Loneliness and the January blues!

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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.

World Events

World events rush upon us and often take us by surprise. As a Christian I believe that everything is moving towards end times and that events described in the Bible will come to pass eventually. It was thousands of years between the initial promises of a Saviour (Genesis 3:15) and the coming of Jesus of Nazareth but this plus the fulfilment of other prophecies (see Daniel 2 and 7 for an example) give me the confidence that God's word will always be seen to be authentic in the end and will always be fulfilled.

I do not know (not being a prophet) how this emerging conflict between Israel and Iran will turn out and I do not necessarily agree with everything they have done in the last few years. I do, however, see that things are gathering pace and Biblical prophecy is nearing fulfilment.

In light of current world events we all need to be aware that time for all of us is running out. Time is a limited commodity not just in terms of what we can do in any 24 period but in terms of our life span. This means we need to take a relationship with God (or the lack of it) seriously.

Let me leave a few verses from the Bible with you that emphasis the urgency of getting your sins forgiven and being right with God before your life in this world ends.

 for He says,

“AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,

AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.”

Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

2 Corinthians 6.2

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Romans 13.11,12

While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

1 Thess 5.3-8 (this is written to and about Christians)

Please, please, think seriously about you spiritual condition and your need of salvation. This is biggest issue that you will ever consider.

Visit my website www.seekthetruth.org.uk for more information.

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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.

Napoleon, Socrates or Jesus? Who would you vote for?

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Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “If Socrates would enter the room, we should rise and do him honour, but if Jesus Christ came into the room, we should fall down on our knees and worship Him.”  Dr Luke, the writer of the third gospel account in the New Testament, would have agreed wholeheartedly with the French General.  

If ever a man wrote a book filled with good news for everybody, Dr Luke is that man. His key message is, "For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save those who are lost".  He presents Jesus Christ as the compassionate Son of Man, who came to live among sinners, love them, help them, and die for them.  In Luke’s Gospel, we meet individuals as well as crowds, women and children as well as men, poor people as well as rich people, and sinners along with saints. It is a book with a message for everybody?  

Brutal Honesty

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Moments of brutal honesty about ourselves are rare. We go to great lengths trying to present ourselves in the best light possible. We either deny our failures or apologise for them:- 

“That wasn't the real me.”

“That was a weak moment when I messed up.”

“My inner demons won that time, but that's really not who I am."

The world was shocked when the news broke that Philip Seymour Hoffman died at 46.  Every major North American media outlet immediately elevated the breaking story to headline status. The winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor had died in his apartment. In less than twenty five years Philip Seymour Hoffman had appeared in more than fifty films, winning multiple awards and numerous nominations. As the sad news broke, accolades and words of praise for this most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation, flooded social media and news channels.

Those who knew him were well aware of his struggles with drugs and alcohol. Although he battled addictions for years, he managed to stay clean for twenty years, but on 2 February 2014 the world became painfully aware that he had succumbed to chemicals once again.  

RHS Bridgewater

I visited RHS Bridgewater near Manchester on Monday this week. It was beautiful. Here are some (unedited) pictures. 

Have a good day,

Stephen 

Would you rather fly Economy Class or Business Class?

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Some years ago I was speaking at a conference in Delhi, India and thankfully there were other speakers who were utterly riveting to listen to and absorb what they were saying. One such was a Canadian and he related a time when he was going to travel by plane when the check-in staff wondered whether he wanted to be upgraded. One of his joys in travelling is speaking with fellow passengers and he wondered whether that would be possible if he were upgraded. However, he was persuaded and duly went into Business Class rather than Economy Class and so could look forward to a much more comfortable journey.

As he went to sit down in the plane he introduced himself to a business women nearby with the words,  “I have been upgraded and it is only for one reason.” She politely enquired what that reason was and he said, “To talk to you about the Lord.”  I am sure she had never encountered such a direct approach before and it made her somewhat irritable and even angry. Her anger was directed firstly at the fact that he had been upgraded whereas she had paid the full amount for the privilege of travelling Business Class and secondly that he now wanted to engage her in a conversation about the Lord!

Are you prepared to believe the evidence?

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Believing the Evidence

J. Warner Wallace was an atheist for 35 years. He was passionate in his opposition to Christianity, and he enjoyed debating with his Christian friends. He became a Police Officer and eventually advanced to Detective. Along the way, he developed a healthy respect for the role of evidence in discerning truth. When he took time to be honest with himself, he had to admit that he never gave the case for Christianity a fair hearing. When he finally examined the evidence properly, he found it difficult to deny, especially if he hoped to retain his respect for the way evidence is utilised to determine truth. J. Warner found the evidence for Christianity to be convincing.

Hubble Trouble!

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The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation to this very day. It was not the first space telescope but it is one of the largest and most versatile. Well known both as a vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy, The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble. It is one of NASA's Great Observatories sent out to gather images of the distant stars and galaxies of our universe.