On Vacation

I will be on vacation for the next 5 weeks as I and my family return to Canada for the first time in 3 years. I will not be blogging again until after I return. God keep you all for His glory by His grace!

A Wise Investment!

Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant…’. The servant said, “I was afraid!” (Mt.25:24-26a) Fear can evoke three different reactions from we humans, as I see it. It can evoke the reaction of alertness or readiness. It can evoke the reaction of run and hide. Or it can evoke the reaction of panic and irrationality. Here the servant in Jesus’ parable in Mt.25 runs and hides. The lord had made an investment in this servant and was looking for a dividend, but would not find one. In essence this servant despised his lord’s investment and wasted his life in doing nothing of any value. The lord calls him a ‘lazy servant’. This is the sad unwritten epitaph on many a gravestone: “Here lies the wasted life of a lazy servant!” God has invested Himself in each one of our lives personally, as our Creator, provider, and sustainer, and expects a dividend at the end of our lives too. As our Creator He has invested His image in each one of us that we may honour and glorify Him in all that we do. So we can run and hide and waste our lives in spiritual laziness, but He will deal with us in the end. Or we can panic at the demands of God and live irrationally and foolishly. Or we can be alert to the demands of our Creator to honour Him, by investing our lives in the work of His Kingdom, including trusting in His offering for our sin, His Son- Jesus Christ.

Magnify The Lord!

I said in my blog yesterday that when Gabriel, the messenger of God, told the young girl Mary that she would deliver to the world the Son of God- Jesus, she proclaimed, “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:46). But how does one’s soul magnify the Lord? Whatever magnifies, makes that which it magnifies more fully seen. So how can the soul of a person make God more fully seen. There are two basic types of magnification: the microscope and the telescope. The microscope makes things that are very tiny look very large, and the telescope makes things that are distant and large appear for what they really are. Mary’s soul treasured the infinite panorama of all of God’s goodness and glory. She did not behold God as through a microscope, and hope to add something to His being by making Him look bigger than He really is. Rather, Mary saw God for who He truly is and yearned to declare and make known His glory and worth to all. Reverend Henry Scougal in his treatise The Life Of God In The Soul Of Man says, “He who loves shameful and distasteful things does thereby become base and vile; but a noble and well-placed affection does advance and improve the spirit or soul unto conformity with the perfections which it loves”. In other words, “the worth and excellency of your soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” What are the objects of your soul’s affections today? Will your soul magnify the Lord today and thus improve with conformity into all of God’s perfections or will your soul magnify the base corruptions our culture has so intoxicated itself with and thus degenerate with conformity to all that is vile?

Seek Hard After God!

When the young girl Mary was told by Gabriel, the messenger of God, that she would deliver to the world the Son of God—Jesus, she proclaimed, “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:46). Thankfully we can apprehend the nature and character of God from His Word, though we will never be able to fully comprehend the Being of God until we pass through the portal of this life into the next. But WE CAN comprehend how Mary’s spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour! She rejoiced in the Being of God, in His nature and character as much as she could apprehend Him. And she apprehended Him, as did the Psalmist before her, as a “God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.” (Psm.86:15) This apprehension of God aroused joy in her spirit, as it should ours. Yet in a culture that has been relegating God out of the public forum in ever-increasing measure and restricting Him to the Church, and in a society where the separation of Church and State has become the separation of God and State; people are soullessly drifting with no greater purpose than continuous WANT! But WANT of what? There is no definite secular answer to that question. People are simply wandering, drifting, and separated from their Creator trying to fill that relationship void with “endless want”. Joy is a temporary commodity in our culture today, and has no deep and abiding roots in the life of those who have no apprehension of the One who has made them. So if you truly long for your spirit to rejoice within you, seek hard after God today, to apprehend Him through Jesus Christ in all His goodness and grace. You might start by picking up the Bible.

Re-Which one of these English Pastors was known as the 'Prince of Preachers'?

Regarding my most recent poll, "Which one of these English Pastors was known as the 'Prince of Preachers'?", the correct answer is Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

The True Emancipator!

Marcus Regulus and William Wallace died for the love of their countries. Abraham Lincoln lost his life for the success of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Louis Riel was known as a murderer and traitor to some, but was a hero and martyr to the small, oppressed community of Metis he lost his life for defending. And not many people know the name of Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic, but mourn, even today, the loss of the man he murdered. On January 30th, 1948, the genius and the man known as Mahatma Gandhi was martyred in his quest for peace between Muslims and Hindus. Then along came the black emancipator and civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr., who lost his life in martyrdom for his cause. And there was Jim Elliot, martyred by the Auca Indians of Ecuador, in his attempt to bring them the glad tidings of Jesus Christ. And as much as the stories of these men’s lives have had an impact upon mine, it is limited. For in the blood they shed for there different passions, there was no redemptive value. Their martyrdom redeemed no one, though inspired many. What makes the great Martyr, Jesus the Christ, different than all these men is that He was also God, and as such the very nature of the blood he shed had redemptive value. That is, it redeemed, rescued, or emancipated the people for whom He died. So though we may respect these other men, and men and women like them, Jesus is the only one worthy to be worshipped. With the Psalmist may we say today, “But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God!’” (Psm.31:14)

