Windows On The Soul

Over the last few years, a certain retailer has adopted furry bears as their symbol of Christmas. Despite their obvious marketing mercenary intent, Christmas is a good time to remind us of Gal.6:2 , " ...to bear one-another's burdens, and thus fulfil the law of Christ ". However, as we read further, Gal.6:5 gives an almost contradictory directive to " bear our own burdens ". As we read Paul's letters elsewhere, we discover the reason - certain Christians at that time, in anticipation of Christ's imminent return, gave up working themselves, and essentially lived off the charity of their fellow Christians. But this is not the "law of Christ" - we have no 'right' to take, but we all have the responsibility to Bear and Share . The 'socialist' says " What's yours is mine ", but the Christian says " What's mine is yours ". To the economic rationalist, the outcome might be the same in either case, but t...

Among the many miracles of construction of the human body, is the wonderful structure of bones, muscles, flesh and skin. Without bones, we would be mere blobs of flesh, unable to stand or move. Without flesh and muscles, the bones would collapse into a heap. Although each individual bone is rigid, the skeleton being a jointed structure, is not rigid. It relies on pairs of muscles and sinews connecting pairs of jointed bones, with opposing muscles maintaining perfectly balanced tension. Further, the flesh and skin cover the harsh, hard bones, with the soft, flexible, cuddly exterior to the world. Paul's analogy of the body to the church, in many ways also applies to our individual spiritual "bodies". We must have a skeleton of doctrine, rigid in part, but jointed and movable, kept strong and in balance by the paradoxes of Righteousness and Mercy. Then our doctrine must be clothed with the warm, soft, tender "flesh" of love as our face to the external world. --...

I was saddened during the week to receive the following prayer request through the International Christian Leadership electronic network. This Elder's Church has been involved for about 2 years in outreach to chronically mentally ill patients at a home, bringing residents to worship services. Some had become members. However, a fair number of the core Church members felt uncomfortable and threatened. Consequently, the Church "Session" voted to exclude these disabled members from worship. The carers have taken to conducting special mid-week services at the home. But how does one tell these people that they cannot go to "their" Church to worship any-more? This from the land of "free speech" and "freedom of religion". Please pray for this elder and his faithful band of carers. Also pray for the other members, that they might understand the " Acceptable year of the Lord". ----xxxXxxx---- Jn.8:7 " He that is without sin a...

What a paradoxical metaphor Peter uses ( 1 Ptr.2:4-5 ) - "Living Stones"! "Stones" conjures thoughts of hardness, solidness, deadness: the very antithesis of "Living". Yet in the hands of God, the master builder, the passive "stone" is chosen and fitted into the correct place in the building of His spiritual temple.  Just as Jesus " the living stone rejected by man as worthless but chosen by God as valuable " submitted to God's plan, right to the cross and the grave, so we are called to obedience. Just as no two stones are exactly the same, so we all have our own shape and niche into which we fit - to one the door-step, to another the lintel, another the underground foundation, yet another the carved capping stone.  Then in the beauty of the whole, the very stones "will proclaim the wonderful acts of God". ----xxxXxxx---- Ps.118:22 "The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most...

" Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone " - this is the philosophy of the world - of "fair weather friends"! But Christians are called to march to the beat of a different drum. We are called to bear one-another's burdens for this is the "law of Christ". This is true religion. We even have Jesus' verbatim statement - " This is my command, that you love one-another ". But let's look at this from the side of the burdened - don't we all have our various burdens? Don't we pray to God for strength, healing, courage, support, encouragement, faith etc. Yet our Lord has commanded that these are the very things that we are to share with each other. Could I be so bold as to suggest that the answers to many of our prayers will/should come through the love of a fellow believer? Have you been the answer to some-ones prayers this week? " Lord, open my ears to hear your call, and my eyes to see you beckoning. Help me...

Said the robin to the sparrow, "I would really like to know Why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so." Said the sparrow to the robin, "I think that it must be. They have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me." Thanks Carol D. for this quote. We were privileged in the past week to again witness the miracle of birth with the arrival of a litter of 8 puppies. Our concerns about whether the rather immature mother would cope with her 1st litter, were quite unfounded. Seeing her hovering over her "brood" then gently settle down and gather them all in to herself, and the very protective growl when we got too close, told us that she would protect them. The same expression is used of the Holy Spirit "brooding" (moving) over creation ( Gen.1:2 ). When the Holy Spirit is called our "comforter", it is not the comfort of an acquaintance, but the deep feeling of a "parent". Thank God this week for his continu...

As we think of mother's today, the primary images we have are of giving birth to life, of nurturing and tending, of the earliest formative years, of learning all our basic life skills - talking, walking, feeding ourselves, and a fundamental sense of love. In our spiritual life, Jesus is the Prince of Life ( Acts 3:15 ), in fact He is Life itself ( Jhn.14:6 ). It is by the power of His resurrection life that we are born again. Our sustenance comes from the very word of God ( Deu.8:3 ), in fact Jesus is called the Bread of Life ( Jhn.6:32 ). He tends, guides and protects us like a shepherd of young lambs ( Jhn.10:11 and 1 Ptr.2:25 ). He teaches us that our spiritual talk should be in truth and love ( Eph.4:15,21 ). Then as our spiritual walk matures, it is the word of God that lights our pathways ( Ps.119:105 ). But fundamentally, it is through Jesus that we learn the full depth and breadth of true love, even greater and more wonderful than the love we learnt on our mother...