So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen.
That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved.[1]
Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers—none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God. There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God. You have been made right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you [2]
It is clear that God regards homosexuality as a sin, but there are many things actively promoted in today’s western society that are also called sin in the bible. In God’s eyes it is a sin to kill an unborn child, it is also a sin to hold on to more than one’s share of this world’s goods when people are starving.
Jesus said that if a man has two loaves of bread he should give to the man (or woman) who has no bread. If a man has two coats he should give one to the man (or woman) who has no coat.
If you neighbour shouts abuse at you over the fence, it is a sin to shout abuse back at him. Jesus said we should return good for evil, blessing for cursing, we should love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us.
If you know someone who is sick and lonely and do not go to visit them, this is a sin. If a man knows something good to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Truly there is none righteous the only righteous man who ever lived was Jesus. We all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. But the Lord has laid our iniquity upon Jesus. Like the good shepherd that he is, Jesus has taken our sin into his own body, and carried to the cross. If we turn to Jesus and follow him, we will hear his voice speaking to us in our hearts. He will take us up in his arms and carry us home rejoicing.
This is the good news. Not only will our sins be forgiven they will be cast into the depth of the sea. As far as the east is from the west – so far are forgiven sins removed from us. Not only does Jesus forgive us but by the power of the Holy Spirit he gives us power to forsake our sin, and live holy lives to his glory.
[1] Romans 1:24 – 27 New Living Translation
[2] 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11New Living Translation
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
A Mother's Wisdom
A Mother’s Wisdom
I have been reading the biography of a father and the wisdom he passed on to his son[1]. It got me thinking, a son learns most from his father, but a daughter learns from her mother. This prompts me to write of the things my mother taught me.
When I was a toddler I helped make the beds. We played lumps. Mother would throw the sheet over me and feel me through it, rubbing her hands over the sheet. “What’s this lump?” her hands explored my shape as I collapsed in a giggling heap on the bed. Later I helped smooth the sheets and blankets and turn down the top.
Mother taught all seven of her children cooking. We began by making “sunbeams”. We mixed together the sugar butter and eggs, then we rolled out the dough, spread it with jam and rolled it up into a big sausage shape. Then we cut the whole thing into slices, put the slices onto the greased oven tray and watched while it disappeared into the oven of the wood stove.[2] Yum! How we loved them! We loved to help in the kitchen and progressed to making custard, gravy, milk puddings, boiled fruit cake and pumpkin scones.
We learned not to be afraid of storms. This was a great achievement on my mother’s part, as she herself was terrified of them. Not until we had children of our own did she admit to this. Then she told us how, when she was small, she had been looking from the window when a bolt of lightning had struck the fence where a group of horses was standing. There was a huge clap of thunder and at the same instant all the horses fell down dead.
As a child, knowing nothing of this, I loved storms. “Go and watch the storm from the window,” my mother would say. I realise now that there were no animals in view from that window, and that she wanted to divert our attention from herself. She went on with the chores in seeming calm. I caught the note of excitement in her voice but I never guessed at the effort it took for her to still the trembling in her hands as she peeled those potatoes for tea.
By example Mother taught us love. As the younger children arrived one by one we helped in many small ways with their care and counted it a great privilege to be able to “nurse the baby” as we sat on the floor carefully surrounded with pillows.
At bed-time Mother tucked us in and taught us to pray before we slept. I did the same with my own children and now I see my daughter praying with each of her little ones as she settles them for the night.
Church attendance was another thing our mother taught us. In the early days on the farm, there was no church near enough so she gathered us around her for “Sunday School” – simple lessons with drawing and scripture verses to learn by heart. Later in town we went to church and Sunday School, and still Mother encouraged us to memorise Scripture, Psalms and poetry. The twenty-third psalm has helped me in many tough places in my life.
One of the best lessons she passed on was one she learned from her own father, a godly man I never met. As a teenager my mother had rebelled against going to church, since the preacher at that time had been discovered in immoral conduct.
“I’m not going to church while he is preaching!” she declared.
“Well,” replied her father, “I don’t go to church to worship the minister!”
Mum went. It is another lesson that has stood me in good stead!
Last of all Mother taught us not to fear old age. She herself, at ninety-three years of age was still visiting and helping the “old folk” in her neighbourhood. Her favourite quote was from Browning:-
“Grow old along with me
The best is yet to be
The last of life for which the first was made.
