The Easter Question.....Have you any Room for Jesus

There is a hymn that “spells out” the Easter message like this:

“On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross the emblem of suffering and shame, and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. I will cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown”. How awesome it is that Jesus was willing to pay the price of our sins so we can go free, provided we are willing to repent and “believe” in Him (Romans 5 verses 6, 7 & 8).

In Revelation 3:20 Jesus refers to the door of our heart and says: “Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me”. The artist, Holman Hunt painted this picture to illustrate that statement by Jesus. The Risen Saviour seen here bringing with Him our pardon from sin and the light of life, presents us with a challenge. You see, as God’s children we are all included as beneficiaries in Jesus “last Will and Testament”. (Called the “New Testament”) and that’s about as far as Jesus can go; the rest is up to us because, as usual, the beneficiary has to decide whether or not to claim the inheritance. How about you then? Have you claimed your inheritance yet? (Forgiveness of your sins and a life shared by Jesus plus the fellowship and guidance of the Holy Spirit). If not then you need to consider the words of this song: “Have you any room for Jesus, He who bore your load of sin, as He knocks and asks  admission, Loved one won’t you let Him in? Room for Jesus, King of Glory, hasten now His word obey; swing your heart’s door widely open, bid Him enter whilst you may. Bid Him enter whilst you may. Room for Jesus, King of Glory, hasten now His word obey; swing your heart’s door widely open, bid Him enter whilst you may”.

A friend of Holman Hunt (the man who painted that picture) said to Hunt “you forgot to put a handle on the door”. Hunt replied: “No I didn’t forget. The handle to open our heart’s door is on the inside; we are the only ones who can open the door and invite Jesus in”. Now, if we do that, or have already done so, then we will have a happy Easter and the words of the following hymn become relevant to us as a prayer: “Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart Lord Jesus, come in to-day, come in to stay, come into my heart Lord Jesus. Out of my heart, out of my heart, shine out of my heart Lord Jesus, shine out to-day, shine out alway, shine out of my heart Lord Jesus”.

 In that way we fulfil Jesus request as recorded in Matthew 5:16, where He says “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify my Father who is in Heaven”. We will then be very comfortable singing “I serve a risen Saviour, He’s in this world to-day, and I shall always serve Him no matter what men say, I see His hand of mercy, I feel His tender care, and every time I need Him He’s always there. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives to-day, He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way, He lives, He lives salvation to impart, you ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart”.   

Easter is the Pivotal point in all our lives; how we respond to Jesus death and resurrection determines how our life on earth will “pan out” and where we will spend Eternity!       Best wishes...Tom

P.S. I haven’t mentioned the Easter Bunny because it is merely a commercial gimmick and has absolutely no religious significance. Not so the Easter egg though. Eggs represent “new life” and therefore the Easter egg symbolises our “New Birth” described above.

 

Trees

We take trees for granted, but did they just happen by a stroke of luck, or were they designed by an intelligent mind? Firstly, where did the tree come from? A seed, of course, which begs the question, where did the seed come from? The obvious answer is “a tree, of course”? Trees are special and are necessary for our survival; we are dependent on all types of vegetation but mostly trees as they store carbon dioxide and respire oxygen into the atmosphere. That doesn’t look like an accident but rather a design. 

In order for trees to grow, their roots absorb moisture; minerals etc. from the soil and take it up to their leaves which could be 105 meters from the ground. Pacific coast redwoods (Sequoias) in California exceed that height whilst Australian Mountain Ash exceeds 90 meters. The one in the center of the photo is in the Styx Valley in S.W. Tasmania and is believed to be the tallest hardwood in the world.

Any engineer would tell you that it takes a very well designed water pump to lift water that high, and uses considerable energy but, because of their design, it is no hassle for the tree. Is that a clever design or an accident? What do you reckon? 

We could write pages on the wonderful product called “wood” too. Where would we be without it? Well for starters The “Endeavour” would never have sailed to Australia, there would be no coal, and our houses wouldn’t be complete. Is it an accident of chance do you think, or is the Bible true when it says that trees were produced by God’s design?

