think it was in the Spring, but I don’t quite remember). She was having a bad day, and mentioned to me ‘sometimes I just feel so rubbish.’ If you knew this woman you would find such a statement staggering, because she is an individual well-liked, with a very respected husband and great children. I don’t know how many friends she has on Facebook, but I would guess it runs into the thousands. All of my wife’s friends shine (because beautiful people attract beautiful people to them), but this one in particular sparkles.
    The truth is that God says we’re precious. Jesus makes this clear when he tells us that even the hair on our head is numbered, and the above verse declares that when his people die, it’s a precious thing to Him. I suggest to you our deaths are precious to God because our lives are precious, and our lives are precious because we are precious.

    But wait, I hear you say, I’m not a saint - I’m a sinner.

    No.  I suggest to you that if you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, then you’re not a sinner saved by grace. Rather you were a sinner saved by grace, now you are a saint. Look the Bible tells me so:

    To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. (I Corinthians 1:2)

    If we are amongst those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus then we are saints!

    How you see yourself matters. And we should see ourselves as God sees us. As precious men and women, made in His image, carrying the light of Christ wherever we go.

    In coming blogs I hope to examine some of the ways the world tells us we’re average. It’s subtle propaganda, but its constant. Ever present at school, on TV, and on social media. 

    My wife’s friend didn’t feel precious that day I bumped into her. Her spirits were low because we’re in a spiritual battle, and on that particular day she had been overwhelmed in her spirit. Well, we all have days when we feel despised and rejected by men. Since Jesus was rejected by his own people, so sometimes we, as his disciples, will be too.

But the truth is that we matter to God, and therefore you and I must remind ourselves daily that we are precious - not average.

Thanks for stopping by.
May the Lord bless you, keep you, and make His face shine upon you this day, and always.

I Have Called You Friends

There’s gold in them there hills,
There’s bread in that cafe,
There’s wine in the bottle,
That’s what the ancients say.

I’ve listened to their voices,
Arnold; Lewis; and Berry;
“Keep ye walking in His Way,
For He makes all men merry.”

Born in David’s little town,
Born in the house of bread,
Born to save the world,
That’s what the angels said.

A poor poet is what I am,
In both senses of the word,
But I offer this as my gift,
That His praises may be heard.

They say “all good things in life,
Must some day come to an end.”
But Jesus says, “No! They need never stop,
For I have called you friends.”

 

Thanks for stopping by, 

May the Lord bless you today.

Reflections on Luke 10

That good ship, Friend-ship;

floundered

on the Rock of Neglect.

 

That wondrous ship, Relation-ship;

wrecked 

on the Rock of Neglect.

Martha, that wee slip, her Servant-ship;

seethed 

on the Rock of Neglect.

But Mary, take heart!

You lass, chose the better part.

Your presence, the Lord’s present.

Lesson:

Give your time,

not good deeds,

a present friend 

is what one needs.

Moral:

I love you for who you are,

not 

what you do.

So if you won’t sit with me,

then,

may I sit with you?

These Three Remain - Family, Love and Home

I had occasion to be in York for two days last week. We stayed with Linda’s parents, in the house where she grew up, where Christmas has been celebrated by the Elliotts for the past 42 years. I love being in York at this time of year. The Christmas markets are shiny with Christmas lights and wet flagstones from the inevitable rain.
We always have a glass of mulled wine, and I always buy some loose-leaf tea from Whittards to send to my parents, because there is a far greater range at Whittards than mum and dad can get back in New Zealand.

We all go into Waterstones, for the York bookshop is large with many interesting titles. This year I bought a number of items, including a number of books for my wife and children.

I had forgotten to bring a tote bag, so I got one of those too, as well as an Edward Hopper calendar.

But as I walked those familiar streets, and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the crowds, I felt some melancholy. For this year will be the last year we go to York for Christmas. Bob and Dot are selling their home of 42 years - the home of happy memory and wonderful location (just near the river, and barely eight minutes walk from the centre of town).
One of the memories I have is of Christmas Eve, 2005, the first Christmas I ever spent there, when I told Bob I loved his daughter and wondered how he would feel if I married her. He says I twisted his arm until he relented, my memory is completely different. He was ecstatic, shook my hand warmly, and said we must go out for a drink - but all the pubs were shut!
So we had to have one at home.

Earlier this year I asked my children what they thought the difference was between a house and a home. Tabitha responded immediately with ‘A home is where people love you, a house is just a shelter.’
I was thinking about all of this as we spent time in York.

Three things in particular struck me. Family, love, and home.

Christmas, at its best, is about family being together, at home, showing love for each other.

And it occurred to me that these three things are keys to understanding Christmas, because they explain why Jesus came. Our Lord came down from heaven to earth that we might know God as our Father, and be born again into his family. Not only do we become sons and daughters of the most High, but we also become brothers and sisters to each other.
 
Regarding family, the gospel says:
A crowd was sitting around Jesus, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.”  And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”  And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Regarding love:
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Regarding home:
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

A family is made up of a father’s children; love is what binds them together; home is the place where it happens.

And the good news of Jesus Christ is that even though the place where the family gathers may change; and even though the family may change (because some get married, and start their own Christmas traditions, and some die, and are remembered, but no longer present); love remains. And we are promised, that in the age to come, those who are part of God’s family will be reunited, forever, in that place which Jesus has gone ahead to prepare for us.

The eternal Family, filled with those who love us, starting with our Father in Heaven.
That eternal Love, that remembers no wrongs, that bears all things, that remains forever.
That eternal Home, that place, where time stands still, where work is done without hurry or hassle, because we love the work and those for whom we do it.
Home, where all of us, being members of the royal family are no longer paupers or orphans, but princes and princesses.
Home, the place where everyone serves but there are no servants, because he calls us his friends.
Home, where none are slaves, but all are brothers and sisters. For a slave inherits nothing, but the children inherit all things.
In our Father’s house there are many dwelling places, and one is reserved for each one of us, because without us in his house, then it is not complete, because there’s someone missing.

Family, Love and Home are God’s gifts to us this Christmas.

They come to us under a tree. The tree on which Jesus died, bearing our sins, that we might be dead to sin and alive to righteousness.

I pray you’ll enjoy those gifts this Christmas, and throughout all the years ahead.
For the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.