Hot Cross Buns Already

Christmas is just over and people celebrated the birth of Jesus in some wonderful ways: houses were decorated inside and out, families and friends came together for dinner or a BBQ and presents were exchanged, the spirit of love and fellowship was everywhere; even total strangers greeted each other with “Merry Christmas” as they passed. Shop keepers did very well too, so are now gearing up for the Easter celebration with Hot Cross buns. And Easter eggs that represent “new birth” will soon be everywhere. Some manufacturers lost the plot last year though, as chocolate eggs called “Angry birds” appeared on the shelves replacing many Easter Eggs, and “anger” has no place at Easter as it is forgiveness time. Also, Easter bunnies will be everywhere too and they are just a commercial gimmick representing nothing but a bit of entertainment for children. One may well ask “How come that the celebrations of Christmas and Easter are so close together anyway”? Well it is just that if you are going to celebrate each of them annually, you don’t have much choice. Actually these two events, happened over 30 years apart, but we don’t want to wait that long to commemorate something so important do we? And I’m sure the shops don’t want to wait 30 years either, (but, of course, they have other reasons).

God never does anything by halves: whatever He does, He does it well.  Therefore, when He created the first man and woman, He created them as fully grown adults: He had to of course, as they had no parents to look after them. Whereas when He decided to send Jesus to be crucified, (so that he could be our “substitute” and bear all our sin), there was quite a list of conditions that had to be observed: it was

necessary that Christ Jesus had to grow from a baby to an adult, as we did, in order to be “tempted on all points like as we are, (and be) yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15) so he could “represent us.” Now to achieve that it was necessary that Jesus should grow up in a home situation with a Mum and Dad and brothers and sisters, be educated the same as other children, live in an ordinary “working class” family, learn a trade, mix with other families, relate to the many workers in the district like shepherds, get to know the fishermen, watch the grapes being picked in the vineyards, take an interest in the Roman Occupation Forces and observe their behaviour and a lot more, as well as observing the Jewish religious traditions such as learning the Scriptures (Old Testament) with its history of Creation (which interestingly, he had been involved in as the Word of God). He had to also observe the Sabbath, and worship regularly at the Synagogue.

In addition to the usual temptations that he would have encountered, which cause us to sin, things like pride, jealousy, resentment, selfishness and so on, Jesus also had to contend with temptations that were unique to him because of who he was, (Matthew 4:1) and were placed before him by Satan (“the ruler of this world”) (John 12:31), who wanted to side track him into becoming famous in a “worldly” sense and thus render him useless to achieve our salvation. This must have really been a severe temptation, as Jesus knew the scriptures that predicted his life and death on earth. Indeed, he read some of it to the people in the Synagogue, and he therefore knew that to achieve our Salvation he would have to be crucified, and that was a dreadful way to die. Indeed, in the Garden of Gethsemane he prayed to God and asked if it was possible for him to avoid being crucified, but nevertheless he said “Not my will but thine be done”. Oh how he loves us!

Because of his remarkable sacrifice, and because he was both a sinless human and Divine, he alone was able to act as a “substitute” for every one of us, and is now able to offer us forgiveness for any sin we have committed. Certainly if we have done something that broke the law of our land we will still have to accept what punishment our courts may impose, but as far as God is concerned, if we ask his forgiveness and repent, our “Passport” to Heaven is assured.

Do hope you have claimed your “Passport”.   Best wishes, Tom. 

Political Correctness or Stupidity

One of our Politicians recently commented that Australia is a Christian country and was immediately cried down by the Greens and some other very vocal groups because they considered that a statement like that could be offensive to some of the people who have recently migrated here and were of a different religion, as well as some other groups that already live here and do not embrace Christianity, or have no religion at all.

 Now, to object to his comment is just a load of garbage, because if a thing is true then it is true and, as they say “the proof of a pudding is in the eating”: The majority of Australians do claim Christianity as their religion and no matter what a person living here believes or doesn’t believe, they are nevertheless reaping the benefits of Christianity every minute they reside here.  Because when the British people settled in this country they brought Christianity with them and established a government with a constitution similar to the British Westminster model which was based on the New Testament values of love and concern for others. Such values are second to none, and that is why our treatment of people is so humane, with such good Social service assistance available to the elderly, to the unemployed or those unable to work, good medical services, free education to all, irrespective of sex, race or religion. And so on it goes; which simply means that our laws conform to Jesus second Commandment: “You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself”.

 The true Christian endeavours to achieve that way of living, and when you have millions of people endeavouring to live like that, then you have a good country to live in, and need not be ashamed to call it a “Christian Country”; indeed, we should be thrilled to do so. Other countries are not ashamed to call themselves “Buddhist”, “Muslim”, etc. or even Communist, so why should we bow to all this “Political Correctness” stupidity?

As I look around our country and observe all its freedoms I am so thankful to God for His guidance by showing us to love and be considerate to others instead of being hateful and selfish. “Not that I have already attained”, (perfection in the way God wants me to behave), “but I press on” (Philippians 3:12). This was the Apostle Paul’s statement to the Christians at Philippi, and I guess we all feel like that, but for all our imperfections in striving to do things the way Christ instructed us, we nevertheless have come a long way and have a country that is attractive to other people. Thus they want

to come and live here in amongst the trees and gardens with no fear of terrorism, because Christians are not terrorists. You see, Christ preached forgiveness and love, not terror or hate.

There is also an abundance of good schools, some are Church schools and some are Government controlled, but they all teach the same curriculum and accept children irrespective of what their creed or skin colour or who their parents

are.

So if you are a new comer to this country; enjoy it and make the most of the opportunities that Practical Christianity provides, and if you are a citizen then you can be justifiably proud of our Christian country.       Best wishes, Tom.