Jesus said “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly”. He wants the best for us, and knows that the best can only be attained by following His instructions for living.

It’s a win win situation for us, just as obeying the road rules makes for happier and safer driving for everyone; but to obey Him, we must first believe He exists. I hope I have helped someone to do just that.

Best wishes, Tom.

Evidence

If you watch T.V. shows like the one produced by the B.B.C. where people are always bringing their treasured antiques to be valued you will see some interesting articles; they may be jewellery, pottery or paintings or whatever but no matter how authentic they may look the art dealer is looking for a signature or “marking” placed there by the original artist or craftsman to prove that they are the genuine work of a master. For example the real value of this little vase is that it has “Royal Dolton” written on its base.

Paul writing to the Roman Christians in The New Testament points out in Chapter 1 verse 20 that people “have no excuse for not knowing God “because “They can clearly see....his eternal power and divine nature” (New Living Translation) the equivalent of His “signature” is on everything, although it is sometimes so obvious we don’t even recognise it.  I have touched on this subject before, regarding fruit but we can never give God enough glory for what He has done.

Each morning when I back my car out of the driveway I see this orange tree: When God made the trees He placed His “signature” on them. In this case it is the fact that He programmed the tree to camouflage its fruit by making it the same colour as the leaves so that it will not be obvious to people, birds, and animals until it is ripe, however when it is ripe, and the seeds are hard, the rind of the fruit will turn a bright orange colour to attract the attention of the above mentioned beings. It is for certain that a brainless tree didn’t think up that idea or know how to do it.

God wanted us his children to inherit a world that was full of wonderful things to enjoy. John’s gospel points out how this was done; God spoke all these things into existence by His word and (as incredible as it may seem) the first people to inherit all these wonders did not give Him the love and appreciation that He deserved, but defied Him with the sin of disobedience. (As a matter of interest, have you ever seen similar behaviour in someone’s family?) If so you will have sympathy for Jesus who then had to come and take our punishment by allowing himself to be executed so he could offer forgiveness to those who will now “believe” on Him.

The orange is just one of millions of marvels, but is one we are all familiar with so I want to use it as an example. God knew that we would need vitamin “C” to ward off colds so He designed the orange to be a container of lovely juice full of that vitamin, making it available at the beginning of winter when it is most needed. If the orange was just simply a container of liquid though it would be very messy to eat, he therefore placed hundreds of tiny edible bags in it that are filled with the juice as the orange develops. But that’s not all; in order to make it even more convenient for us to eat in an unmessy way he placed all these little bags of juice into what we call “quarters” which are mouth sized segments covered by an edible membrane so they are easy to handle.

We must not forget though that at creation God told (or programmed) the tree to “reproduce after its kind” so He placed seeds in the “quarters” so that they would be scattered abroad by those eating the fruit. Therefore, in a sense, the lovely tasting fruit is a reward for anyone or anything spreading the seed.

It always excites me to realise how great our God is and how He loves us. Highly qualified scientists in a well equipped laboratory cannot make an orange but a brainless tree, with no resources but the dirt it stands in, can make all the necessary pith, membranes, bags, peel, vitamins, liquid, colour and seed for dozens of oranges every year because God programmed it to do so!

Now I ask you, if He can do that for a tree “That is here to-day and gone tomorrow, how much more will He do for you, oh ye of little faith” if you ask Him and trust Him (that is my paraphrase of Matthew 6:30-34).

Best wishes,   Tom.

The Good Shepherd

You may have seen this picture it is one I made up a while ago to illustrate the 23^rd Psalm. I want to share it with you again because I feel it clearly shows the relationship Jesus wants to have with us. The other day I was talking to a lady, who was very worried so I quoted the 23^rd Psalm to her, it is probably the best known psalm in the bible and is very reassuring. It was written by David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. David had proven himself to be a “Good Shepherd” as he had protected his flock of sheep from a lion and a bear, risking his own life to do so. God was impressed by David and had him anointed as King of Israel and he was arguably the greatest king that there has ever been.