Youth shows but half, trust God, nor be afraid.”
[1] Big Russ by Timothy Russert
[2] I suspect that this recipe was chosen because there was plenty that small hands could do without help and it kept us happily occupied for some time.
I have been reading the biography of a father and the wisdom he passed on to his son[1]. It got me thinking, a son learns most from his father, but a daughter learns from her mother. This prompts me to write of the things my mother taught me.
When I was a toddler I helped make the beds. We played lumps. Mother would throw the sheet over me and feel me through it, rubbing her hands over the sheet. “What’s this lump?” her hands explored my shape as I collapsed in a giggling heap on the bed. Later I helped smooth the sheets and blankets and turn down the top.
Mother taught all seven of her children cooking. We began by making “sunbeams”. We mixed together the sugar butter and eggs, then we rolled out the dough, spread it with jam and rolled it up into a big sausage shape. Then we cut the whole thing into slices, put the slices onto the greased oven tray and watched while it disappeared into the oven of the wood stove.[2] Yum! How we loved them! We loved to help in the kitchen and progressed to making custard, gravy, milk puddings, boiled fruit cake and pumpkin scones.
We learned not to be afraid of storms. This was a great achievement on my mother’s part, as she herself was terrified of them. Not until we had children of our own did she admit to this. Then she told us how, when she was small, she had been looking from the window when a bolt of lightning had struck the fence where a group of horses was standing. There was a huge clap of thunder and at the same instant all the horses fell down dead.
As a child, knowing nothing of this, I loved storms. “Go and watch the storm from the window,” my mother would say. I realise now that there were no animals in view from that window, and that she wanted to divert our attention from herself. She went on with the chores in seeming calm. I caught the note of excitement in her voice but I never guessed at the effort it took for her to still the trembling in her hands as she peeled those potatoes for tea.
By example Mother taught us love. As the younger children arrived one by one we helped in many small ways with their care and counted it a great privilege to be able to “nurse the baby” as we sat on the floor carefully surrounded with pillows.
At bed-time Mother tucked us in and taught us to pray before we slept. I did the same with my own children and now I see my daughter praying with each of her little ones as she settles them for the night.
Church attendance was another thing our mother taught us. In the early days on the farm, there was no church near enough so she gathered us around her for “Sunday School” – simple lessons with drawing and scripture verses to learn by heart. Later in town we went to church and Sunday School, and still Mother encouraged us to memorise Scripture, Psalms and poetry. The twenty-third psalm has helped me in many tough places in my life.
One of the best lessons she passed on was one she learned from her own father, a godly man I never met. As a teenager my mother had rebelled against going to church, since the preacher at that time had been discovered in immoral conduct.
“I’m not going to church while he is preaching!” she declared.
“Well,” replied her father, “I don’t go to church to worship the minister!”
Mum went. It is another lesson that has stood me in good stead!
Last of all Mother taught us not to fear old age. She herself, at ninety-three years of age was still visiting and helping the “old folk” in her neighbourhood. Her favourite quote was from Browning:-
“Grow old along with me
The best is yet to be
The last of life for which the first was made.
Youth shows but half, trust God, nor be afraid.”
[1] Big Russ by Timothy Russert
[2] I suspect that this recipe was chosen because there was plenty that small hands could do without help and it kept us happily occupied for some time.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Snowflakes
We have been cutting “snowflakes” for a children’s holiday program. We fold the paper in half, in thirds and in half again. With scissors we cut holes in all the folds and scallop the edges. Each time I unfold the finished “snowflake” I marvel—the radiating pattern is a thing of beauty, no two alike.
Snowflakes, real ones, form when clouds freeze. Each one has its own unique intricate pattern of ice crystals a beauty unseen unless examined carefully with a magnifier.
So it is in all creation –each plant and animal produces its own kind, yet no two are quite identical. For this reason too, every person on this globe is special: a one-off unique creation, precious in the eye of the Creator.
Snowflakes, real ones, form when clouds freeze. Each one has its own unique intricate pattern of ice crystals a beauty unseen unless examined carefully with a magnifier.
So it is in all creation –each plant and animal produces its own kind, yet no two are quite identical. For this reason too, every person on this globe is special: a one-off unique creation, precious in the eye of the Creator.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
