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?  

Important Meetings

Without fear of contradiction, it could be said that a substantial part of life is taken up with meetings. In the last while, meetings have morphed into 'virtual meetings' via Skype, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, and Zoom. GoToMeeting and the like.

These may be unimportant, or they could be life-changing. We hear folks say, “We’ll meet to discuss it over a cup of coffee.” I heard one mother say to another, “It’s our son’s birthday on Saturday week, and we’ll need to meet to arrange the catering.”

Your health and welfare

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Sometimes when I sit down to write this column, I find that 101 things fill my mind, and I can’t quite focus on writing. Life is busy, and we often lose our focus because we have so many things bouncing about in our heads. 

There is a little statement in the book of Psalms, and it says this ‘Be still, and know that I am God,’ Psalm 46:10. Stillness is something that many of us crave and that most of us find very difficult to achieve. It is possible to be so preoccupied with living that we forget what life is really about.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ was very aware of this, and so he would on occasion call his disciples to take a break from the busyness of life and come aside and rest for a while. So, therefore, I want to invite you as you read this article to put aside anything that will distract you and come apart from the busyness of your life and reflect, rest, and consider this most important matter of your personal welfare. 

What do your clothes say about you?

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I am sure that many have had their favourite clothes. Whether it is because they are fashionable, comfortable or have been gifted to us, one problem with such items is their tendency to be outdated, outgrown, damaged or eventually worn out. A shirt I had some years ago ticked nearly all the boxes: it was stylish, comfortable and I bought it for my wedding day.  Regrettably, I had only worn it a few times when it caught on a door handle and it was left with a large tear. More recently, a favourite jacket suffered the same ‘door handle’ treatment, but thankfully, a few stitches was enough to put it right. Sadly, the shirt was beyond repair.

Father’s Day

Father's Day first began because of a woman named Grace Golden Clayton from Fairmount, West Virginia in the United States of America.  The story goes that she was inspired to do this after a mining disaster killed 362 local men. Their deaths orphaned more than 1,000 children and Grace wanted to pay tribute to the children’s dead fathers - as well as her own.

Each year in the UK Father’s Day takes place on the third Sunday of June. It is one of those dates we really don't want to forget, but it is often shrugged off by us dads as a lot of fuss about nothing - an attitude which can, possibly, betray something of what we feel about the role itself. On Mother's day we tell mothers how great they are and on Father's day we tell fathers what they need to do to be great fathers - it's almost as if a mother "automatically" becomes great while a father must continually work at it! 

There are a number of "description" given of a father:-

• a person who growls when he feels good and laughs very loud when he's scared.

• a person who gets very angry when the school reports aren't as good as he thinks they should be.

• a person who hurries away from the breakfast table, off to the arena which is sometimes called an office to tackle the dragon with three heads: weariness, work, and monotony.

• a person who gives his daughter to a man who isn't nearly good enough so he can have grandchildren that are better than anyone else's.

Someone has said (and I believe it is true) that "A Boy loves his mother, but he follows his father." That places a tremendous responsibility on fathers.  God truly is the most wonderful Father of all!  The fact that He would love the unworthy, save them by His grace and adopt them into His family proves this.  Add to this the fact that He looks out for His children and takes care of them in spectacular fashion.  I am glad that He is my Father today!

Can we honestly say that we are saved by the grace of God?  Do we know that He is our Father and we are His children.  If we can’t say that, then we need to come to Him right now and call on Him. If we will, He will save us!  He can help us get all our priorities in their proper order.

If we have needs in our lives and need help; there is no better place to bring those needs than to God the Father Himself.  He invites us to come before Him and get the help we need right now.  If we want to know God as our Father and know how wonderful He is, we need to bow at His feet and tell Him just how we feel about Him.  I have a sneaking suspicion that He might like that!

Used with permission Messages with Meaning (21/06/20)