Jesus described himself as the good shepherd and then went on to say that a good shepherd knows his sheep and is prepared to defend them against any danger (Like those two evil characters lurking, in the picture, on the left) and then likens us to sheep needing a shepherd for guidance and protection too because there are also lots of evil situations and temptations surrounding us all the time.

The 23^rd Psalm describes our relationship with Jesus very clearly and is worth memorising because of that, as it says: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside  still waters, He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake; yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies, thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over; surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. Obviously though, in order to qualify for that protection and guidance mentioned above we must allow ourselves to become part of the shepherd’s flock.

In the picture above, that little sheep being guided by Jesus is you if you wish to take its place. Of course you may have already done so. However if you have not done so, let me assure you that you are eligible because Peter said, in his 2^nd letter Chapter 3 verse 9 that “The Lord is.....not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” It is therefore simply a matter of telling God, in prayer, that you request His forgiveness, in Jesus name, and that in future you want to “walk” the way He has outlined in the New Testament. Having done that, you have repented and, in effect, placed your hand in His (like the little sheep in the picture).  So He now becomes your shepherd and really seeing that Jesus knows the future and what is best for us we would be foolish to turn down His offer of guiding protection, wouldn’t we? After all, as we see in this second picture the sheep trust their shepherd who just happens to be my wife. Nowhere in the psalms or anywhere else is there a guarantee that the sheep won’t have troubles because they will; they will be attacked by lice, blowflies, worms or foot rot but that is where the Shepherd comes in; “he will be with them in trouble and deliver them”. (Psalm 91:15). And when we have problems, no matter what they are, we too can claim that promise.

There is a very nice song based on the 23^rd psalm that fits this picture, it goes like this: “In God’s green pastures feeding, by the still waters lie. Soft in the evening walk my Lord and I; Oh the sheep of His pasture fare so wondrously fine, His sheep am I. Waters cool, in the valley, pastures green, on the mountain, step by step, step by step, walk my Lord and I.”

Best wishes, Tom.

Gods Great Love

I became a different person when I fell in love with my wife Audrey. Indeed my whole outlook on life changed.

Previously I was concentrating on my job and thinking about my future. But now my thoughts were of Audrey and our future. Unfortunately though because she lived 300 kilometres away from where I lived it was not possible to see her each afternoon when I knocked off work, and as I lived on a property out from Bourke in western N.S.W. there was no telephone connected and this was before they invented mobile phones (if you are young, can you imagine what that would be like?). Therefore, although I was not a letter writer, I found myself writing to her every evening, or should I say adding a half page to the letter I would post when the mailman called in at the property at the end of the week. After writing my half page or so, I would re-read her last letter and picture her writing it. During the day I would be working of course, but my mind was far away thinking about this beautiful girl and looking forward to seeing her again, or receiving a letter from her when the mailman arrived.

After Audrey and I were married we both got involved in quite a number of organisations and got to know lots of people, but my heart’s desire was always to be in Audrey’s company. The bible says that a husband should love his wife, as the two become one, and that is just as I have found it to be. I know that not all marriages succeed as ours has, and that is why Moses allowed for divorce, thousands of years ago, but Jesus said it was never meant to be that way.

If you are wondering why I have shared this with you. Well it is because in the fifth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Christians we find him saying: “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it”. The word “church” here means Christian people, not a building or a particular denomination, but you and me. Oh how we are loved!

For my part I love my wife so much that I would gladly die for Audrey if the need arose. For His part, Christ has already shown that He loved us so much that He was prepared to die for us when the need arose. He has therefore earned our love and immense gratitude. Of course this loving gratitude for what He did will only come into our hearts if we can visualise the dreadful torment in Hell from which we have been delivered (as described in the bible) and what horrific suffering He went through for you and me in order to achieve that deliverance!  Indeed the bible says “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Those who don’t make it to Heaven will be “cast out into outer darkness and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). The worst situation you can imagine on earth would be “a walk in the park” compared with Hell. After all, if that wasn’t so, would the Son of God have put himself through such a dreadful experience in order to free us from something that was reasonably acceptable? I don’t think so!

