Growing through adversity!

A number of my friends on the social network, Facebook, post many beautiful pictures and video-clips of nature in all of its beauty. However, that same nature wonderfully testifies that adverse conditions are often valuable in the development of some types of trees and other plants.  While fire is one of the greatest enemies of a forest - ask people living in California, and certain parts of Australia, for example - it actually helps certain kinds of seeds to grow. I am reliably informed that the cones of some pine trees do not open until they are touched by the flames.

This can also be true for the disciple of Jesus, whose faith and character are often strengthened by life's trials. Some of the strongest believers of whom I know are in what we refer to as "the persecuted church"; and it was the early church father, Tertullian who, in his book "Apologetics", claimed that "The blood of the martyrs is the seedbed of the church".  Certainly, persecution quickly rids the church of nominality. No-one who does not have a true saving faith in the Lord Jesus is going to admit to being "a Christian" if his/her physical life is at stake. Alternatively, the true disciple looks "... forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Heb 11:10). 

The story is told of a distinguished botanist who was exiled from his native land, but who obtained work as a gardener. On one occasion, in the middle of winter, his employer received a valuable plant but was unfamiliar with its nature and needs. He placed it in the hothouse where, under the glare of the sun, it began to wilt. As it appeared to be dying, the new gardener was instructed to examine it. Quickly identifying its origin, he explained to his employer: "This is an arctic plant, which cannot possibly thrive in this tropical heat."  He then took the plant outside and exposed it to the frost, whilst heaping ice around the pot.  Before long, the plant regained its health, and flourished.

Christian character is developed in many ways. Some believers, when they are placed in the comfortable and sheltered atmosphere of earthly warmth, pleasure, and luxury, begin to lose their spiritual vitality. On the other hand, if they are faced with the icy winds of life, and chilling temptations, they soon revive and renew their strength.  Others find, in the heat of trials, the pressures need to awaken them to a true sense of values. Paul wrote: "... we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us." (Rom 5:3-5). 

It all depends on the root system.  Whether it be a plant, or a believer, it is the life that is in the roots that makes the difference.  So Paul prayed for his brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, in Ephesus: "... that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God." (Eph 3:17-19; emphasis added); while his exhortation to the Colossians was: "As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." (Col 2:6-7; emphasis added). 

So, if you are a disciple of Jesus reading this, don't shrink from the hardships and difficulties of life. By the grace of God, you may gain spiritual stature, even through adversity - and all to the glory of His Name. 

Power v. Pardon!

I have just looked at some amazing photographs of butterflies and some other insects, on Facebook.   The colours; the designs; in one case, the transparency; of those little creatures is beyond verbal description.  When we look at the world of nature is is, indeed, full of wise design.  The bird is a clever architect; the beaver a skilful builder of dams; the silkworm is a superb weaver; and even the spider is a remarkable net-maker!  There are also, in the natural world, many intricate checks and balances that speak of a great, directing, Intelligence.

But not only is there great beauty, and order in the world that we experience, there is also great power.  The earth quakes on the ocean bed - and a might tsunami surges towards land where it destroys all in its path, for sometimes miles inland.  A tornado rips through a town, and leaves only havoc in its wake.  Wind and wave have created many strange formations in the rocks that are all over the planet.

Of course, we may also look out from Earth, and marvel at the night sky - with its thousands of stars visible to the naked eye; and millions more that require optical assistance in the form of great telescopes.  We are informed of the mind-blowing distances between these stars, and from the Earth - distances so vast that they are measured, not in miles, or nautical miles, or kilometres, but in "light years".  A light-year, of course, is the distance that light travels in one earth year - at a speed of more than 186,000 earth miles every second!  That gives us a measurement of almost six trillion miles!

However, while God's grandeur, knowledge, and superior mind are displayed in the wonders of His creation, they reveal neither His heart nor His full personality - nor do they tell mere mortals like you and me, how we may ever make contact with such an all-powerful Being!  Nature, in all of its vastness, and beauty, and power says nothing about the need of sinners such as you and me - pardon; forgiveness; the removal of guilt.

I have a quotation in an old set of Daily Bible Reading Notes that reads: "Not a whisper of forgiveness comes to us from the blue heavens above us, or from any of the works of the Almighty around us.  His infinite, all-pervading Spirit cannot be comprehended.  The thought of this powerful Being brings fear to our hearts.  But when God comes near in the Person of the perfect Man, speaking of love, pardon, and adoption into His family, then the guilty dread flees away, and the love which casts out fear takes its place.  Now this is what we see in Jesus Christ - God manifested in the flesh." (Robert Boyd; emphasis added).

"Can't I worship God in the green fields, or on the rolling waves, or in the grandeur of the mountains?", someone might ask.  I suppose that you can - but it is unlikely that you will!  For centuries, the inhabitants of parts of the African continent sat at cannibalistic feasts surrounded by natural scenery that surpasses most of what you and I regularly experience, in beauty and in grandeur - yet nature, in all of its splendour did not lead them to the true God, the Creator, and Sustainer, of all that exists; the One Who, in the Persona (not a misprint - see my book on "Great Words", the chapter on The Trinity!) of the Son, came into this world, this planet Earth, this mere speck in the vastness of the universe, to die on a cross so that those who place their trust fully, and unreservedly, in Him, might be saved.  As I shared, yesterday morning, with some friends, "He made the Son of His love to be the object of His wrath, so that the objects of His wrath might become the sons of His love!"

Nature speaks of power; but it never speaks of pardon.  If you would know that forgiveness, you must come to Him, Who alone can meet your deepest need.

Druidry - the new religion.

It was one of those news items that isn't considered to be important enough to be put at the top of the programme, but that is considered to be quirky enough to get a mention towards the end!  Apparently, the Charity Commission in the U.K. have now recognised Druidry as a religion, and afforded the Druid Network charitable status!  The Commission says that the Network's work in promoting Druidry as a religion is in the public interest.

So what is Druidry?   Although its history in the British Isles goes back to pre-Christian times, it is very 'New Age'!  According to one article on the Druid Network web-site, "Druids work to build harmonious relationships with deities, ancestors, spirits of the land, animals, trees, rocks, rivers and humanity, both through ritual activity and through their everyday actions."  When I read that, I immediately thought of the inspired words of Paul, when he wrote to the disciples of Jesus in Rome about those who "... exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever!" (Rom 1:25; RSV).

However, what I found to be much more sinister was a peom on the same web-site.  Written by W.William Melnyk - otherwise known as OakWyse - one verse reads as follows:

"It was the smoke I saw first,
but then the serpentine smell of something scaley,
and then,
in the growing darkness,
the soft, insistent red glow of eyes.
And the warmth. The warmth."

My mind went to another passage of Scripture - "Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the YHWH Elohim had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?"  And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, '  But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons." (Gen 3:1-7; RSV).   And so, the relationship between Almighty God, the Creator, and the human beings whom He had created, was broken.

It was "... the serpentine smell of something scaley,"; and "... the soft, insistent red glow of eyes." that were the catalysts.  It seems to me that "... the great dragon ... that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world" (Rev 12:9; RSV) is still working hard to keep many away from the truth that is found in Christ Jesus.

Praise God that, thorugh that same Lord Jesus, and His atoning sacrifice at Calvary, the way is open for us to enter into a new relationship with God.  It still requires confession of our sinfulness; repentance of our sins; and a commitment to Him as not only Saviour, but also Lord.  But it is the Way - the only Way - to a life that continues even after this earthly life is over; continues in a dimension that is beyond our human understanding, as we "... sit with [the Father] in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus," (Eph 2:6; RSV).