The Centre of your life.

Any serious student, or even reader, of the Bible will be aware that the Centre of that single Book - that is a library of books - is One Person, the Lord Jesus, the Christ (Messiah) of God. What many do not realise is that He may also be the Centre of our lives. How may this be? Simply by believing in Him. John writes: "But these [signs] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name." (John 20:30-31). What does this mean?

First of all it concerns eternal life. There is a common misunderstanding that "eternal life" is "everlasting" life - life that goes on, and on, and on. Greek mythology lets us know how tragic that would be! The story is told of the young Greek "goddess" who fell in love with a mortal, and wanted to be with him forever. So she went to Zeus (head of the Greek pantheon) and asked that he be granted everlasting life. Her wish was granted, and she went off as happy as could be. For many years, all was well, but then the couple realised their mistake. The "goddess" remained youthful, beautiful, and full of vigour. Her mortal partner grew older and older, and more and more frail, but was destined never to die! 

Eternity is not "endless time". It is "timelessness". [I deal more fully with this in my book "Great Words of the Faith"]. You see, time is a created entity, and has both a beginning and end. Eternity is the "dimension" in which the Creator God "resides". And eternal life is, in fact, a totally different life that, in our mortal lives, is beyond our comprehension. What we do know is that is promised to all who have come to the Lord Jesus, in repentance and faith. 

Without the Lord Jesus, we have no hope of heaven. Paul reminds us that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), and we are all sinners. We have broken God's moral law, and deserve nothing but His wrath and punishment.

John, commenting on Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, writes: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). Note the tense of the final verb! It's in the present tense. In other words, as soon as we accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we receive the very life of Almighty God. That is being "born again". It's not just new life, it's a whole new attitude to life in our physical, mortal bodies. It's not the oftimes artificial, unstable, life that the world offers, but a life full of purpose and peace, and joy.

So Jesus can be the centre of your life, and in your death. I commend Him to you.

Love is in the air!

It was a Facebook post put up by one of my former pupils.  The message was simple.  On a background of a rather vicious-looking cat, were the words: "If you're sad about being alone on Valentine's Day, just remember ... ... no-one loves you on the other days of the year, either"!

I "Liked" it - and then thought about it!  The songwriter assured us that it is love that makes the world go round.  There are more songs, and poems, written with love as their subject than on any other topic.  It's the theme of countless books and films.  It's the glue that holds society together.

How sad it would be, therefore, not to be loved at all - throughout the year!   Thankfully, that post has it completely wrong.  Every single one of us is loved, throughout our whole life.  I'm not, of course, referring to the Mills & Boon kind of soppy, sentimental 'love'.  I'm not even referring to the love of family and friends.  I'm referring to the love that is better described by the Greek word "agape".  It is nothing more, or less, than the love of Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is.   That love is directed towards each and every one of us.

It's a sacrificial love.  In what may well be the best-known quotation from the Bible, John records that "God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16).  The sinless, incarnate God, allowed Himself to be hung on a Roman cross, in order that He might pay the just penalty for your sins, and for mine!  That is sacrifice; that is love.

It's an unconditional love.  "... God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." writes Paul to the believers in Rome. (Rom 5:8).  God didn't set out conditions that we must meet in order to be loved by Him.  He simply loved, and loves, us - as we are!

It's an eternal love.  Eternity is greatly misunderstood by so many.  That's why I devote a full chapter to the concept in my book "Great Words of the Faith" (please see above!).  It is often viewed as 'endless time' when, in fact, it is timelessness!  The love of God is not constrained by time.  It is above and beyond time.

There are many other aspects of the Love of God that we could consider - but this is a blog post, not a sermon!  Just one question to ask - Do you know that love of God at a personal level?  Is it real to you, because you have responded to it with the love of your own heart?   If not, then why don't you do something about it now!  His love is so great that He will meet you more than half-way.

Don't be unloved - when the greatest love of all is reaching out to you!