I was talking with someone in our church last week who has cancer. It's lying quite low, not terribly advanced...but it's there....and it shouldn't be.
It was noticeable that they didn't seem terribly troubled and were seemingly relaxed about the forthcoming oncology appointment. I pushed and poked around a little, as you do as a Pastor, trying to discover more about where this peace was coming from. I asked at one point whether there was any trace of anxiety at all. "None at all", came the reply.
"And why do you think that is?" After all, no matter how confident we are in God, no matter what wonderful track record we have of His sufficient grace, we wouldn't begrudge someone a smidgen of worry, would we.
"Because either, way I win."
You cant argue with that.
Not when the Apostle Paul said much the same (Phil. 1:21).
And this person meant it. They really did.
Very humbling. A testimony to God's grace indeed.
Monday, 30 January 2012
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Be Yourself
I was talking with someone the day before yesterday about the need we all have to be the people God has made us to be. There are certain roles we have to fulfill but within that we need to be true to ourselves....that sort of conversation.
The next day I came across this extract from one of CH Spurgeon's lectures (another Spurgeon quote I'm afraid!) that both encouraged and challenged me. (Usual caveats about culturally-bound sexist language apply)
There is not only a work ordained for each man, but each man is fitted for his work. Men are not cast in moulds by the thousand; we are each one distinct from his fellow. When each of us was made, the mould was broken;—a very satisfactory circumstance in the case of some men, and I greatly question whether it is not an advantage, in the case of us all.
If we are, however, vessels for the Master's use, we ought to have no choice about what vessel we may be. There was a cup which stood upon the communion table when our Lord ate that passover which He had so desired to eat with His disciples before He suffered; and, assuredly, that cup was honored when it was put to His lips, and then passed to the apostles. Who would not be like that cup? But there was a basin also which the Master took, into which He poured water, and washed the disciples' feet.
I protest that I have no choice whether to be the chalice or the basin. Fain would I be whichever the Lord wills so long as He will but use me. But this is plain,—the cup would have made a very insufficient basin, and the basin would have been a very improper cup for the communion feast. So you, my brother, may be the cup, and I will be the basin; but let the cup be a cup, and the basin a basin, and each one of us just what he is fitted to be. Be yourself, dear brother, for, if you are not yourself, you cannot be anybody else; and so, you see, you must be nobody.
How you prevent this becoming a liscence for being obnoxious....I am what I am.....this is me/my style/my personality...... I don't know. Still - worth reflecting on.
The next day I came across this extract from one of CH Spurgeon's lectures (another Spurgeon quote I'm afraid!) that both encouraged and challenged me. (Usual caveats about culturally-bound sexist language apply)
There is not only a work ordained for each man, but each man is fitted for his work. Men are not cast in moulds by the thousand; we are each one distinct from his fellow. When each of us was made, the mould was broken;—a very satisfactory circumstance in the case of some men, and I greatly question whether it is not an advantage, in the case of us all.
If we are, however, vessels for the Master's use, we ought to have no choice about what vessel we may be. There was a cup which stood upon the communion table when our Lord ate that passover which He had so desired to eat with His disciples before He suffered; and, assuredly, that cup was honored when it was put to His lips, and then passed to the apostles. Who would not be like that cup? But there was a basin also which the Master took, into which He poured water, and washed the disciples' feet.
I protest that I have no choice whether to be the chalice or the basin. Fain would I be whichever the Lord wills so long as He will but use me. But this is plain,—the cup would have made a very insufficient basin, and the basin would have been a very improper cup for the communion feast. So you, my brother, may be the cup, and I will be the basin; but let the cup be a cup, and the basin a basin, and each one of us just what he is fitted to be. Be yourself, dear brother, for, if you are not yourself, you cannot be anybody else; and so, you see, you must be nobody.
How you prevent this becoming a liscence for being obnoxious....I am what I am.....this is me/my style/my personality...... I don't know. Still - worth reflecting on.
Thursday, 5 January 2012
A New Year Thought
It's a been a while.....
I thought I'd break this extended blog fast with a quote from Spurgeon that has encouraged me at the begining of the New Year.
I've always got mixed feelings about NY because you look ahead and you just have no idea what's going to happen. Will I be celebrating and rejoicing or weeping and mourning? You just don't know! It's a good thing we don't know what lies ahead....had I known what was ahead last year I....well I've no idea, let's just say that it's a pretty good thing I was clueless!
But God knows, He really does, and that truth is indeed the pillow upon which I rest my ahead.
Anyway here's CHS:
But here is the joy, here is the peace of Christians, that our salvation is a finished one!
We have not a farthing to pay to complete the ransom of our souls.
We have not a stitch to set to finish the robe of our salvation.
We have not an act to perform, a prayer to offer, a tear to weep, a thought to think in order to finish the work of our redemption!
I know that all these things shall be worked in us and, that by the Spirit of God we shall be made to do them — but all that shall not be with any view to the completion of our salvation — that was finished in the Person of the bleeding Lamb of Calvary! . . .
Either Christ completed all that was necessary for your salvation, or he did not!
If he did finish it, then rest in him and be glad, and say, "I am secure forever because my salvation is finished. I have nothing to do but to live to the honor of him who has completely saved me by his Grace, his blood, his righteousness.
I thought I'd break this extended blog fast with a quote from Spurgeon that has encouraged me at the begining of the New Year.
I've always got mixed feelings about NY because you look ahead and you just have no idea what's going to happen. Will I be celebrating and rejoicing or weeping and mourning? You just don't know! It's a good thing we don't know what lies ahead....had I known what was ahead last year I....well I've no idea, let's just say that it's a pretty good thing I was clueless!
But God knows, He really does, and that truth is indeed the pillow upon which I rest my ahead.
Anyway here's CHS:
But here is the joy, here is the peace of Christians, that our salvation is a finished one!
We have not a farthing to pay to complete the ransom of our souls.
We have not a stitch to set to finish the robe of our salvation.
We have not an act to perform, a prayer to offer, a tear to weep, a thought to think in order to finish the work of our redemption!
I know that all these things shall be worked in us and, that by the Spirit of God we shall be made to do them — but all that shall not be with any view to the completion of our salvation — that was finished in the Person of the bleeding Lamb of Calvary! . . .
Either Christ completed all that was necessary for your salvation, or he did not!
If he did finish it, then rest in him and be glad, and say, "I am secure forever because my salvation is finished. I have nothing to do but to live to the honor of him who has completely saved me by his Grace, his blood, his righteousness.
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