The spread of Flu and Sin.

Today we are looking at Genesis 6 and the spread of sin among mankind. Despite what many claim and even desperately want to believe, Sin is both infectious and contagious and persistent too. Back in Chapter 3 of Genesis with the disobedience to God’s clear command to Adam and Eve, we saw Sin start out first as a suggestion, then as the act, then spread in the sharing or encouragement of Adam to join in this act of disobedience. Then in Chapter four we saw how this sin spread onto one of their Children, before eventually spreading to all mankind,
We note two things of interest here though Adam and Eve’s sin stopped with Arable. Able Choose not to sin and obeyed God. Yes it cost him his life at the hand of his brother, but he still refrained from sin and will be remembered forever more for it.
While Cain, on the other hand, indulged freely and spread that sin to others and also is for evermore remembered for it too.
It reminds me a bit of the current Flue epidemic going around at the moment. Some are unaffected by it and others are somewhat affected and some others completely laid low by it.
Sin is like that too. Some seem naturally immune to it (They are not, but that’s another story.) Whiles others are touched but not greatly harmed, and yet others are laid quite low by it, even unto death.
Now Doctors tell us that we all need to be careful about the Flu. And to take certain precautions, both not to get it, and also how not to spread it. We should do the same too with sin and contain it rather than spread it around to others.
Able did his bit to not spread it, but Cain willingly spread it. What about you now? Both with the Flu and with Sin? Are you doing every thing possible to stop its spread, or are you, even if by your inaction, actually spreading it further and further?
Again something for all of us to think on during our quiet times with the Lord.

Learn from Life experiences and get right with God right now!

Well, today’s topic is called, “Learn from Life experiences and get right with God right now!
But do we ever really learn from the life experiences of others? Or do we always have to experience them ourselves, even if only in some small way, before we finally get right with God Now?
Fortunately for us these lessons for right living & learned the hard way by others, have been recorded for us in the Bible for us to learn from. To learn from and thus to avoid all the pitfalls of others who have gone before us and to emulate or copy the good experiences for ourselves. Thus learn what to do and what not to do, from the experiences of others who have experienced life in its fullness and rawness. Learn so that we don’t make similar mistakes to them and repeat their bad experiences instead of enjoying their Good ones.
But do we really learn from these examples put before us in the Word of God? And if not, why not?
I fear that it could be largely because most who call themselves Christians, don’t really know the word of God clearly.
Sure, many can recite passages and even whole chapters off in their head, but how many actually understand what they are reading or reciting? And how many understand these words within the whole context of the Bible and not just taking “bits ’n’ pieces” here and there and fitting the word of God to their lives, instead of fitting their lives to the word of God?
Studying Luke’s gospel has been a revelation to me in seeing how every passage is connected in some way to those that precede and follow it. And the same is also true how each chapter is connected in themes to those, which precede and follow it.
So please, please, please, read your bibles both regularly and read whole chapters and whole books and not just verses here and there, no matter how special they are to you. Again, let us all read the whole word of God in its context and not just read bits ‘n’ pieces of it.
Your fellow servant in this Word:

Carry your own lantern.

While down the street recently I came across a sign outside a shop that said, “ Carry your own lantern and you will never need to be afraid of the Dark.”
Very good advice I feel, for not only will you never need to be afraid of the dark, but you can also provide light for others as well, So instead of always being dependant of others to show or lead the way for you, you can do so by yourself if necessary.
Yes, with you own light, you can also choose for yourself which is the right road, rather than being forced to follow someone else’s road right or wrong! Or having to wait till someone else with a light of their own and heading your way, comes along.
Of course carrying a lamp of your own is one thing, carrying the right one, is another. As we come to this Christmas Season, let us all remember He who was born to be the light of the whole world.
And remembering Him alone, let each one of us take hold of this Light of the world, as our very own, so that we not only always have “The Light” with us, but so that we can always see and find the road or path down which we are meant to be headed. And then head in that right direction too. And hopefully even guide others in that direction too.
Will you do that? Will you carry the light of the world for yourself from this point on and also use it to guide others to Christ too?

To Equivocate or not?

