Author: Carol Purves

These days when truth is more fluid than ever, heavenly wisdom is needed more than ever before. Politicians and leaders all round the world can no longer be trusted; we ned a benchmark. Who do we trust; who do we mistrust, who is telling the truth? Then maybe people are telling the truth as they see it. Either every. one is right or no-one is wrong.

Absolute truth is only found in one place – the Word of God. It does not set out to deceive, flatter or misdirect. It is reliable like a two-edged sword and constant. We need to tear our eyes away from the world and it’s contrariness. We need to turn our eyes upon Jesus.

My friend put this at the end of her mail; It made me think and I’m still thinking about it. One day last week was going to be very ordinary, then I saw a robin scrabbling round on my lawn, collecting the seeds that the larger birds had let fall from the bird table. Unexpected joy!. Then waiting for a bus I listened to a young man talking animatedly to an older friend of his father. His voice was full of love and concern. When our bus came he made sure I got on it safely. Unexpected joy!

A joke was shared in the cake shop with the owner, a known-customer and myself. Unexpected joy! The light drizzle caused the birds to twitter louder and make puddles for the homeward bound children. The joy of the unexpected indeed.

‘God doesn’t steer a parked car.’ A stationary car is going nowhere and doing nothing. When the car is moving it can take the driver from A to B and cruise along beautiful countryside. It was designed to go places and so are we.

God created us to be active as much as our health and strength will allow. As Christians we are not Christians for our own sake, but to share the wonderful news with others. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19 ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.’

In our activity we need to be steered and directed by God. We don’t make a very good job of deciding our own direction. God alone knows the thrills and holy adventures that await us. But we need to get moving.

The Pharisees loved to question Jesus and try to wrong foot him. But He was well able to ask questions Himself. ‘Who do men say that I am?’ He wanted to know who considered Him to be the Promised Messiah. Were they ready ready to accept His divinity? ‘Why are you afraid?’ We read so many times in the Bible not to fear. Fear is a very human weakness, there is so much to be afraid of but repeatedly He reminds us that He is the Comforter. ‘Do you believe?’ Jesus encouraged people to think for themselves what they actually thought the truth was.

Jesus asks us questions today. ‘What do we believe about God?’ ‘Why are we afraid and not trusting?’

I came across this phrase recently. ‘I am a fractured, forgiven work in progress, reconciled to You through Jesus.’

How aptly that described me and no doubt you. I am fractured, swaying from opinion to opinion, my feet on shifting sand. One day I feel I’ve made a reasonable job of being a Christian, the next I’m floundering in sin and broken actions. At times I’m praising God for his wonderful ways, then I’m blaming him for everything I’ve done wrong in my life.

The next word in the phrase described me as being forgiven. All my many, many wrong doings have been forgiven. That hardly sounds possible. I am reconciled to God; I am forgiven, restored and reunited with the Eternal One. This is only through Jesus, dying for my sins. Forgiveness is never an easy matter; it wasn’t for Jesus. The cost was high. Now I can say with confidence, ‘I am a fractured, forgiven work in progress, reconciled to You through Jesus.’ Amen

I can just imagine Jairus standing right on the shoreline, watching for Jesus’s boat drawing nearer and nearer. In his desire to be the first to speak to Jesus his feet were probably in the water. His daughter was dying, he needed to be the first to speak to Jesus. He achieves his objective and makes his request made known to the Healer. Then calamity, Jesus gets side-tracked. He stops to talk to a poor sick woman. The delay was desperate; she was only a woman anyway and his daughter needed help as soon as possible.

Then came the shattering news; his beloved daughter was dead. Did those few minutes make any difference? In a rational state Jairus would know that the time spent healing the woman made no difference. Did he gleam a fragment of hope as Jesus proved once again that he was the Healer? This is a story with a happy ending. The delay made the miracle greater. Our God is a God of perfect timing.

Some modern day leaders are bombastically full of their own importance. This is not the case with Paul. One example is when he is writing his first letter to the church at Corinth.

In the first chapter of his first letter, he is repeatedly pointing to God and Christ. The first verse states who, Paul, is. But he qualifies it by saying that he is called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. He wishes them grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He can speak no higher than that. In just the first verses he refers to God by name about a dozen times. The emphasis is where it belongs.