Once we begin to understand the loving relationship that Christ wants to have with us and what he sacrificed for us, a great change takes place. The New Testament (2 Corinthians 5:17) puts it like this: “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things have become new”. You see that love that Jesus showed becomes part of our life, Colossians 1:27 describes it as “Christ in you the hope of glory”. So just as when I fell in love with Audrey my mind started to think constantly of her, that is how it should be in our relationship with God. Recognising how much Christ loves us we should “text” Him constantly; the method of texting that God designed for this purpose is called “prayer” and He tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Young people should have no problem understanding this, after all, they never stop texting their friends. And of course just as I re-read Audrey’s letters we should re-read God’s letters to us in the New Testament. Because it is amazing how much we miss the first time we read something.

Keeping in constant touch like this assures us that “He shall direct our paths” (Proverbs 3:6) then obviously the promise that “All things work together for good to those that love God” comes into effect (Romans 8:28). Thus we come in out of the dark, as it were, and be gin to “walk in the light” with His guidance (Ephesians 5: 8).  Best wishes... Tom. 

  From friendship to complete trust in your mate, and  in God.                                                                                           

                  

       

Beetles and things

My daughter drew my attention to this Fiddler beetle consuming the nectar in the flowers on her Kurrajong creeper in her back yard. I just had to take its photo. Isn’t it beautifully designed? During the last year I have brought your attention to many of the creatures that were obviously designed by a wonderful intelligent mind. You will remember the caterpillar that turned into a butterfly within a couple of days. Well here is the caterpillar as green as grass, it eats leaves, has many legs, and here is the butterfly, it looks nothing like the caterpillar, only has four legs and sips nectar. Obviously if this plain green caterpillar turned into this beautiful butterfly whilst inside a completely sealed container called a chrysalis, then whoever made the caterpillar in the first place must have packed all the necessary ingredients into the caterpillar that are necessary to make the butterfly; nothing left out and nothing left over! Can you possibly imagine the intelligence needed to arrange that?

Then there was the egg; a similar story, the fertilised egg is packed with a yolk and clear fluid which contain all the elements necessary to make a complete chicken in a completely sealed container, nothing left out and nothing left over! I have illustrated an emu egg and chick, but it could be any bird’s egg or a lizard’s egg or a turtle’s egg because the same principle applies. Mostly we take all these things for granted because we are surrounded by them. The list is endless culminating in our own bodies with all the organs working in perfect unison with each other like the various instruments in an orchestra.

Who then is responsible for all this magnificence? Jesus is! “Oh come on” someone says “these things were there long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem”. Well that is true, but “Jesus as the Word of God” was the one involved with creation long before Bethlehem was established. Now before we go any further don’t expect to understand God’s makeup or how He works. You don’t understand the makeup of the Internet or how it works either and that is a lot simpler. If you look up Genesis chapter one you will see that God spoke everything into existence. Then if you look up the Gospel of John in the New Testament, chapter one confirms this by telling us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made”. And verse 14 says: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us”. It is no wonder then that Jesus was able to walk on water, heal the sick and raise the dead because He was the “Word of God” in the flesh. The disciples started to “get the message” when “he stilled the storm” as they said “Who is this that the wind and the waves obey him?”He knew his authority too as when Phillip asked Him to “Show us the Father” He replied “he who has seen me has seen the Father, I and the Father are one”.

That being the case then it would have been “a walk in the park” for Jesus to have programmed the birds and reptiles etc to pack their eggs with the necessary ingredients, likewise there would not have been any problem with the butterfly.

As you think about this I hope that you will find it easier to believe in Jesus as the one who by his voluntary crucifixion can save all who Believe. I say “voluntary” because He said He could have called on legions of Angels to deliver Him, but He didn’t choose to do so because His crucifixion was needed in order to purchase our pardon from sin. If he had been just an ordinary good man, his crucifixion would not have helped you or me, lots of people have been crucified and that is a dreadful shame but their deaths achieved nothing much that would help us.

