Funerals

Picture taken from: http://mentalfloss.com

 

What prompted this blog was the fact that I have attended two funerals in two days and I have another to attend in a fortnight’s time. But coupled with that personal situation was the story on the BBC News website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31518899. The story stated: ‘The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says that in the first six weeks of 2015, just over 82,000 deaths were registered, which is 23% higher than the average from the previous five years’. The story becomes a little more startling when we realize that this is more than one death per minute for every day of those six weeks!

There is a double sadness in these statistics. For some the death of a loved one will have cast a significant shadow across their lives. They will be in mourning, trying to come to terms with the fact that someone close is no longer there. There is the enormous cost of funerals to be borne – someone has to pay! However, for me the sadness is not knowing whether that loved one is in heaven or hell. The Bible reminds us that ‘it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement’.[1] Death is not the end. It is a door of entrance into one of two destinations given us in the Bible.

 

There are many people that think that everyone goes to heaven when they die. Others think that ‘good’ people go to heaven, although what the definition of ‘good’ may be is difficult to determine. But can we be sure? Is it just a matter of what I think? Does God really put our life into some enormous scale or balance to assess whether the ‘good’ outweighs the ‘bad’? Where can we find an answer to the question of where we will spend eternity – the life beyond this one?

 

We come back to the only authoritative source of truth – the Bible, which is the word of God. One of the best loved verses in the Bible tells us that ‘whosoever believeth in him [Jesus Christ, God’s Son] should not perish, but have everlasting life [a home in heaven]’.[2] As children we used to sing a simple song which had the line: ‘whosoever that means me!’ The best example of that truth is the thief that died on the cross at the side of the Lord Jesus. Not a ‘good’ man! Yet, to him the Lord said, ‘Today shalt thou be with me in paradise’.[3] What made that assurance possible? The thief admitted his guilt – his sin – and believed that Jesus Christ was able to save him. Do you? If death was to put its hand upon you, what then?

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[1] Hebrews 9. 27

[2] John 3. 16.

[3] Luke 23. 43.

Be Prepared

Only 340-350 days left until Christmas! I wonder whether you have been out in the January sales snapping up the bargains as part of your preparations for Christmas 2015. Somehow I doubt it. Apart from the pressure upon the family budget, few, if any of us, are that well organized to be prepared so far in advance. Although we complain annually about the rush to get everything ready for Christmas, we never really start planning for it until the last minute.  

The strange thing is we do make preparations which are well in advance. Most of us will try and sort out the summer holiday between November and January, even though we may not be going until July or August of the following year. All of us will have made some preparation for illness, if only by registering with a doctor. Some of us will have made preparation for our retirement, however far away that may seem at the present. In some way or other we all appreciate the need to ‘be prepared’ – the former motto of the scouting organization.

 

On this basis, I ask the question, ‘Are you prepared?’ The Bible gives us the statement ‘Prepare to meet thy God’. Hence, are we prepared?

 

We may have made all sorts of resolutions as we entered 2015. We may have been sincere and committed to make those resolutions work. I wonder how many we have been able to keep for any length of time. How often we fail to live up to our own targets, never mind live up to God’s standards! The only way we can meet God is to be as perfect and holy as He is – not as a one-off, should that be possible, but consistently and for all of our life! To see the obvious, that we cannot hope to achieve that standard, is the starting point that God wants us to come to. If we are serious about being prepared to meet God, we need to start by seeing ourselves as God sees us! 

If we are sinners, those who have failed to live as God would have us, how can we prepare to meet God? The tremendous news is that God has already prepared a way for us to meet Him on His terms. Some 2000 years ago Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died upon a Roman cross outside the city wall of Jerusalem. On that Roman cross, Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for your sin and mine! His death can be the means of bringing new life to us – eternal life, the life of God. We have a choice. We can put things off, prepare in our own way, or ignore the issue altogether. Alternatively, we can come to God and confess that we are sinners needing His salvation and trust in Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. 

Are you prepared?

There is but a step between me and death

The title of this blog is taken from a verse in the Bible. It is a statement made by David, a man perhaps best known for killing Goliath. At the time he spoke it he was being pursued by enemies on every side, in constant danger of discovery and death. I was made to think of the verse when reading of the work of soldier Chris Scott. This extract from his story is taken from the BBC website:

‘In the difficult and dusty terrain of Helmand province, homemade bombs buried underneath the ground quickly became the Taliban's most terrifying weapon. At the time of soldier Chris Scott's first tour of Afghanistan in September 2011, counter measures had been introduced by the British army to try to locate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) before they detonated. At just 20, Scott was given the job of "vallon" or front man, first man through to check the ground, responsible for protecting the lives of the 30 men behind him in his patrol from the dangers of IEDs’. [Summarized from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30229415]

It made me wonder how I’d cope with the knowledge that the next step I took could be my last. There was not only the danger but the sense of responsibility for all of those men following you and relying upon your skills for their safety. You have to admire the bravery that was shown by soldiers in the conflict areas into which they were sent!

