Author: Carol Purves

Collisions

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‘As it is you do not belong to this world, but I have chosen you out of the world.’ John 15:19

Young Alice sat in the corner of her tent. It was her first time away at summer camp, which her church had kindly arranged for her to attend. She didn’t know much about the Christian life yet, so to ease her loneliness she got her Bible out of her bag and started to read. Presently the tent leader came and asked her what she was reading. After looking at the top of the page, she said hesitantly, ‘Collisions.’

How apt this was, her life would be full of collisions if she lived the life of a Christian. There would be collisions with her fellow students if they were against her following her faith. There could be collisions with her parents if they didn’t understand what Christianity meant. There would be a clash between her former life and her new Christian life. It is a problem we all face once we accept Christ as our Saviour. We will not be part of the world with it’s worldly standards.

Jesus told us that we would face opposition because we will not conform. Our ways will not be the ways of the world. Repeatedly we will need to make decision, but the book of Colossians can encourage us on our journey. In this book we read ‘Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Col 4:2

Time

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My times are in His hands.’ Psalm 31:15

What a strange thing time is and how wonderful it is that God is outside of time. God created it as we see in Genesis 1: 19 ‘‘And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.’ Every day is the same length. (unless you’re Hezekiah!) The sun sets and rises to an exact time-scale. Our lives are governed by minutes, hours, days and the four seasons.

God knows and understands time, as the creator He is fully in control of it’s patterns. Every minute has 60 seconds and every hour 60 minutes. Although every hour is exactly the same length in our minds they can vary. When we are waiting for a medical diagnosis or exam result, each hour can seem very long. On the other had when we are enjoying ourselves, we say ‘time flies.’ No, it doesn’t, it is always the same length.

God is the master of time and we are its servant. Though we do say in our hearts, ‘How long will God tarry until He returns?’ But He is not tarrying, He has everything under control. He is not seeing time as we are. As the God who works outside time, He has everything working perfectly.

The Parquet Floor

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‘How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.’ Psalm 133:1

All heads were bowed as the group prayed for unity and co-operation. I’m sure I was the only person in the room not praying. As I lowered my head I noticed the beautiful parquet flooring. Although each piece was a slightly different shade, each piece fitted together perfectly. I was fascinated, as I realised that here was a perfect example of unity we were praying for, as in my mind’s eye I imagined each block representing a person in the room and by extension each person in the world. I’m told that every person is unique, even identical twins. Although different, it is God’s will that we should fit together perfectly working in unity. Pleasing to the eye, the surface of this floor was smooth and safe, there was no piece on which anyone could trip..

This was what our group were praying for, a unity and working together for the benefit of all. With this flooring the result was a beautiful, safe a complete floor on which to work and walk. By working together towards the glory of God we can strive towards completion of His kingdom. No-one needs to stand out, no-one needs to feel ignored. God has prepared a different task for each to do, working towards completion and perfection.

Let there be Light

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‘Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’ Psalm 119:105

Imagine the light from glow-worms. I’ve no idea what the divine explanation is behind their glow, but without electricity they cast their tiny light into the darkness of night. God uses His light in so many ways. The extreme is the light from the sun, so bright that we damage our eyes if we stare at it. If we sun-bathe in it for too long we damage our skin. The God that made the powerful sun also made the glow-worm.

When God created light on the day of creation, He set so many things in motion. The sun guides us by day and the softer light of the moon guides us at night. How we would suffer if we had a day sun and a night sun, or a night moon and also a day moon. If would be so hard for us to function. God gives us what we need.

It isn’t only physical light that we need from God, we also need spiritual light. We need His holy light to keep us on the right path, to steer us away from temptation and to illuminate our way through life. Hell is described as a place of eternal darkness, so by definition heaven is a place of eternal light, the source of light being God Himself.

Concise Instructions

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‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.‘ Romans 12:21

In almost 200 words Paul in Romans 12:9-21manages to give around 30 instructions on how to live the Christian life. At a quick read it would be possible to miss some of them. but they cover every aspect of our lives.

‘Love must be sincere’ and ‘hate what is evil, verse 9. These are good basic instructions. The subject of prayer is also covered. ‘Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.’ verse 12. Sharing is well represented ‘Share with God’s people who are in need,’‘ ‘Practise hospitality,’ (13) ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him.’ (20) Paul reminds us to be enthusiastic in our Christian life. ‘Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour.’ (13)

It would be helpful if we had time to study each one of these instructions in depth. In doing so we would maybe discover some of our own failings. It is a high standard to live up to, but it is what God is asking us to do. These are the New Testament equivalents of the The Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, clothed in the commands of Jesus. I can imagine how overwhelming it would be to hear all these instructions in one sermon, but maybe they would make a series of sermons.

