Being the centre of attention

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear . . . 

For some people, these are pleasant words; for others, well – they would rather do a bungee jump than hear them. The words themselves are innocuous, but they represent a moment when they are the sole focus of attention. They would do almost anything rather than be exposed to those seconds of scrutiny. It doesn't seem to matter whether people are being friendly to them or not; it is just the sheer embarrassment of being the focus of attention that gets to them.

 

There are times when none of us like being the centre of attention. Last year, I had an accident as my wife and I started our annual holiday. I tripped and ended up with a severe gash on my head. As I sat and waited for the paramedics to arrive, I realized that everyone who passed by was having a good look at me. It was most uncomfortable to be scrutinized by a pulsating throng of tourists.

It got me thinking! So often, people are watching us. We can be unaware of it, but we are being observed. Now, it's not a good idea to live life looking over your shoulder, but it is wise to remember that you are a role model to someone. A good example is a great teacher, but bad behaviour is often inadvertently copied and has devastating effects. What type of role model are you? Would your family have a good example to follow if they imitated you? How about your colleagues – are you a good example to follow? What do your friends admire you for?

One minute can change everything?

 

A lot can change in a minute. We all know the cliches about a week being a long time (in politics), and a lot can happen in a day, but the truth is that life can change completely in less than a minute. 

For instance, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, something can happen that you never envisaged and suddenly, everything changes. I’ll never forget when eleven-year-old Rhys Jones from my home city of Liverpool was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He lived in a respectable home in a decent area of the city. His mum worked in our local Tesco Store. He was just an ordinary boy enjoying life, loving his football and playing out, as boys do. But on that sad day, he died in the crossfire between two rival gangs. For the Jones family on the 22nd of August 2007, everything changed in a moment. His life was ended, his parents and family were devastated, and his blood was on the hands of the young man who pulled the trigger and those who were involved in providing the weapon. 

I apologise if the recall of this tragic incident drags up painful memories for any who read this. I cannot express my sympathy enough for your loss and the lifelong grief that results from it. I’m not writing to try to explain why such horrible things happen - apart from the obvious fact that people are capable of doing evil things and good and that they will be held responsible for what they have done on the future day of judgment. I am writing to remind you of how life can change irrevocably in a moment. 

So, what are the lessons we need to learn and what difference can they make in our lives? There are many!

Enjoy the moment!

Value and cherish your relationships!

Don’t take people for granted!

Make the most of the time you have!

Things are not that important; people are!

Tell people you care and appreciate them while you can!

Try to live without regrets!

As much as it depends on you, live at peace with others!

Forgive and forget!

Loneliness and the January blues!

All photos courtesy of Unsplash.

A while ago, I read the following comment in the ‘The Guardian’ newspaper - ‘The dilemma, I’m 22 years old and going into my fourth year in medical school. I have been using study to escape loneliness, insecurity and anxiety that arose from the stress of the course and my failure to establish friends’.

Another person wrote in ‘The Telegraph’, “‘Life looks good on the surface - so why are we all so lonely?  ‘But you can’t be lonely,’ a friend tells me crossly. ‘You’re out every night.’ The backhanded compliment makes me laugh. But it also makes me sad. On paper, my life sounds glamorous. Denying you feel lonely makes no more sense than denying you feel hunger’” These are the comments of a high profile journalist who looks as if she is living the high life but most certainly doesn’t feel as if she is.

An investigation into loneliness in January 2020 showed that a fifth of the population privately admits they are ‘always or often lonely’. But two-thirds of those people would never confess to having a problem in public. Here is the problem - loneliness is the devastating unseen result of the pressures and emptiness of modern life when people live devoid of real purpose and meaning.

Forgiveness - Is it possible?

Is forgiveness a mountain that is too hight to climb?

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the 

forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

The Bible - Ephesians 1:7

So what's the verdict?

Really there are a number of questions which we need to answer to answer the main question - Forgiveness - is it possible? I'll address them one by one: 

Why do I need to be forgiven?

Are guilty feelings just manufactured by how we are brought up? Are they just a legacy from more religious days? Are these just hang ups that we should be clear of now that we live in a more liberal society? 

