Narrow is The Way

Since I was at school I have always been interested in Ships and of course they are very important to each of us as they carry so much cargo and so many passengers around the world. However, to travel around the oceans, whether by sail or with the more modern engine driven methods of propulsion, we need an efficient guidance system controlled (or interpreted) by the Captain. That ship in the first photo is the “Dunbar” it had just sailed half way around the world and was about to enter Sydney Harbour in poor light and miss-judged the entrance by a few hundred meters and

sank with the loss of all on board but one. The same type of thing happened to the “Costa Concordia”; the Captain thought that the water was safe for his ship to navigate close to the shore, but it wasn’t.

We see therefore that People’s opinions, no matter how sincere, are worthless unless they are correct. I have heard people say “I don’t think it matters what we believe providing we are sincere in our belief”. Now that is definitely incorrect; those two Captains were sincere but that didn’t save their ships.

From a Christian standpoint there are a lot of incorrect assumptions too: Over the years I have had many people say to me “You will get to Heaven” and when I ask them what they base that assumption on, they reply “You have earned a place there by the way you look after your wife in that wheel-chair”. Now that may sound logical, but it isn’t true. The facts, as revealed in the New Testament, are that it is “by grace that you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest anyone should boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them”. (Ephesians Chapter 2 Verse 8,) Which in modern day English means that God created us to do good kind things so doing them doesn’t earn us any extra points. Just as you don’t praise a pumpkin vine for producing pumpkins, because that is what it is supposed to do!

The fact of the matter, as far as you and I are concerned, is that there is nothing good we can do that will earn us eternal life in Heaven.

This is because Eternal life in Heaven is a FREE GIFT granted to us by God when Jesus paid the price of any sin we have ever committed. All we have to do is accept that gift in prayer and endeavour to follow his ways in future which will of course, automatically include plenty of kind deeds as we endeavour to “Love our neighbour as we love ourselves”. (Matthew Chapter 22 Verse 39).

How Good is that? Don’t take my word for it though, the matter is too important. Check those verses for yourself; they are on your iphone and in your New Testament, if you have one. Romans Chapter 10, verses 9 to 11 is well worth checking too, as is John Chapter 3 and Verse 16 because they clarify the “narrow way” to Heaven that Jesus told us about.

Best wishes with that, Tom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Salt of the Earth

Yesterday my daughter Rueleen, Grand-daughter Priscilla, and Great Grand-daughter Ava spent a little time admiring the Pacific Ocean near Newcastle at a place known as “Redhead”.

Being brought up in the country a very long way from the ocean, surfing doesn’t really interest me and in any case the beaches were closed to swimming yesterday as the surf was very rough. However, I admire the ocean with its terrific power and relentless attack on the shore and the cliffs around our land. It never gives up and has earned the respect of most people. You know, I think we can all learn from that because Determination and Consistency are both attributes we all need to develop.

Apart from that, the oceans are one of God’s greatest creations. If they were not designed the way they are, life on earth would be unbearable. You see, all our rivers run into a sea (like the Dead Sea) or an ocean (like the Pacific Ocean) and all the water in these rivers is somewhat polluted and just like the blood in our veins which returns to our Kidneys, Liver and Lungs to be filtered and reconstituted before it is fit to be re-used to vitalise our bodies, so God has arranged for the river water to empty into the Oceans for a similar purpose.

The Ocean water is heavily laced with Salt which is a powerful disinfectant and no matter what pollutants that river water contains the salt will sort it out. Apart from the rivers, many millions of the world’s people like to live near the ocean so all their millions of tons of sewage waste are emptied into that salt water too.

Then, of course the heat of the Sun causes the water to evaporate and usually forms clouds of pure rain water to be returned to the land to revive it and us.

Salt has been given a “bad name” in recent times, but Jesus looked at it from a different angle and said that people who love God and endeavour to love their neighbours the way he told them to, are “the salt of the earth”. Which means that people behaving like that have a cleansing effect on our society by removing a lot of selfish behaviour, cruelty, and the like, thus making our world a better place in which to live. So those who do that and also accept the forgiveness, for past sin, offered by God through Jesus sacrifice for us, are completely cleansed in God’s sight and just as that pure water rises up, invisible to our eyes, to form clouds so they too (when their time here is over) rise up to meet God and Jesus in Heaven just as my lovely wife Audrey did last week. How good is that?

 

Best wishes as you think that through.      Tom.

