OUR DAILY BOOSTER

 

OUR DAILY BOOSTER.

I was recently contacted by the Covid centre to attend for my Booster vaccine. Having had the two previous jabs earlier in the year I had been expecting this notification. Additionally, the word “Booster”, was not an unfamiliar buzz word.  In the news constantly the talk was about the wonder of the Booster vaccine, and recent conversations overheard in the street, and in social meets, this word was being upheld as marking a definite line under our inability to fight off the deadly covid virus!

“Things will soon be back to normal”, “we’ll all be free to do as we used to-once we’ve had the Booster”

As I walked out of the local centre, fully vaccinated and Booster card in hand, I pondered about how protected I really was.  Agreed, medical science is a wonderful thing, and enormous strides have been made in trying to overcome this recent pandemic, but what about the “ills” of our society, and the natural world? Immorality and crime statistics are at a record high-is there a quick fix vaccine available?  It would appear not.

  All the Boosters in the world will not give us the peace of mind and joy in our daily lives, that can be obtained by turning our thoughts and energies to the reading of the Bible. The daily reading of which could be the true “boost”, that we so drastically need.

We read in Genesis… the first book of the bible how God made creation to a perfect design and

made man also in His great image. We, as frail human beings have inherited the mortal nature of Adam and Eve.  

Hence the state that the world is in.

But all does not have to be lost. God sent his only son as a sacrifice for our sins, and by his crucifixion we can be saved and enjoy eternal life in the new kingdom to come. 

All that is asked of us is that we come to Jesus, believe he is the son of God, and be prepared to meet him in his communication to us in the Bible stories. The Bible exists because God wanted us to know of him and his son and the wonderful hope that we can all have if we truly believe and have faith.

 In Matthews gospel 7 v7 Jesus says “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. “

God waits patiently, for us to reach him in prayer, through the mediator-His son Jesus Christ. Can we afford to wait any longer to realise this precious gift that is on offer freely?

As the world continues its downward spiral of depravity, poverty and economic unrest, we can all be given a daily “boost”, of peace, hope and joy. Our daily food of God’s word will give us all the protection we need in these dire times, and remind us that God is, and has always been in control, despite man’s efforts to think that he is his own master.         

P.S. I have only recently been baptised, so can speak from personal experience

                                                                                       

https://www.thechristadelphians.org.uk/booklets/a-time-for-peace-2/

Things are not getting better.

 

Have you ever wondered why we get tired and need to spend so much of our time sleeping? The scientists have defined a law to explain it. They call it ‘The Second Law of Thermodynamics’. This is all about the quality of energy. It states that as energy is transferred or transformed, more and more of it is wasted. It also states that there is a natural tendency of any isolated system to degenerate into a more disordered state, called entropy.

In simple terms, this means hot things always cool unless you do
something about it. It expresses a fundamental and simple truth about our universe: that disorder always increases.

The Bible has much to say about this ‘law’ operating in our experience of ‘life’. It tells us that like our gardens, our cars, our houses, left to ourselves we age, deteriorate, and eventually degenerate to finally collapse in disorder. That means that our garden, without tending becomes a jungle; our cars neglected rust away; our houses without any maintenance fall into ruin and for us, with the passing of time, the keenest eye will dim, the straightest back will bend, and we soon return to the dust from which we were originally made.

So, in Bible language we are mortal, i.e. dying creatures. When first created Adam was ‘very good’. He could have shared the nature of angels who cannot die. Instead he failed the test of ‘hearing’ the word of God and would suffer all the ills of mortality and eventually die. We are all descended from Adam and therefore inherit this condition ourselves.

In fact, the Bible teaches us in a meaningful way about our origins, (something which scientists are still trying to explain), also it explains why we are here and the purpose of our existence.

To learn more, follow this link to the on-line booklet about how we can escape mortality and have eternal life through the work and person of Jesus Christ.

Click Here

 

Yet another report has highlighted the fact that the earth is getting warmer as a result of human activity. The only hope, says the report, is for us all to change the way we live.

We might reflect on the significance of this verse in the Bible:

‘The Day of the Lord will come… and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be burned up’

(2 Peter 3:10).

Should we take this literally? ‘The heavens and the earth’ is a way of describing rulers and people. For example Moses addresses the leaders and the people of Israel, saying, ‘Give ear, O heavens and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth’ (Deuteronomy 32:1).

The verse in 2 Peter 3:10 is an echo of Isaiah: ‘I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered’ (Isaiah 65:17). The prophet is not telling us that the whole universe will be replaced - but that the world will be governed by new leadership.

