Reflections

The Gates of Pearl

Rev.21:21 tells us that the way into the New Jerusalem is through a gate made of pearl. Scientists agree that a pearl is really the product of pain. The oyster lies in its bed at the bottom of the ocean, and is sometimes invaded by a microscopic worm or a tiny parasite which succeeds in getting into the very heart of the oyster.
Immediately all the resources of the tiny organism rush to bring about healing where the breach has been made. At the moment of invasion, unsuspected healing powers (that apart from the injury would have remained dormant) are called out from inside the little creature, and  marshalled at the point of peril. The tiny irritant, whether it be a speck of sand or a parasite is covered  over at the point of wound. When the wound heals it is a pearl. No other gem in the universe has such a fascinating  history as a pearl. It is an enduring monument to a tiny creature's struggle for survival. Where there are  no wounded oysters, there are no pearls- for a pearl is the product of pain. It is a wound that has been healed.
 As we sit and gaze at those jasper walls of the New Jerusalem and realize we cannot scale them, our eyes are drawn to the only way in- through the gate made of pearl. Is it telling us in symbolic language that the eternal city is only open open to those who will enter through the wounds made at Calvary? Jesus made His pains into a pearl. So can you!

Reflections

The Secret of Abundant Living

In attempting to make clear the thrilling fact that Abundant Living seeps into our every attitude and thought, and provides us with faith and power to combat every difficult circumstance of life, lets look at this illustration. When a storm trikes an eagle the great bird is not confounded but simply tilts its wings, making the storm bear it upward beyond its fury. The set of the wings makes all the difference. If those wings were set in a downward tilt then it would be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. When the wings, however, are tilted upwards then it is elevated to ride high above the storm.

  This is what God does in the lives of every one of His children who will allow Him to infiltrate their attitude with His abundant life. He gives a set to our souls, so that when trouble and frustration strikes we go up instead of down. The disasters that strike some people cause them to tumble to earth simply because their wings are set in that direction.

  A man whose life and ministry has made a great impact upon me, made Romans 8:28 his life text. When late in life was paralysed by a stroke, someone asked him, "Is Romans 8:28 still your life text?" He said, 'It is still holding good' A young man said to me recently, 'You do not really believe that all things work together for good- pain , suffering, misery- do you?' I pointed out that the things in themselves were not good, but all Christians can, with God's help, make them work together for good. It is not so much what happens to us but what we do with it which makes the difference.

Reflections

The myth of  incompatibility

Someone has defined the difference between a Christian family and a non Christian family in this way: "A non Christian family has many problems which has to face on its own. A Christian family also has many problems, but it handles them in the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ."
  Too much is being made of the word incompatibility in many Christian families and many of my counselling sessions with Christian couples  who are in difficulty have scenes where one partner or the other says, 'Well I suppose the real problem is simply that we are incompatible'. The Swiss psychiatrist Paul Tournier suggests that we eliminate the word incompatibility from our vocabulary. He says, "So- called emotional incompatibility is a myth invented by jurists short of arguments in order to plead for divorce. It is likewise a common excuse people use in order to hide their own feelings. I simply do not believe it exists. There are no emotional incompatibilities. There are misunderstandings and mistakes, however, which can be corrected where there is willingness to do so."
Every family has its problems -mine as well as yours- but spiritually mature people will refuse to let them solidify, realising that maturity is the capacity to correct problems in a Christ-like and Biblical way. Let's allow the Lord to be the centre of our family life, and help us achieve the family unity which only a Christian home can truly experience.

Reflections

Should Temptation Be Avoided?

Should we take any steps to prepare ourselves to meet temptation, or should we just go into it, head on, trusting God to help us overcome it? Luke 11:4 seems to suggest that we  should ask God to keep us  from all kinds of temptation. Bus is this really what is saying ? Dr. Fosdick, a famous American preacher, said that, out of many thousands of letters he received, he was asked more questions about

this one text than any other portion of the Bible.

We know that God does not tempt, but He can and does lead us to the place of temptation. We know also that temptation can be the means in His hands of refining our souls and  developing our characters. Why then should we ask not to be led into it?

The real answer, I believe, lies in the fact that, when Jesus framed this prayer for His Disciples, He took into account that there would be times (as He experienced it in the Garden of Gethsemane) when the human heart would seek to draw back from the time of test. At such times, we can either pretend, and put on a mask, or say,'If it is possible let this cup pass from me'. This need for self- honesty is so important that Jesus built it into this classic prayer so that, when we pray it, are we really saying, 'Lord take into account my human weakness, my frailty, and my fears of being tested, and if it is possible let it pass from me'. Courage does not mean that we can never be afraid. It means doing what

 we are supposed to do in spite of it.