Our Gifts Differ

A number of people sent bouquets of flowers to our family in the last few days to help us commemorate my wife’s departure to Heaven. I would like you to look at some of them in the photos below:They are really beautiful but that is largely due to the variety of shapes and colours. You may be drawn to the rose in the first photo or the lily that takes “center stage” in the second photo, but it is the “supporting actors” with their variety of designs that make the bouquets so impressive, even the tiny flowers and the leaves all have their part to play. The same thing applies to our meals: If you go into a restaurant and the menu indicates that Roast Beef is their today’s special and you order it, you would be quite shocked and disappointed if they bring you a plate with a chunk of Roast Beef on it and nothing else, because you would have probably been expecting roast potato and pumpkin, to say the least, as those sorts of vegetables (although not as impressive as the beef) are an important part of the meal.

If those flowers above represented a group of people, which one of them would represent you? Not many people would claim “center stage” and some would even think that the tiny “Sweet William” was about where they would fit in. If that is so for you, it is nothing to be ashamed of as God went to a lot of trouble to design each flower to be the compliment of the others, and He did that with us too, as Paul pointed out in Romans Chapter 12 Verse 6 “that we all have gifts differing according to the grace given unto us” (in the Spiritual field that is), but it also applies to every part of our lives as He pointed out in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12: Verse 12, that it is the same in our bodies, for example “the head cannot say to the foot I don’t need you”. In short, every part of our body needs the support of all the other parts if we are to be complete and function efficiently. As Christians we each represent a part of the body of Christ and it is immaterial whether we seem to be an important part or not; we just need to ask God’s guidance to do our best so we can fill the spot for which He designed us.

After all, when we consider that our sins are forgiven, (if we accept God’s wonderful forgiveness), then, surely the least we can do is endeavour to do His will so we can achieve whatever it is that He wants us to do in order to help others.

I believe that my lovely wife Audrey, did that and what a blessing she was to so many people.

May God bless you as you think about that.

Tom.

Lookalikes

Sunflowers have always fascinated me. I photographed this one in my daughter’s front yard on New Year’s Day 2018. Those of you who know me will know that I am always going on about how flowers could not have designed themselves as they have no brains and are so remarkable and cleverly programmed that we must give God the credit.

A farmer I met, who grows hundreds of hectares of Sunflowers, told me that he loves them because he sows the seeds back and forth from North to South and South to North and knows that when they flower they will all look towards the East where the Sun rises. Thus if he needs to spray them, the crop spraying aircraft just approaches them from the East and the spray goes straight into their “faces”, which is ideal. Furthermore, when he harvests them he does so by driving the harvester from North to South and South to North knowing that he will approach the heads side on, which is apparently the easiest way to collect them.

I admire them because they are well named as they are like little replicas of the sun and brighten up the garden or field where they are planted. It appears to me that we could all probably learn a little lesson from these Sunflowers if we cared to, after all, Jesus did say we should “Consider the lilies of the field”. Not that these are “lilies” of course, but I’m sure he had all flowers in mind when He said those words and it was just that lilies were plentiful where He was, so he knew that all his hearers would relate to them. He went on to make the point that if God so clothed flowers, that would only last a day or so, with “clothing” that was far more beautiful than anything the wealthy King Solomon in all his glory had to wear, how much more will God look after you and me if we have faith in Him. Jesus was so practical and “down to earth” with his illustrations, wasn’t He? The simplest person in the world could understand them, and that is exactly what He wanted to achieve because He also said that “it was not His will that any person should perish” and most people are simple folk and he went on to say that “I shall in no wise cast out” the person that cometh unto me. The thief crucified beside Jesus is a good illustration of that, he was a convicted thief but “believed” in Jesus and said “Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom,” so Jesus didn’t hesitate but, because the thief trusted Him and called to him for help, he replied “this day you will be with me in Paradise”.  Yes, the Christian Gospel (good news) is so simple any child can understand it. All the simple details are outlined in the New Testament and amount to just accepting the forgiveness Jesus offers you, and endeavour to follow his Commandment “That you love your neighbour as you love yourself”.

As I write this I am sitting beside Audrey’s bed where she is in Palliative Care, our family have been to see her and I have no doubt the Angels will soon take her to meet Jesus. How thankful I am that she has fulfilled those requirements I have quoted in red above, (as I have done too), thus Audrey will soon be in a place where there is nothing but joy and happiness and I have the assurance that we will have a wonderful reunion at some time in the future.

I trust that anyone reading this article also has that “blessed assurance”. If not, it is immediately available as Jesus said: “Whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but shall inherit eternal life”. So don’t delay, check it out, it is in John’s gospel in the New Testament, chapter 3 and verse 16.

What a blessing,

 best wishes, Tom.

P.S.  I wrote this yesterday (4/1/2018) and this afternoon at 6.00 pm, as I was making Audrey comfortable in bed, without even a murmur, she relaxed, closed her eyes and went to Heaven. What a wonderful New Year she is going to have.

God bless you,

Tom.