However, there is one thing that the Christian has and that provides tremendous help in such situations. We have the knowledge that Jesus Christ has gone before us. He has been our ‘vallon’, our front man. Through His death on Calvary, outside the city of Jerusalem, he has prepared a way of safety into God’s presence. He has cleared the way!

The danger that every one of us faces is the consequences of our sin and guilt. We have failed to obey God’s law, fallen short of His holy standards, and stand condemned. One step could bring us face-to-face with God as our judge to be sent down to eternal punishment. As the Christian has placed faith in Christ, that punishment has been borne for them. The debt of our sin and guilt has been paid. Our way is clear! The Christian is but one step away from heaven and glory.

Another Bible verse tells us to prepare to meet our God. As you take your next step in life, are you prepared to meet God?

Photograph courtesy of: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

 

For the life of the flesh is in the blood

Picture taken from BBC News website

More than four hundred people have been offered tests and screening by the NHS for blood-borne viruses. This is after some 22,000 dental patients have been recalled, possibly the highest number in NHS history. This story of a Nottingham dentist demonstrates the truth of the sentence that forms the title of this blog. What may surprise you is that it is a sentence taken from the Old Testament section of the Bible, and it was written over 3000 years ago.

The case in Nottingham has raised concerns about the possibility of cross-contamination at the practice and has highlighted the number of serious infections that are carried in the blood, as well as what can be learnt about an individual’s health by a simple sample of blood. For Bible-based Christians this does not come as a surprise. Indeed, the only surprise is that so many people have been fooled into thinking that such a complex fluid could have evolved by chance, even after the millions of years that atheists allege the world has been around.

Whilst the Bible was not written as a Science textbook, I wonder whether we appreciate how many scientific facts it contains. One thing that continues to be ignored by many is the Bible’s statement on humanity – ‘For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’. We have all inherited, passed on through the blood-line, the problem of sin in our lives.

Any parent will tell you that it is not long before a child expresses its will – its desire to do what it wants, ignoring the rules and safeguards that you set for it! This childish rebellion is a feature of what is present, and what develops in all of us. The Bible speaks of our rebellion against God, and the rules and safeguards He sets for our lives. This is sin!

As there are consequences that must be faced for every act of rebellion, whether by a child or an adult, there are consequences related to our rebellion against God – our sin! The Bible speaks thus: ‘the wages of sin is death’. This may be physical death – some actions have a risk as serious as that! However, the Bible is speaking especially of spiritual death – separation from God in judgement and condemnation. Every sin must be punished!

 

What about yours? Are you going to bear the punishment for your sin? The true Christian should be able to speak of a time in their experience when they realized they were a sinner and when they trusted Jesus Christ as their Saviour. At that point, their sin was taken away, forgiven, and they were set free from its guilt and penalty. Has that been your experience?

Sutton Shooting

‘A man has been injured in a suspected shooting in a Nottinghamshire town. The victim was found by police with a non-life threatening wound to his leg in Hamilton Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield on Thursday evening’.

These lines taken from the BBC News website are a reminder of how events of a serious nature are getting closer and closer to each one of us. Whether this particular matter turns out to be associated with a crime or not we will have to wait and see. Some of us living in the locality remain a little uneasy.

Those old enough to remember back into the 20^th Century can recall events that became national scandals which, in today’s world, would barely feature. Gun crime is one such event. The sadness is that we have not noticed. When change is gradual, and over a lengthy period, the shock is lost. What can be worse is when decline is seen as ‘progress’, and change for the worse is somehow ‘normal’.

The marital exploits of 20^th Century film stars, like Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, and Zsa Zsa Gabor, were regarded as scandalous by many of the day. Now such exploits are commonplace. How many people do we know who have been married, and remained faithful to their partners, for more than 30 years? Multiple divorces are seen as  ‘progress’. This is ‘tolerance’. The damage to the adults and children caught up in this moral mess is greater than anyone realizes, or stops to calculate.

What we often lose sight of is that the God of the universe does not change, and His standards are unalterable. What society once abhorred but is now prepared to accept and even applaud remains sin in the sight of God. Social views can change. God does not! The laws of the land can change. The law of God does not! The challenge is that measured against the ten commandments we all fall short.

The fact that God does not change is a challenge to all of us but it also offers us hope. Whilst God’s standards remain the same, the way of salvation remains the same. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross is still the only way to God. When all around may be changing, and changing rapidly, how reassuring to know that faith in Christ can still being salvation to a lost sinner!

