I’ve only just a minute!

Photograph - Jon Tyson - Unsplash 

Photograph - Malvestida Magazine - Unsplash

Photograph - Maks Styazhkin - Unsplash 

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 could happen that you never envisaged and it changes everything. I’ll never forget when eleven year old Rhys Jones from 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 and 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. But 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. 

Imagine if someone knew all your thoughts?

Valantin Saljah - Unsplash 

Kevin Turcios - Unsplash 

We all have times in our lives when we feel that we are just cannot get it right. We all know the feeling of failure and not knowing quite what to do next. Maybe we even know what it is like to take the blame for something that we meant to do for good. Life is often frustrating. It is possible that we wish that people knew the truth about certain things or that they would understand the motives that we had for doing them.

Ukraine Visit Day 1

Back in Ukraine. It’s been four years since my last visit which was for a wedding of a couple we have come to know very well. I first visited Ukraine in 2007 and looking back things have changed considerably since then. I dare say that the villages across the countryside may have not changed much but the towns and cities have developed. Shopping malls, industrial and business complexes are popping up everywhere. Wi-fi is available in every petrol station, mall or commercial centre. Cafes and Coffee Shops are quite sophisticated, in fact more so than many equivalent venues in the UK. 

Life moves on but in this country the majority do not benefit from these developments, only the wealthy and the upwardly mobile.

God is described in the Bible as unchanging and constant but He is also always up to date. Hebrews 13:8 states that Jesus Christ is ‘the same yesterday, and today, and forever’. God says, about Himself in Malachi 3:6 ‘For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed’.

You see, we constantly change things hoping to improve them. That is because we are all marked by sin as Romans chapter 3 verse 23 states, ‘For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’.

God never changes as He cannot improve Himself; He is perfect and complete and in no need of improvement. 

This is the reason why God sent His Son into the world as John chapter three states: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John 3:15-21

My prayer is that you will be saved and changed into a person who glorifies God. 

Non-thinkers! Trendy or Terrible?

In the last week I have met a lot of people who are not prepared to think for themselves. They are following the current trend in our society to 'rubbish' belief in God and to ridicule the idea that there might be some validity to faith. If you are reading this blog you are probably not one of these people but you may come across them on a daily basis. Just remember that faith is only as good as the one in whom you trust. This is why it is so important to understand the integrity of the Bible and the historical basis of the facts stated therein. 

The Bible states in Psalm 118:8 'It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man'. (incidentally this is the central verse to the whole Bible when you divide it up by the number of chapters and verses - interesting and significant!). The Bible also states that it is better that your faith 'should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God'.

Will you dare to be different? Read the word of God today, the Bible. Start in the New Testament and read the four gospels. Discover the truth concerning the Son of God, Jesus, becoming man and dying 'for the ungodly', that's all of us, as we did not know God by nature and were disobedient to Him. He, the Lord Jesus, is worthy of your trust and he died to be your Saviour. 

Pray to him today, search for him in prayer and in reading the Bible. Admit your guilt before God and 'call upon the name of the Lord' and you will be saved. 

Taking time to think

For more helpful articles go to: Podcasts, Blogs and Videos

Most of us are guilty of not taking enough time to think. Last night in our church teaching meeting we were being reminded from 2 Timothy 2 that it is important to consider the teaching of the Bible and to remember, Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian then you, like me, need to build in time to your life to do this.

If you are not a Christian taking time out to consider Christianity is probably the most important bit of thinking that you will ever do in your lifetime. Isaiah the Jewish prophet writes in the Bible "come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be a as white as snow". God invites us to stop and consider and he is willing to wash us clean from the guilt of our sin. The New Testament confirms this fact - 'if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness'.

What do you think about that? What's the picture got to do with it? It's a tea room in Pitlochry which is very relaxing to visit. It reminded me that there are times when we need to stop...and think. Hope you do, don't tell my wife. She thinks I never stop!