These are good questions.  Let me start with what the Lord Jesus said. He believed that we all need forgiveness and that His Father, God, is the person that we need to go to for forgiveness. If you have ever said the Lord's prayer you will know this to be true. 

The Lord's Prayer - Matthew 6:9-13

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The Lord Jesus added:

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So the Lord Jesus believed that:

1. we need forgiveness, 
2. it can be obtained by prayer to his Father and,
3. the evidence that we really have it will be seen in whether we are prepared to forgive others!

Who have I wronged when I do wrong? 

The Bible teaches that God is our Creator, our Judge and the setter of the rules.

God summarises and concludes in the letter to the Romans chapter three that 'there is none righteous, no, not one' (v10) and 'there is none that doeth good, no, not one' (v12). You might think that this is very tough but remember the God as Creator and the Almighty is the 'setter of the rules'. God is not saying that no one ever does any good or that no one ever gets anything right but He is saying that we are not characteristically right (we are morally wrong and sinful) and we are not consistently good in what we do.

Could God not just forget sin and ignore it; after all he is a God of love isn't he?

God is a God of love but that is only one aspect of His character. He has other qualities that sit comfortably with the fact that 'God is love".

God is just and fair. In Psalm 97:2 he describes His throne (his seat and style of administration -  'righteousness and justice are the foundation of his (God's) throne'. In Genesis 18:25 we discover that from the earliest civilisations of planet earth God was described as 'the judge of all the earth' and he always does what is right i.e. He is righteous. 

Men in the Bible realised that their sin was essentially against God. It affected and indeed wronged others but it was against God as it broke His Laws. In Psalm 51 King David confessed - 'against thee, thee only, have I sinned'.

God has appointed His Son, The Lord Jesus as the judge in the final court. There will be no appeal procedure in place, John 5:22 and Acts 17:31.  He has not only been appointed to  judge the world one day but presently He is the Saviour of the world (John 4:42).  His offer today is one of forgiveness (Matthew 9:6). This is only possible because he 'died for our sins' in full and final payment to God for all wrong and evil.


In life only the person who has been sinned against is in a position to offer forgiveness. So it is with God. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Roman 3:23). It is God we have wronged and He chooses to offer forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ.

What if I don't have the means to pay; I just can't meet God's demands on my life?

This is where the grace of God comes in. God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, Romans 5:8. God doesn't ask us to pay, he offers forgiveness on the basis that His Son has already paid through the death of the cross. 

Your move!

God calls for a response from you. The words repent, confess, call, trust, believe, come,  and receive Christ all come to mind. You cannot acquire forgiveness on the back of a good or religious life but you can receive it by faith in Jesus Christ. 

I leave you with the words of Acts 13:38,39 - 38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

To access podcasts and videos explaining the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

This site will give you access to Bible Teaching Audio's and Video's as well.

The ‘If’ question!

When someone questions our ability to do something, it can provoke a sense of pride that wants to prove them otherwise. Some have stretched themselves to perform reckless acts with varying degrees of success. The Bible says, ' Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.’ God is never guilty of pride, which is on a list of things that the Lord hates.

People have been heard to say, ‘If God would do this or that… I would believe.’ But God does not try to ‘prove himself’ on our terms. Faith in God is not about what we want Him to be or do but about accepting who He is and what He has done.

One day, the devil came to Jesus saying, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ Jesus was in the desert and had been without food for some time. The suggestion was that He satisfy His hunger and thereby prove His power. But the Lord Jesus had not come to perform miracles to gratify His own desires nor to showcase His power for popularity. His works were always for the glory of God. On another occasion, Jesus said, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.’ The work of God, His Father, was more important to Him than physical food. Pleasing God was food for His soul.

Your life will not end when you die!

Life is constantly changing; nothing lasts for ever! This is a sad reality but one that we all have to come to terms with. It is often hard to accept that we will grow old, that loved ones will pass on and that children grow up and leave home. It’s sad but true! 

Please read on as I have good news for you. Your life will not end when you die!  At first sight that sounds like a contradiction in terms but let me clarify what I mean.

