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02 May 2011
Hospitals
I was at the hospital the other day and noticed it was full of sick people.
It also seemed that the sicker they were, the faster they came to hospital for help.
I know this only makes sense but it occurred to me that this is the opposite of how many
people view their spiritual life.
If you need medical help most people would agree that the place to go is to the doctor’s office.
When people feel they are failing in spiritual matters, many take just the opposite view.
They feel that they are too removed from God, that they are not good enough and
they must make themselves better before coming before Him.
God’s attitude is opposite to that.
There is no distance too far from Him that will put you beyond His compassion and reach.
In Mark 2:17, Jesus answered a question from the Pharisees with this response.
"They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick:
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (KJV)
He came with the specific intention of helping those who are in need help.
Doctors are here to help the sick, Jesus is here to help sinners,
a group to which we all belong.
09 May 2011
Lights on or off?
When summer arrives and the days get longer, it is easy to get up in the morning without turning on any lights.
Unfortunately, dark winter mornings have trained me to turn on the lights when I get out of bed.
Even though it is light enough inside the house, habit encourages me to turn them on as I enter each room.
It will take while but I know that eventually I will ‘see the light’ and not flick the switch.
Too often, our past experiences in life, have trained us to turn on certain
‘lights’ to help us get through daily situations. We need to realize that once Jesus has come into our lives,
we no longer need to turn on any other ‘lights’. His light, His knowledge and understanding are all
we need to get through life.
Jesus tells us in John 12:46, "I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness."(KJV)
He came to bring us light. If we do not rely on His light,
we must rely on the light of the world. That light may seem helpful,
but in the long run, it will lead us astray.
Jesus is the light on which we need to rely.
17 May 2011
Add Water
I have noticed that some people when they get a nice glass of juice, add water to it.
I like the strong taste of most juices, but evidently some people find the strong taste
too much and add water to make it more palatable.
With juice, this causes no problem.
If it were some medicine meant to attack a disease, watering it down could be fatal.
The Gospel of Jesus, is also something that many people try to water down.
They do this by ignoring certain parts of the Bible.
"Those verses were not meant for today", they might say,
or, "that’s a nice verse, but it doesn’t apply to me."
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us "All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness."(KJV) It’s important to notice that the first word here is ‘all’,
not some, not most, but all. The entire word of God is good for us as teaching, for evidence,
for correcting and for teaching us how to grow into the character of Christ.
If we ignore certain parts of the Word of God, we are watering it down.
This is not acceptable. For it to have its full impact it must be used in its fullness,
with no watering down.
24 May 2011
Waiting
One thing that many people dislike, myself included, is having to wait, whether it be in a checkout line,
on hold on the telephone, or waiting for someone to arrive. Waiting is one thing that most people seem to dislike.
Often I get the same feeling in my relationship with God. There may be something that I either want or expect Him to do and
I want it yesterday. Sometimes waiting on God can seem frustrating, but that is what He expects us to do. In Psalms 37:34,
the Bible tells us, "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."
The Hebrew word for wait means to wait patiently, but it also gives a meaning of ‘to bind together by twisting’.
This is how we are to wait. We are not to sit and sigh and huff, tapping our feet while we wait for God to do our bidding.
We are to bind ourselves to Him by having our spirit so twisted and wound with His that we become one,
in the same manner that two pieces of rope twisted together become one.
This type of waiting fosters spiritual growth instead of the frustration that can arise from ‘worldly’ waiting.
31 May 2011
Heaven
When my children were small there was a popular song they sang that was titled ‘Heaven is a Wonderful Place’.
There are many wonderful things here on this earth, but when compared to those in heaven, they are only a shadow.
We have some wonderful, vibrant colours here, but in heaven I am expecting even more beautiful colours that
do not exist here on earth. There will be birds and flowers that my mind cannot even imagine,
and they will all be beautiful beyond earthly description. There will be landscapes that will
put even the most awe inspiring sights on earth to shame. There will be no pain, no sickness and no sorrow.
No matter what wonderful attributes your mind can imagine, heaven will exceed them.
All those will be wonderful, but there is one thing that will make it even more wonderful than any of these things.
The end of that children’s song says, "I’m gonna see my Savior’s face, ‘cause heaven is a wonderful place."
Jesus will be there and I will be with Him and I will be able to thank Him for dying on the cross
in my stead. After that, is there really anything else that will matter?
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Ray's Column