This then is assuring for us - if we believe the Bible is the word of God. For it tells us that the policies and the behaviours that are destroying planet earth will be replaced by what is called ‘the kingdom of God’.

For it is God’s purpose that ‘all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord’

(Numbers 14:20, cf Habakkuk 2:14).

Peter goes on to write: ‘Since all these things (that is, present human activity) are to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness’.

We need to change the way we live – and it seems that everyone agrees this is necessary.

But only the Bible tells us what fundamental changes are needed. By reading it, believing it and changing our lives, we can look forward with hope. The future can be secure and safe – for us and for planet earth.

Contact us for a free booklet:

‘Hope for a Hopeless World’

Code Red for the Planet

The recent UN Climate Change report has been widely publicised as a “Code Red” for our planet. “The door is still ajar”, we are told, to avert catastrophe, but will soon shut irreversibly. The rate at which we, the human population, are causing irreparable damage has risen exponentially.

We are already seeing and feeling the results of this:

everywhere on Earth, people are experiencing messed-up, unpredictable weather patterns. 

Some have been hit with disastrous flooding from excessive rain 

and others with devastating wildfires from excessive heat.

What, if anything, does the Bible have to say about our environment?

Right back in the Garden of Eden, man and woman

were given responsibility for looking after the earth, along with obeying God’s commands. It’s a responsibility which we have failed to live up to, developing societies based on greed, selfishness and convenience instead.

It’s therefore not surprising that we are paying the consequences – not only environmentally, but morally and physically too. Romans 8:22 says that “the whole Creation groans”: by dislocating our relationship with our Creator, we have made a mess of everything.

But that “groaning” is not just in despair: they are the groans of “birth pangs”! A better time is coming, which this environmental damage is presaging. God has a definite purpose with the Earth: “…God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited…” (Isaiah 45:18)

God is not going to allow the planet to be destroyed. He has a plan for it – “…as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD…” (Numbers 14:21). This glory will not only be physical beauty but moral perfection too, when God’s beautiful character will be reflected in every person living on the earth.

So, whilst some wring their hands in despair, some shrug their shoulders in indifference and others throw themselves into environmental campaigning, we look forward in hope to the glory that will soon come.

We show respect to the wonderful planet that God created, doing our best not be wasteful or damaging, but recognising that the ultimate solution to this terrible problem lies in the return of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the earth, to transform it both morally and physically.

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20)

 

 The Potter

Today we take so much for granted. Take for example a cup or mug for drinking tea or coffee from. We take it out of the cupboard without giving a thought as to how it was made.

But God in His Word the Bible, uses the theme of earthen vessels made by

the potter, as a way of teaching us about the relationship between the Creator and His Creation.

These days few potters prepare their own clay, but in times past they had to dig the clay and then prepare it. 

Isaiah writes of the potter treading the clay (41:25), which consisted of mixing it with water until it was of a consistency that could be shaped on a wheel. It had to be completely smooth and flexible, neither too dry nor too wet, and free of stones and gravel.

Jeremiah writes: 

"I went down to the potter's house, and there he was making something at the wheel" (18:3). 

It was a familiar sight in those days because all pots were made by hand. If you have ever tried your hand at making a pot on a wheel, you will know that what looks easy in the hands of a skilled potter, can play strange tricks in the hands of a novice of the art.

Jeremiah describes for us the potter at his work: first of all suitable clay is needed, then its preparation, then the potter's skilled hands, then the vessel slowly taking shape

—or maybe it is spoiled so that the work has to begin again, then ultimately the lump of clay is gradually formed into a vessel for use

or for beauty.

Jesus referred to of one of his disciples as a "vessel", when speaking to his faithful disciple Ananias about the persecutor Saul, he said: “He is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).

Our Website for more info

Later, Saul, whose name was changed to Paul, when writing to Timothy, uses the same figure of speech: 

"If anyone cleanses himself . . . . he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). 

And when Paul wrote to the church at Corinth he used the same word: 

"we have this treasure in earthen vessels" (Cor. 4:7).

The righteous man Job, was also aware of his origin, when he said to God: "                         Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. 

And will You turn me into dust again?" (10:9).

As Isaiah was also: 

" O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand" (64:8).

And so God is teaching us in His Word, that He is the Potter and we are the clay, that the clay is of the earth, earthy. That we begin as unformed characters, unable to receive and contain the precious things that the Potter wants to place in His vessels, the work of His hands.

