Knowing What is Best

I have a little rescue dog, called Shy. Who, a couple of nights ago was poorly with tummy trouble, she kept getting up and needing to go out. The following day she was not herself, but she knew what was best for her, she didn’t eat anything until she felt better. It wasn’t long before she was back to her old self.

It made me think about we Christians who, when we are spiritually sick, and know what is best for us, but don’t always do it. We try desperately hard to sort it out our way, we want to get back into fellowship with the Father and will try all sorts of things rather than repenting and trusting God to help us and build us up again. Scripture tells us that we are not to lean on our own understanding, our understanding is limited, it is often clouded with a world view, but when we repent and put our trust in God and His Word, we soon feel better, our fellowship with the Father and our Lord Jesus is restored, and we wonder why we ever tried our own way first.

We have to remember what is best for us, and that is putting ourselves in God's hands, studying His Word, and believing His Word, and acting on His Word, the reason this is best for us is because God knows better than we do what is best for us, and we can trust Him because He is faithful and just.

So, how do we know what is best for us, by giving everything over to God.

Don’t try a cover up

I recently saw a lady with brilliant white trainers on, while I was walking the dog.

I wondered how on earth she was going to keep them so white.

It took me back to when I was a teenager, you could buy a product

for whitening your tennis shoes.

You’d press the sponge on your shoe and it would cover all the marks, etc.

It didn’t actually clean them,

it just covered everything up, and made them look clean.

It made me think about man’s attitude to the faults and sins, we deceive ourselves if we think that by all these modern methods such as:

Mindfulness

Positive thinking

Self improvement

Conscience awareness

Counselling, etc. etc. we can ever cover up our secret faults and sins.

You can deceive others, you can deceive yourself but you can never deceive God. You may say “I don’t believe in God” but just because you don’t believe doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist. God’s existence doesn’t depend on man’s belief. I was recently in a conversation with a gentleman on Twitter, who said he had put his Bible down and accepted there was no God. How foolish would we consider the man who turned off the mains power to his electricity and said “electricity doesn’t exist.” 

God exists, and He created everything, including man, who disobeyed Him and so sin entered into the heart of man, and men have been born sinners since. We all have moral standards, some are higher than others, but all men are answerable to God’s standards. If someone breaks man’s laws they are punished, and whoever breaks God’s laws will be punished. So if all men and women are sinners, and are destined to judgment, condemnation, and eternal punishment by God, what can we do to put it right? Nothing. 

God sent His Son into our world, He was a human being as we are, but still God and so He was sinless. He took our place. Jesus, was punished for my sins and for your sins. This is God’s love toward man, as He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but to have everlasting life. Can we earn this? No, do we deserve this? No. It is all a free gift of God’s grace. We must come to God with a repentant heart, we must ask for His forgiveness through His Son, and we must believe in Jesus and turn away from our old life and God will give us a new heart.  There’s no cover up, God doesn’t try and whiten up the old wicked heart, the Bible tells us that God gives us a new heart and that we are then new creatures in Christ Jesus.

Don’t try and cover up your sins,

the thing I remember with that whitener was that it didn’t last long,

the marks and stains soon showed through again.

And no matter how much you try and cover up your sins,

they will soon show through again.

Harmony

Wrong key. During lockdown I have been posting video clips on TiKTok. I read the Bible and sing. Once a week my sister and I get together and record duets, These we put on various media platforms including TikTok. I like the fact that others can record a duet with you, we have had a few people sing with us on one particular song. ' 'The garden" Today as I was looking through my notifications I saw some one had 'dueted’ with us on a keyboard. But, 0, it did not sound good as he was playing in a different key. Pamela and I tend to lower the key when we sing, as we both now struggle to reach the high notes, I thought about this, how we adjust the key to our own personal preference, and how many people who claim to be “Christian" do the same with God’s Word. The religious leaders at the time of Jesus, would not believe Him, He warned them many times, but they would not listen, even though they had the scriptures, that they could check His words and actions with. 