The theology here is “mind blowing” I know that, but if you read John’s gospel and for that matter the whole New Testament, everything will fall into place as “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God”.

Best wishes,  Tom.

 

 

Alive, Dead or Escaping

I enjoy watching the Hogan’s Heroes D.V.D collection that one of my family gave me. Hogan and his “heroes” are supposed to be air men that were shot down over Germany in World War 2 and placed in a Prisoner of War camp under the command of Commandant Klink. These prisoners constructed a series of tunnels and therefore could escape at any time if they so desired but they chose to remain in the camp so that they could help other airmen, who got shot down, to escape back to England. They also took the opportunity to undermine the German war effort by destroying bridges and such like. However taking part in these exploits exposed them to extreme danger. We admire people who take risks like that to help others; Schindler was one of them in Germany and so were the “underground” agents. Even in the French revolution we admire “The Scarlet Pimpernel” who allegedly saved many lives.

Jesus was of course the most helpful person ever; after all He was Divine but gave His life to “free” every single human from the “wages of sin” If they are prepared to accept His offer. What an exceptional privilege it is then to be one of those who has been “freed” which is what we are if we repent and “Believe” in Him, and furthermore we are then accepted as “Children of God, and if children, then heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ”. (Romans 8: 17).

 However we can’t then go home and relax and say “Whacko, I’m on my way to Heaven, I can now eat, drink and be merry because I’ve been “saved”’. No definitely not! Sure, we are free but what about our “Neighbours?” If we “love them as ourselves” we surely cannot rest until we know that they have also heard the “Good News”. I cannot imagine the anguish I would feel if I find myself in Heaven one day and look across into Hell and recognise the faces of people I knew on earth but didn’t share the “good news” with because I thought they might be offended or laugh at me. No we are expected to do the “Hogan’s Heroes thing” by doing whatever it takes to help others. You see I failed to finish that quote up above, it really says: “....and joint Heirs with Christ if we suffer with Him”. The bible guarantees that if we spread the “good news”, of Jesus offer of love and forgiveness, then we will sooner or later be unpopular; the worst that can happen of course is what happened to those 21 Christians in Syria recently when they had their heads cut off. My hope is that such a thing will never happen to you or me, but if it should then it would merely speed up our arrival in Heaven. Whatever the consequences though, we cannot relax if we know that there are people who haven’t yet heard the Gospel message...........Now a little story I heard a long time ago:

 Harry was a Christian who owned a farm and was just going down to the dam to shoot a duck for the family dinner when Bill, (who was a new Christian), came to visit. “Harry” said Bill “I have a problem; ever since I decided to follow Jesus ways I seem to have more temptations and problems than I had before. Why is that?” “Come with me Bill, I’m just going to get a couple of ducks for tomorrow’s dinner” Harry replied.

 

When they reached the dam two ducks flew up out of the nearby grass. “Bang! Bang!” Went Harry’s double barrel shot gun and the two ducks fell to the ground. One was dead but the other started flapping off toward the safety of the water. Bill ran after it; however it was too fast and reached the safety of the water before he could catch it. “Why did you chase it?” Harry asked when Bill returned. “Well it was getting away so I thought it worth the effort to try and stop it escaping, the other one is ours, and we can get it any time because it isn’t going anywhere”. “Exactly” said Harry “and that is why you are now having troubles with extra temptations and so on; you see, as a new Christian you are escaping from Satan’s influence so he is doing all in his power to stop you.” Is there an answer to a situation like that?

Yes, there is: when Jesus was about to commence His ministry, the Devil tempted him for 40 days and even used scripture to make some temptations look legitimate and acceptable. Jesus overcame these temptations because He knew his bible very well so he realised that those scripture passages were used incorrectly. Now we need to take a lesson from that. The New Testament is not a big book so we can, and need to, familiarise ourselves with it because scripture is the “Sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:11) against which Satan cannot stand. Of course we need to be familiar with the Old Testament too. Jesus certainly was.   Hope you enjoy pondering these thoughts. 

Best wishes,  Tom.