[picture taken from: http://www.deepdotweb.com/]

 

Honest!

For those who have a partner, you will know the dilemma. You are asked, ‘Does this look OK on me?’ Or, ‘Do I look fat in this?’ It may only be that pause that comes after the question that gives away the fact that you are struggling to say what you really think. As you grapple with the difficulty of how to say kindly, ‘You look awful’, someone who knows you well has picked up the fact that there is a problem. Alternatively, as you mumble something like, ‘Yes, er . . . it’s nice’, or ‘No, er . . . you look fine’, the lack of sincerity is obvious. How do we convey the truth without causing serious offence?

Sadly, many of us have grown used to lies. We might single out politicians. We might have other professionals in mind. We have heard lies redefined as ‘being economical with the truth’, or ‘putting a different spin on things’. If we are honest, lies are a devastating thing. It is one thing to be insincere. It is quite another to be told a deliberate lie. Who can we trust?

 

One thing we can rely upon is the Bible. If we want to be persuaded of the truth that it contains, we only have to read it. Atheists have criticised the Bible because of some of the things that it details, and yet the fact that those things are there ought to make them think. If it was simply a man-made book, we would have taken out the difficult bits. We would have removed the examples of God’s judgement as ‘likely to cause offence’!

 

Therefore, when the Lord Jesus said ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’,[1] we can rely upon what He said. The use of the word ‘truly’ twice tells us that what He said is reliable and important. But what did He mean?

 

Every human being starts life away from God. All of us have a problem – sin! We do not have the ability to do what God wants us to do. We all have that desire to ‘do our own thing’. As a result of sin in our lives we are ‘dead’ towards God, and separated from Him.[2] We need to be ‘born again’. We need to have a new life. The old life will never get us to heaven! Note the words of the Lord Jesus again ‘unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’ [my emphasis]. This message came as a great shock to the religious man to whom it was spoken. He didn’t think he was as bad as that!

 

How can we be ‘born again’? The answer is relatively simple but is a real problem to so many. First, we need to admit we are sinners before God. In treating those who are alcoholics, it is said that the hardest thing is to get the person to admit they have a drink problem. Do we have the same problem with sin? Second, we have to come to the Lord Jesus in believing faith. Having admitted that we have a problem, we are coming to Him and the sacrifice He made upon a Roman cross some 2000 years ago, and accepting that the sacrifice was for our sin and guilt. What about you? Be honest!

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[1] John chapter 3 verse 3

[2] Isaiah chapter 59 verse 2

Manchester United’s Failure

Image compiled from various sources.

Whether you’re an avid follower of English football or not, it cannot have escaped the notice of most people that Manchester United football club are struggling So soon after notching up another remarkable statistic under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, the club that had won everything is down in the doldrums. Ferguson’s first successor, David Moyes has gone, and Louis Van Gaal is now in charge. After a 4-0 loss to MK Dons and a goalless draw at Burnley, the questions are still being asked. When will success return? Will this season be as seemingly bleak as the last one?

 

I don’t think anyone would call me a football pundit! 4-3-3 is just a set of numbers. What the best formation might be, I haven’t a clue. However, I am old enough to remember what happened to this famous football club the last time a long-standing manager retired. That manager was Sir Matt Busby, who managed the club for 24 years, returning for a period after his retirement in 1969 to manage the club again between 1970 and 1971. I am tempted to ask, ‘Is history repeating itself?’

 

The Bible has quite a few examples of history repeating itself. The verse that comes to mind is this: ‘let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall’.[1] It is set against the background of the history of the Jews in the Old Testament and contains the statement, ‘these things were our examples’, and, ‘they are written for our admonition’ or warning. Have we read them, or are we making the same mistakes?

 

What the Bible tells us is that the mistakes that Israel made then cost them dearly. We cannot ignore what God says and not suffer the consequences in some way. The Bible tells us that ‘the wages of sin is death’,[2] a separation from God that could become eternal. If we carry on in our own way, ‘doing our own thing’, that will bring us under the judgement of God for our sin and wilful disobedience. That same passage of scripture warns its readers, ‘let us not tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted’.[3] To reject Jesus Christ, and the Bible record about Him, is to tempt God. Why? The Bible tells us that, ‘there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’.[4] To reject Christ is to turn your back upon the only way back to God from the pathway of sin and disobedience. Peter warned his hearer, ‘Neither is there salvation in any other’.[5] What is your attitude toward the Bible and Jesus Christ? Are you about to make the same mistakes that so many others have made?

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[1] 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12.

[2] Romans chapter 6 verse 23.

[3] 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 9.

[4] 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 4.

[5] Acts chapter 4 verse 12.