Thought of the Day
During these unusual times, we understand that our community will be looking for words of encouragement and inspiration. Therefore we have decided to offer you a thought each day for you to consider at home.
During these unusual times, we understand that our community will be looking for words of encouragement and inspiration. Therefore we have decided to offer you a thought each day for you to consider at home.
Everybody needs love
‘This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.’ 1 John 4:9
From the cradle to the grave, we all need love. Anna B Warner (1827-1915) wrote the song ‘Jesus loves me.’ She and her sister Susan were gifted novelists. The familiar lines of ‘Jesus loves me’ were penned in 1860 as a poem of comfort spoken to a dying child in one of Susan’s stories. Today it’s sung by children and adults around the world.
Jesus’ love is so important because He is God in the flesh and only He can meet our deepest longing – our lifelong need for love.
From the cradle to the grave, Jesus loves YOU.
One God, One faith, one way!
The Book of Galatians shows Paul at his most passionate, casting aside all timidity, Paul attacks one of the biggest problems facing the early Christian church.
Many converts were seeking to “mix” the Old Testament Law with the new Covenant of Grace instituted by Jesus.
But there is no compromise!
In verse 6 of chapter 1, Paul marvels that many are turning away so soon from the Gospel of Christ and goes on to say that a curse should be brought on those who preach any other Gospel.
In Galatians 3, verse 1 he calls the Galatians foolish, in verse 11 Paul reaches the salient point, that no one is justified by the Law in the sight of God, but we are to live by faith (in Christ).
Today, it’s a similar situation! As we often return to the old, instead of the Law we go back to the world’s ways or rely on our own judgment/resources rather than putting our faith in Christ.
I once had to settle a debt and after trying numerous ways to get the money without success, I finally turned to God saying something like.
Well God you are my only hope! within a very short period I had the money from a very unlikely source.
So, may we take Paul’s advice, putting our faith in Jesus with His all-powerful love and not the world or ourselves.
Thought for the Day: Monday 27th November 2023
Bible Reading: John 14:4 - 11
(Jesus said,) “You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”
Some thoughts:
Do you like satnavs? I am really thankful for Google Maps on my phone – and I tend to put it on even when I know the route very well – I find it reassuring that it usually knows the way, and what the traffic is like. Martyn, on the other hand, likes a good old-fashioned map. But perhaps the best way is to have someone in the front seat who knows all the streets, the main ones and the side streets. My brother-in-law is brilliant at finding his way around London, as he knows all the side streets, and is highly unlikely to get lost – so if I’m trying to navigate in London, I ask him (he wouldn’t like to be a passenger whilst I drive for some reason!)
I am grateful for the bluntness of Jesus’ early disciples. They clearly didn’t get what he was talking about for much of the time, so asked questions that I often feel like asking today! So, Thomas’s response to Jesus saying that the disciples knew the way to the place he was going, was, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way!” I wonder if the other disciples thought, “I’m glad he asked that question!” Jesus’ reply was that actually we don’t need to know the way – all we need is to make sure that Jesus is ‘in the front of our car’ when we’re travelling.
What will tomorrow hold? We have no idea. Things can happen ‘suddenly’ and our world can be turned upside down: all the things that we were sure of, become impossible, or at best uncertain. What do we do? I’m reminded of the old hymn which starts, “I know not what the future holds” and goes on to declare, “but I know who holds the future”. I am so thankful for the truth of this, that Jesus doesn’t just point us to the way ahead, he goes with us, and indeed in some mysterious way is himself the way. Are you able to “put your hand into the Hand of God” and walk into the future, as the poet Minnie Haskins so eloquently put it?
Thought for the day 24th November.
As I was thinking what to write about for thought for the day, I looked in Proverbs. I saw the following words chapter 11:16. ‘A kind hearted woman gains honour, but ruthless men gain only wealth.’ My immediate thought was that’s a bit of a sexist statement, but of course when it was written women were mainly confined to having children and running the home. Men were the ones who went out to work in various types of job.
But actually this is about our attitude to life, the way in which we choose to do the things we have to do. A Kind hearted person sees the needs of others even when the people they meet don’t know what they really need. So they try and do their best for everybody they meet during the day, and end up gaining other peoples respect for what they try to do.
The converse is true for those who always put themselves first. Their sole aim is to make themselves better off. They want bigger cars, bigger houses, designer clothes and increasing wealth. So they gain a lot in their own eyes, but miss out on the friendship and love of those around them.
Being a Christian means trying to follow Jesus’ example and being kind hearted to those around us, even when we don’t know them, and may never meet them again.