Not My Ways

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‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. Is 55:8

As Christians, praise to God is in our make-up. We are and should be filled with admiration and wonder. The Bible is full of God’s goodness and power. Some days our hearts are over-flowing, but sadly some days we take His love for granted.

Look at the many different names for God in the Bible, extoling His worth. The Psalmist and others can hardly contain their thoughts about Him. What we are not always so aware of, as we are told in this verse, is that God is not like us. God is holy, we are unholy. God is pure with unadulterated love, our love is so weak and feeble. God knows no sin, we are sinful beings beset by sin on every side.

How great God’s love for us must be, we are pretty unlovable, especially on our off days. We can wonder how He must love us enough to die for us. Paise the Lord that He does. .We do well to remember that His thoughts are not our thoughts and not His ways are not our ways. May these thoughts lead to deeper worship.

Not a Quiet Time

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‘When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.’ Matthew 26:30

The ‘quiet time’ is a phrase given to a time which is spent praying quietly in the presence of God. It indicates a time away from other distractions. Speaking and listening to God is an essential part of this time but the word ‘quiet’ can be misleading.

Often the words of a psalms or favourite piece of scripture can be read or recited out loud. In this way we can lead more emphasis to the words. The quiet time might include singing or shouting praises. I imagine that with our African friends, their quiet time is anything but quiet.

Probably ‘quiet’ refers to the fact that we shut out matters of the world. Our whole thought and being is concentrated on God. The clamours and demands and distractions of worldly things are put to one side. We are urged to centre our scattered senses on the presence of God.

We probably all have set routines, something to encourage us to focus more on God. I have a special prayer chair which I use in the winter and in the summer I sit in the garden with the sound of birdsong around me and the wind in the trees. Whatever, the important thing is to focus on God.

Delayed Sunset

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‘The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.’ Joshua 10:13

The king of Gibeon made a treaty of peace with the Israelites so that when they were attacked by the Amorites, the Israelites came to defend them. The Israelites had a great victory and then God even sent hailstones to kill more of the enemy.

Joshua cried to God for the sun to stop in the middle of the sky, so that they could complete the victory in daylight. It is hard to imagine what chaos this must have caused. Did the people have to go for twenty-four hours with out sleep? Would the animals have known whether they should be asleep or awake? Did the cows have extra milking times and could they produce enough milk for the people’s needs? Did the date on their calendars change or did people have an extra day of life? It would be unfair on the watchmen who were on duty during the extra hours of light. But maybe all the disruption was worth it because the Israelites were triumphant in battle.

There are even mixed opinions as to what actually happened to the sun. The only point which is certain is that there was divine intervention and God was in control.

Through and Through

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‘The Lord detests lying lips but He delights in men who are truthful.’ Proverbs 12:22

Most people like a stick of rock, maybe one which has the words Brighton Rock or Blackpool Rock all the way through. Whichever end you start eating it, it has the lettering right through. Can you imagine what we would think if the words ceased to be there before we got to the end. We would feel cheated Things would not be like they seemed.

How often things are like this, the large box of chocolates which is mostly wrapping or a free toy which did not work. Life can be a disappointment for us at any age, not just for as child with a stick of rock.

We are never disappointed with God. He is genuine through and through. There is no hidden agenda with Hm, nothing missing. We are never short-changed’, just the opposite, He gives the cup running over with undeserved blessings. He is loving and faithful right to the end. What one reads and hears about God is genuine. When God says ‘I love you,’ He means it through sickness and health, life and death. So much in this life cannot be believed, truth is no longer truth. Give praise to our everlasting God that He is completely trustworthy and the same right through.

No Looking Back

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The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about the life of Zacchaeus before he met with Jesus except that he was a chief tax collector and he was wealthy. He was a thief and therefore was extremely wealthy. Wealth went with the job, as riches were gained by over-taxing the Jews. No wonder the collectors were hated and chief ones hated even more.

I ponder what he was really like as a man. He might have been a pleasant person who just needed to make a living. He might have been the least hated of all the collectors. We will never know. All this was irrelevant once he met up with Jesus. The Bible tells us that by way of repentance, he said, ‘here and now I give half my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anyone out of anything I will pay back four times the amount.’ Luke 19:8

Do the maths! He couldn’t have cheated people four-fold but that was what he was willing to pay back and then he gave away half his wealth to the poor. (He wasn’t just tithing!) Now poverty was facing him in the face as well as a possible loss of a job. . What a change Jesus had made in his life, materially poor but spiritually rich.