True Education Vs. Facts And Figures

What is the best way to educate our children? Should we educate our children in a system that ignores the great reality of the universe- namely God? In a system that is void of any true morality, except the morality of tolerance? In a system that ignores any true behavioural discipline? In a system that promotes sexual freedom, and hands out condoms as the cure for STD’s and AIDS? In a system that holds very little accountability over the lifestyles of its teachers who serve as role models and mentors for our children? In a system that teaches scientific hypothesis for fact? In a system that is inherently incapable of dealing with violence, bullying, and suicide? In a system that teaches the Language Arts, but preposterously fails to acknowledge that all communication originates with God, and all languages are of His invention? In a system that teaches that science is observation and study, but is nothing more than religious atheism protected by the state? In a system that teaches history in the absence of the pre-eminent historical event of the incarnation of the Creator? In a system that teaches psychology in the absence of the great Counsellor and His manual? Education has become the medium of the hollow learning of facts and figures devoid of the Great Reality of our humanity. True education is impossible if you separate it from the Origin of all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. You are left with an empty shell of insignificant facts and figures, and isn’t this reflective in those who are being pumped with its propaganda 8 hours a day? True education must be holistic and springboard from its true Origin—“In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1)—if we are really going to provide the kind of education our children really need.

Discerning Ears!

All of us are looking to get something out of today. Each of us is pursuing something for some reason. But how do you know that your reason for doing anything is right? What or who do you listen to, to know that something is right? What information shapes your person and fuels your decisions. In the days of Jeremiah the prophet, the people of Palestine were doing what they were, based upon bad information and counsel, and the prophet retorted, “Behold you trust in lying words that cannot profit!” (Jer.7:8) But profit we must! Whether through a sunrise, a dollar gained or a dollar given, or a relationship; we are all looking to profit- to increase our joy and satisfaction! Obviously if we are listening to lying words, whether from within or without, we will live a life of deception, which in the end will not profit us at all. So to avoid the tragedy of listening to lying words we need good sensory receivers- we NEED GOOD EARS! In the Bible, wise young Elihu spoke to Job and said, “For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food” (Job 34:3). The palate is the sensory organ in the mouth that lets food down the throat. If it is good it is allowed in, and if it is bad it comes out to the hand and down to the dog! We need ears that function the same way. We need ears to hear the truth and instruction of God. Young Elihu also said, “…God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it…Then He (God) opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction” (Job 33:14,16). May God open your ears to truth today so that you may know that your reason for doing something is right.

The Tongue, The Heart, And Faith in God!

How many of us have been involved in conversations that when you walk away you start beating yourself up inside because you said something proudfully stupid or you spoke ill of someone who was not there and able to defend themselves? 99% of us have been there haven’t we? The Bible is a glorious testimonial of God, of who He is and what He is like; but it is also a true mirror of humanity and who we are, why we are, and an instructional book of how we ought to be. It tells us that the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, a little member and boasts great things. It even says that no man can tame the tongue. Why? Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The tongue is a litmus test of the heart! To tame the tongue you must tame the heart, and “it is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”, the Bible says, and “who can know it?” This must be why God gave us the proverb, “When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). This is a great antidote to an embarrassing conversation. Hold the tongue, walk away with a good conscience, and rejoice in wisdom. If it were only that easy! To hold the tongue is to hold the heart. So to get at the tongue we must target the heart! But as the Bible says, “we can’t know our own heart”. Thank God for His grace that also says, “I, the Lord, search the heart”, and He “turns the heart wherever He wishes”. If you are frustrated with your tongue, pray to God that He will change your heart.

Riches Are Fleeting!

I said in my last blog that so many people live for “immediate gratification” with very little hope beyond their daily cup of coffee. And some of you might have said, “That isn’t me!” “My whole life is future oriented! Freedom 55 baby! I’m giving it all I have now, so I can enjoy the last 25 years of my life instead of retiring too old and too tired to do anything.” You find yourself in a different group or category because you don’t live for the moment, but I would dare to say that you still don’t live for any bona fide unyielding hope. You work 60 to 80 hours a week. You have no time for any deep relationships or the ones you should be nurturing are being ignored. But one day you’ll have time for everything and everyone. You are like a dog chasing your tail, and your hope is fleeting the Bible says. The richest man ever was a Palestinian king named Solomon, and though he attained great wealth, he was still better known for his wisdom. He said, “Do not over work to be rich, because of your own understanding cease. For riches certainly make themselves wings, and fly away like an eagle toward heaven.” (Proverbs 23:4-5) This was not some poor jealous man uttering the jargon of envy. This was a man “who had it all”, and wisely proclaimed “having it all is not really all there is”. If riches were not fleeting, then over working to attain them might be justifiable. But riches can leave a man in a moment or a man can leave his riches far sooner than he had hoped. So look around at the things and people in your life who are suffering in your quest for gold, and stop over working for the uncertainty of riches, and put your hope, rather, in God.