John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

How many in these days are not singing from the same song sheet, and yet they want to be united with those who are. We are to be a discerning people, we are to study the scriptures and live our lives according to God's word, not man's false interpretation of it. If what we hear from the pulpit doesn't line up with God’s Word then we should walk away from that denomination. Pamela and I choose the key we want to sing in to suit our voices. You can't do that with Christianity. You can't choose the bits you like in the Bible and leave the rest. You can't decide on its meaning so it fits in with your sin lifestyle. You will be out of tune. You will not be in tune with God, you will be singing your own tune.

Grandma's gloves

My daughter had come to pick me up to go to their home for tea, as I stepped out of the door I remembered my gloves and went in to fetch them. This conjured up a memory I had of my grandma, who never went out of the house without her gloves on and her shoes polished. Even the odd shoes she went out into the garden in were polished!

It’s strange how simple things bring back memories, of course I remember other things about my grandma, but it made me wonder what people would remember about me. Would they remember me for the caps I wear, or for the handbags and shoes up-cycled in the garden with plants in, the bath that is now a home for frogs, and the up-cycled pine bed that is now a seat? 

Would they remember me for my sense of humour, my smile, or my cheerfulness? Will they think back and remember kindness, compassion and love?

I do hope people will remember my quirky ways but most of all I hope they remember my love for Jesus, my Saviour, I hope they look back and can see how God helped me in so many ways. I hope they remember that my life was lived for Jesus, I truly hope my life reflects that.

We are so fortunate as Christians in these days that we have so many ways in which we can share the gospel. I hope that above all things that it won’t be me remembered for me, but for how God was honoured and glorified in my life.

When my mother went to be with the Lord,

we found old tapes of mum and dad singing, and of dad sharing the wonderful truths from God’s Word. One of the songs I posted on YouTube has been watched three thousand times. How wonderful to know that even though my mother is no longer with us, God still uses the talents He gave her to encourage, and build up His children.

Worthy is the Lamb... Helen Bacon (mum)

Is it Graham?

Shy, my little dog, and I went out for a walk this morning, as we do most mornings. It was nice not to have the rain and wind, we were fortunate that it was a bad weather free morning. As I turned a corner I saw someone I knew, or at least I thought I did. Yes, it was Graham, I was certain of it, same height, same walk, same build, he swung his arms the same, his clothes were the same, the colour of his hair was the same. I started to speed up so that I could catch him up, as I did so he turned his head to look at something across the road, no, that was definitely not Graham. How could I have been so wrong?

In the grand scheme of things it didn't matter did it? This gentleman, whoever he was had no idea I had mistaken him for someone else. As a Christian, I am very aware of how easy it could be to follow the wrong Jesus, especially if I rely on my own senses and feelings, rather than on the Word of God and sound teaching. There was a time that I followed a wrong Jesus, for all intense and purposes He looked and sounded like Jesus should, it was not until I studied God's Word, prayerfully seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit that I was led to the real Jesus, the Jesus of Scripture. I am also very grateful that God led me to a fellowship where I would receive sound doctrine, our pastor who expounded the word of God to us twice a week, who took out the meaning rather than putting in his own preconceived ideas.

There are many who do this, and over the years it has got worse, they refuse to acknowledge their sin lifestyle and choose instead to say that Jesus died for everyone and we're all going to heaven. They teach a universal gospel, this is not the Jesus of the Bible, even though the back view might look right, Jesus loves, Jesus died for all, Jesus went around doing good, Jesus fed people, Jesus cared about people, Jesus ate with sinners, and so their list goes on. The back view may be right but everyone will not be saved, and everyone is not going to heaven.

The true Jesus, warns people of their sins, the sinners He sat with He changed their lives, they didn't remain sinners, nowhere in God's Word does it say that Jesus told the sinners He spoke to that they were alright because He loved them anyway. Don't be fooled, take responsibility for your own salvation, prayerfully and diligently seek the true Jesus in scripture and do as it says, which is that you must repent and believe on Him, and you must be born again. We do not remain the same, having repented of our sins we leave our old ways and follow Jesus.

Acts 2:38

 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

John 3:1-21

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?

Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”