But what is it that makes clay pliable in the potter's hands? It is water, as God through Jeremiah tells us: 

“Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the LORD, The fountain of living waters.” (17:13).

Without water the clay is unusable. As the potter turns the wheel with his feet and shapes the clay with his hands, he constantly dips his fingers in water, without the water the clay cannot be shaped.

So in His Word God teaches us, that His fingers are upon us, and we are upon His wheel. He is trying to shape us to make us vessels suitable for His purpose. He has provided the precious water, His Word, and made it freely available to us, so that our characters can be shaped by it. 

In the words of Isaiah: 

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters. And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat" (Isa. 55:1).

For our character to be moulded into ones suitable for God’s use, we must want to read and study His Word prayerfully, and to allow it to shape us without resistance on our part, when it finds bits of grit that must be removed from our characters.

There is nothing that our Father, the Divine Potter, desires more for us, than that we should each be a vessel unto honour, fit for His use.

But are we allowing Him to carry out His purpose by availing ourselves of His provision? He has done His part, are we doing ours? 

Footnote – All quotations used in this blog are taken from the New King James Bible unless stated otherwise. 

Choices

 

A recent nature watch programme on television had a garden for its setting. In the midst of the garden was a bird feeding table which was full of seeds suitable for wild birds. Cameras were focused on the table to photograph the birds that visited the table. You would have thought that one seed is much like another as far as birds are concerned, but that was not the case!

A small sparrow perched on the feeder and I was amazed to see the seeds flying in all directions. The little bird scattered the seeds as it sorted out which ones it wanted. It became obvious that the sparrow was very sure which kind of seed it required and discarded to the ground those it did not. 

The bird was making a choice – a very important choice - because it knew which seeds were suitable for its diet and that of its chicks waiting to be fed.

Throughout our lives we too have to make many choices.

website

In the Bible we have many examples of people who had to make important choices. In order to make a choice we need to be “informed” as to the consequences of our choice.

In Genesis chapter 3 there was an important choice to be made. Eve chose to believe the serpent that said she would not die if she ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. She chose to ignore the warning that God had given that she would die. 

The consequence of Adam and Eve’s choice has affected mankind ever since, and it is only through God’s mercy and provision of His Son to redeem us from sin and death, that we can have hope of everlasting life.

Job has some interesting words about how we make decisions in our lives, for this is what he says: 

King David also gives us valuable advice on who we should go to for guidance in our lives:

During our lives we make many decisions or choices – but on what basis do we make them? Often we take decisions that lead to circumstances we would not wish. How do we know which choice to make? Who can we trust to teach us how to make an informed choice – our parents, teachers, friends – or even ourselves?

The Bible is the best “Guide for Life” because they are God’s words and have been given to us to direct our decisions throughout our lives. Having an understanding of God’s Word, will put into perspective all of our thinking.

Jesus tells us to  

And Jesus also tells us, 

“The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:7

 

Footnote – All quotations used in this blog are taken from the New King James Bible.

  

 Gardening.

In the quest for activities to keep occupied whilst stuck at home, many of us turned to gardening – whether it be in a vegetable patch, a flower bed, or herbs in a window-box.
There is a profound sense of wonder in seeing the total transformation from a tiny, dull looking seed, to a fully formed vegetable, fruit or flower.
However enormous that transformation is, though, we fully expect to dig up a bunch of carrots if we have sown carrot seeds. A carrot seed won’t ever produce a potato. If we plant sunflower seeds, they will never produce lupins. Isn’t this really obvious, we might ask?
But the point is that in our own lives we are all like gardeners. The Bible teaches us that the way that we invest our time and energy is like sowing seeds.

The implication of these words is that we might well be deceived. We may well not have thought about what we are “sowing” in our lives and even less about what those “seeds” will actually produce.

But when we stop and think about it, we realise that it’s true.

If we smoke, we will damage our lungs. If we eat too much junk food, we will get fat. If we exercise, we will get fit. If we spend hours practising a musical instrument, we will be able to play it.
What is true physically is even more important spiritually. Galatians 6:8 goes on,

If we spend our lives in simply pleasing ourselves, then we will “reap corruption” – there will be nothing good to show for it in the end. But if we fill our minds with good, wholesome, spiritual things from God’s word, we will be investing in our spiritual lives and future.

Let’s be sure that we are sowing God’s word into our minds and lives, that it might, by His grace, transform us into something eternally beautiful.