 

Reflections

Guidance

We cannot proceed along the Christian path unless we are guided, and God has not left us to wander in doubt, for He has provided a number of ways by which we can be sure the route we are taking is in accordance with His will.

 How are men guided in general? 

1. by what others do, 2. by chance happenings 3.by superstitious beliefs, 4.by impulses 5.by conscience 6.by God.

Those who take their guidance from God must recognise that His guidance is given on certain conditions. He desires to guide us in a way that develops maturity in our beings. Imagine how underdeveloped we would be if every morning we would sit down with pencil and paper and receive by dictation from God the orders for the day. Our growth would be stunted and we would never develop into mature persons. In guiding us, God has in mind our maturity and He desires to bring us to a place where our characters are so much like His that we follow His principles almost automatically, because our thinking is based on His own pattern. "Thy hands made and moulded me, to understand thine orders" (Ps. 119:73)

We are inwardly made to respond to the "orders" of God and when we do them there is an inner sense of freedom, functioning the way we were designed. God's guidance then is intended to bring us to our highest development and achievement , and unless we know His will then something vital is missing from our personalities. The main thing to remember in guidance is this - don't concern yourself too much about where God wants you to be, but what He wants you to be. When you are what He wants you to be then He can put you where He wants you to be.

Reflections

Getting the Best out of the Bible

How can we use the Bible to obtain the maximum benefit from its pages? Approach it in an attitude of prayer. As you take it in your hand, recollect that it is an inspired book and just as it required Divine inspiration to write it, so  requires Divine inspiration to write it, so it requires Divine inspiration to understand it.

The you must read it unhurriedly.However restricted your time, your reading of the Bible, (if it is to yield spiritual profit) must be without haste. There is little value in scanning a portion of God's Word, then quickly diverting the mind to something else. Better one text taken in at leisure than a whole chapter hurriedly scanned.

Then read it with an inquisitive mind, Ask yourself two basic questions."What did this portion of Scripture mean at the time it was written?", and "What does it mean to me at this present moment?" Sometimes, of course, the two answers will coincide. Sometimes the answer to the first question might elude us, while the answer to the second will have deep personal impact. The practice of opening the Bible at random and receiving the first word one reads as a personal message from heaven is to be discouraged. God sometimes speaks in this way when our hearts are deeply troubled or overwrought, but it is more the exception than the rule. Gog guides most those who read His Word most.

Reflections
The real you.
How do we deal with this crippling problem of inferiority? There are a number of approaches to this question but the one I have found most helpful is the one I am going to share with you now. See yourself in Christ!
There were three persons in Simon Peter: 
1.The person whom his friends and associates saw, 
2. the person  whom Simon Peter saw  
3. The person whom Jesus saw. (John 1:42)
Each thought he saw the true Simon. Who was right? The person whom Jesus saw was the true person for he turned out to be what Jesus predicted - not a reed but a rock! 
 Similarly, there are three people in you: the one your friends see; the one you yourself see; the one whom Jesus sees. Everything depends on which 'you' you focus upon. If you focus on the 'you' your friends see, you will get into bondage over the question of what others think about you. You will become an echo  rather than a voice . If you focus on the 'you' that you yourself see you will become downcast and discouraged by your inhibitions and your problems. But when  on the 'you' that Christ sees, then what a difference! It is a 'you' that is surrendered to God, linked to His Omnipotence and reinforced with divine energy. It is a 'you' that achieves things beyond your own capacities, and driven by a power outside of yourself.
You become what you focus upon. See yourself in Christ. You are wrapped around by His infinite resources. This the real 'you'.  Christ sees you as a complete in Him. See yourself in that position and you will become it.

Reflections
Our Resources In Christ.
  Let us take s look at our resources in Christ. This is very necessary, for in looking at problems we can, unless we are careful, allow those problems to get inside us, and then we become a problem both to ourselves and to others. We must gaze at Christ full-faced until His divine resources fill and flood our whole being, and until we are wholly and entirely possessed by His life-sustaining power.
  Someone has said, "The early Christians did not say in dismay, 'Look what the world has come to', but rather, 'Look what has come to the world'". They saw their problems as possibilities and their setbacks as springboards. They were realists, of course, and faced the fact that sin abounded, yet as true realists they also recognised that "where sin abounded grace did much more abound". On that assurance the early Christians went out and turned the world upside down, and this same attitude must possess you and I as we turn to consider the things which seek to destroy and invalidate our abundant life in Christ.
  I must explain that this positive attitude is not simply self-hypnosis (a fool's paradise) nor even
positive thinking,  but rather the confidence that comes from realising that our lives are linked to the God who created and sustains this vast universe. Someone has said that the whole secret of abundant living can be summed up in this sentence, "Not your responsibility, but your response to His ability".