What present will you be content with this Christmas?

I think I am quite a contented person. My Christmas present list is usually non - existent, and when asked, I struggle to think of things I really need. Maybe this is because I am so well looked after that I have very little need for anything.

If you were given the choice of any gift I wonder what it would be? The ancient king of Israel, Solomon, when given the choice asked for wisdom. Most of us would like to be wiser, to live well and to make less mistakes.

What is love?

Different people have very different ideas about what love is. Some people would describe it as a romantic idea of a feeling that they might have towards another, others would think of the almost unbreakable bond with a brother or sister, whereas some would think of the sacrificial love of a mother or father for their children.

Love can be a fleeting thing or last a lifetime. Love is shown in very different ways also. For some it is an extravagant gift, for others it is shown through a handmade gift. It can be demonstrated through loyalty or a demonstrable statement, it can be quietly providing or always there to listen in a time of need.

Some people make the great mistake of thinking that they show love by letting their loved ones get away with things. This never works, many people are selfish and if they get away with something, they will often repeat their misdemeanour, this often causes further hurt. 

Some parents think that overlooking their child’s faults is loving, however this just creates spoilt children, who if uncorrected, will carry many of these faults into adulthood. 

We need to consider our behaviours. In Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12 we are told that, ‘There is a way that seems right to a man’. So, we may well have a notion that we can behave as we see fit yet be bringing harm to ourselves and to others. We need to be warned about it. God does this in the second part of that verse, ‘but its end is the way of death!’ That is a stark warning. God is warning us, because Heloves us, it might be 

tough love, but heeding the warning may well save us from eternal death. 

God has shown His love to us in other ways too, in fact, in Romans chapter 5 verse 8 tells us how He has demonstrated His most amazing love, it tells us, ‘Christ died for us!’ To die to save someone is a huge display of love and this is the perfect Son of God dying for us! The rest of the verse says that He died, ‘While we were still sinners!’ It would have been amazing if He had died for those that were attempting to live perfect lives, or those that had turned over new leaves, but He died for us while we were still sinning. Our sin offends God, He hates it, and even if we tried to be sinless, we would fail as we all sin. He still loved us and Christ died to save us. 

1 John chapter 4 verse 10 tells us what love is, but it is not our love for God. We should love God more, for He supplies us with so many blessings, some that we do not even realise, some we just take for granted. The verse expresses what love actually is, it is that He loved us. When I consider why God loved me, I really struggle to understand. What is loveable about me a sinner who offends God time and time again?

There is nothing that a righteous, holy God could love. Naturally I would go my own way and ignore God’s way, I would wonder away like a straying sheep! So why does God love me and love you with this immense, indescribable, extreme love? The answer has to be that He loves me because He chose to love me!

I have responded to the love of God and the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ to die for me, by trusting in His Son and turning from my sin to Him. I love Him because He first loved me. How do you respond to His great unconditional love?

DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (09/10/24)

Written by STUART SCAMMELL 

All photos courtesy of Unsplash or personally taken

Lesson from 'The Sun'

Recently, I heard a quote from a preacher who lived in the 1800s. His name was Charles Spurgeon. He loved the Bible and preached thousands of sermons from it. But more importantly, he loved the God of the Bible and believed in Him. 

I heard a quote about the Sun. Charles Spurgeon believed it was a significant part of God’s incredible creation. 

It is an incredible fact that the Sun, which our planet orbits, is 15 million degrees Celsius at its core and a mere 5,500 degrees Celsius at its surface. This vast, enormous ball of glowing gas produces more energy in 1.5 millionths of a second than all 7 billion humans will use in one year. Yet when we consider our planet, the poles are frozen, and the equator is almost too hot to live on, but we live on bands of the earth with the right temperature for life. If our planet was closer to the Sun, we would all burn up; if we were further away, we would all freeze. God has placed the world in precisely the right position for life. 

The last train from Limerick!

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

The green land of Ireland was once described as one huge golf course criss crossed by railway lines. A bit of an exaggeration but it did once have a more extensive network of lines than it has now. Some of them served quite rural sparsely populated areas, often on lonely branch lines that saw, in a number of cases, only one train each way per day.