I have hesitated and been quite ambiguous and unclear as to whether I should write about September 21st 2009’s word of the day, “Equivocate.
To equivocate is literally to call equally one thing or the other. To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or to avoid committing oneself to anything definite.
In other words to equivocate is to try and avoid making a decision. Or committing yourself to an action, you are either unsure of or are afraid will turn around and bite you irregardless of what decision you make. Hence you equivocate in responding or answering, hoping the problem will go away and you can avoid committing yourself.
Sometimes this works with no real cost to you or the others involved, but sometimes your equivocating can cost badly. Either cost you or others, but still cost greatly. So if you find yourself in a position of equivocating where further equivocating is simply putting of the inevitable. Or worse likely to be costly to someone, whether you or anyone else, climb down of the fence and make a commitment.
After all remember James 4:17. “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.”
So stop hurting others and start doing what you know is right and start doing it right now!

God’s presence at all times.

Recently I was asked this question: “do you think we always have the same amount of God's presence with us or do you think that God draws closer to us at certain times and then "moves away".
Different people may have different opinions on this but Jesus clearly said, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28: 20b. (NRSV). So, as I accept that Jesus is part of the trinity and Godhead, I thus believe that God is present with us always.
And always means always. And even if we don’t always see or experience His presence, that doesn’t mean He is not there. After all, how many times have you been in a room and not seen somebody else also in that room, all because you had your back to them?
It is the same with God. We often don’t see Him, not because He has moved, but because we have either turned our backs to Him, or allowed other things to distract us, or even allowed other people to block our view of Him. Again, how many times have you been in a crowded place, and lost track of the person you were with, because you either stopped to look at something without telling them or you sped ahead of them and allowed other people to come between you and them?
Many people today believe God is not there or has even left them, because they, they and not He, have either turned their backs on where God is, or they have allowed other things to distract them from God, or they have allowed other people to come between them and God.
So what about you today? Are you fully aware of God’s presence in your life now, or have you too allowed yourself to be distracted from where God is at?
Over to you now for reflection.

Incarnadine.

The Word of the Day for Friday, October 2, 2009 was a real doozy. Not only had I never heard of it before, but upon reading it’s meaning quickly, figured I would probably never would use it anyway. What about you? Would you be likely to use a word with the following meanings, in any likelihood?
“Incarnadine \in-KAR-nuh-dyn\, adjective:
1. Having a fleshy pink color.
2. Red; blood-red.
transitive verb:
1. To make red or crimson.”
However, upon reading further, I found it is from the same Latin rootstock as three words in very common usage in some circles today, including mine.
One common and known to almost anyone with even just a rudimentary Knowledge of Garden plants and flowers. And the other two, although probably not used as much, are common to most religious folk and specifically Christians.
So, to you gardeners and Christians out there today, can you tell me what these three relatively common words (with totally different applications today) are?
Maybe the following will help you out?
“Incarnadine comes from the Italian ‘incarnatino’, which came from the Latin incarnato, meaning something incarnate, made flesh, from in + caro, carn-, "flesh." It is related to carnation, etymologically the flesh-colored flower; incarnate, "in the flesh; made flesh"; and carnal, "pertaining to the body or its appetites."
So, although like me you had probably no idea what ‘Incarnadine’ meant and unlikely to ever use it in its proper form, you have moist likely seen and heard, if not used, its related words. You may not use carnal and incarnate as much as I would, but I am pretty sure you have all seen a Carnation Flower before, even if not in its original incarnadine colouring!
Not sure how the above will help you today, but it has helped me to understand where some of the common words I use have come form and truly gives more feeling to Christ becoming incarnate or in the Flesh, particularly with the blood red connotations too!

What is Sin to You?

As a (Claytons*) Preacher, one occasionally hears all kinds of definitions of what sin is. To some, there are even big sins and little sins. So what is sin?
According to the Greek word translated Sin in our Bibles, it is an archery term and simply means missing the mark or object aimed at. So sin is simply missing at achieving whatever it is that you were aiming at. So, you have either hit your target or you have missed your target. So there is no real difference in a little miss or a big miss is there? A miss is a miss and that is all there is to it, isn’t it? And it is the same with sin. Whether small or big sin is still sin!
Now, as to what is sin to you, the best definition of that that I have come across, is in the Bible in James chapter 4, verse 17. There it says, “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.” (NRSV).
Really quite simple isn’t it? Anything that you know is right, but YOU don’t do it, is a sin for you. Yes even though it may not be a sin for anyone else, if you know what is right but don’t do it, it is a sin for you. As you have missed what you aimed for.
So in closing what are you currently aiming at but missing and what will you do about it now?

*Claytons: Non-alcoholic drink substitute. Catchphrase: “the drink you have when you're not having a drink.”