Stations could be some distance from the area they were meant to serve and their names quite unusual. There was Horse & Jockey in Co Tipperary, Meeting House Halt in Co Antrim, Narrow Water in Co Down, Oola in Co Limerick and Tubbercurry in Co Sligo to name a few.

By the late 1960’s nearly all the rural stations with their unusual names and their few or only one train a day had gone but there remained one route that still had its daily train in the timetable. Each weekday morning at 9.50 am an engine, two coaches and a guards van set out from Ballina in Co Mayo for Limerick, returning in the afternoon at 3.50 pm. I was able to make two journeys on the Limerick afternoon departure. The first being as one of a handful of passengers from Limerick who upon arriving at the Co Galway station of Gort found themselves invaded by secondary school children. They were polite, well behaved and in talking to them had a knowledge of Bible stories. Among the passengers were also two friendly ladies in their sixties who had disembarked from a transatlantic liner. at Cobh near Cork that morning. I was able to obtain an official pass to ride in the cab on my next journey on this daily train. A cab ride is a unique experience and gives one a completely different view of  travelling by rail as you know what lies ahead along the line. 

What if life could be different for you?

All photos used by courtesy of Unsplash 

One of the most famous hymns must be “Amazing Grace” written by John Newton in 1772. It has been covered by dozens of famous singers over the years and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, no doubt making many rich in the process.

Of far more value than all the riches it has made, is the richness of meaning within its words. It starts “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

Grace is a wonderful word, it is the counter balance to mercy. Mercy is when we do not get what we deserve. Ephesians 2 states, that God is rich in mercy. God’s mercy means that we do not have to face the consequence of our sin, we can rest on God’s mercy and forgiveness. Just a few verses later we read of the exceeding riches of God’s grace.

Who would you like to spend a day with?

Think about the things we do everyday—go to work, spend time with our family, eat, or maybe watch TV. Whether it’s helping others or getting rest, we find value in all of these things. But do we see value in spending time with our Creator? God created us to spend time with Him. By doing so, we are honouring Him, helping others, and getting spiritual rest and peace.

Do you feel like the QE2? - left to rot

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

The QE2 – the longest, widest, tallest, fastest and most expensive passenger liner when it was built – made 26 circumnavigations of the world and took more than three million passengers a staggering 5,875,264 nautical miles in glittering surroundings that were the epitome of luxury. 

Today, however, more than 55 years after she was launched, the once magnificent QE2 is a discarded shell taking on rainwater and slowly gathering rust alongside a spartan dockside in Dubai’s commercial harbour, Port Rashid. At a distance – and that’s how the security guards like to keep inquisitive tourists – the former Cunard flagship looks as if she is ready to cast off at any moment, full steam ahead on what would be her 1,375th voyage. Close up the reality is tragically different. Gone are the glorious days of pre-dinner cocktails in the Chart Room, formal meals at the captain’s table or late nights over liqueurs in the Yacht Club. No longer do bronzed couples on 80-day world cruises spend lazy hours on sunbeds or enjoy unhurried moonlit strolls around the teak deck.

Following Jesus

All photos are courtesy of Unsplash 

My Bible reading this morning was about the conversion of a Roman Centurion. He was a most unlikely candidate to become a follower of Jesus (the term Christian was not used at that time, but that was what he became).

Roman Centurions (I am generalising now) were usually battle hardened, professional, cynical, no nonsense type of people. Faith in the unseen or putting your trust in someone else was not how they normally operated unless, of course, it was obeying their commanding officer. They usually liked to be in control, pragmatic and deal in realities i.e. things that could be seen, touched and controlled. Maybe you are like that and quite cynical about spiritual matters.

Before I talk about Cornelius, that was his name, let me tell you about another Centurion. The Gospel writer, Matthew, tells us about him. Jesus had just arrived in Capernaum when a group of men from a synagogue approached him asking him to come to this unnamed Centurion’s house to heal his servant who was dying. There are a couple of things that are unusual about this story (read it in Luke 7:1-10 or Matthew 8:5-13).