A modern prodigal!

When my wife and I are asked about any specific situation, my wife will usually reply before I do.  "If you want the facts," she will say, "ask me.  If you want a story, ask Brian!"

I cannot complain!  She is absolutely correct.  I am a storyteller.  However, one of the greatest - if not the greatest! - storytellers was Jesus of Nazareth.  For many of the lessons He taught, He used stories.  For the next few posts, I would like to share some of them, and try to discover their relevance for we who live in the 21^st century.

Perhaps the best-known of Jesus' stories, or parables, is that commonly referred to as the Parable of the Prodigal Son (if you are not familiar with it, then I recommend looking it up – Luke 15).  The word 'prodigal' means 'wasteful', so the title isn't altogether inaccurate.  However, I would suggest that a better title is the parable the Parable of the Loving Father!

If we were to place the story in a 21^st century setting, the younger son might leave home - a very comfortable home in which he even had servants to look after him - and, complete with his future inheritance, set off to be a whizz-kid in the City, working the financial markets. He would purchase a really nice "bachelor flat"; a fast car; trendy clothing; and dine in the finest restaurants. He would throw parties for his new-found friends, and would be the "guy to be seen with" for a lot of physically attractive young women. Then would come a financial disaster, similar to that of 2008!   After that crash, he would find that his credit card was declined; that his bank balance had dropped to nothing; and that his friends no longer wanted to know him.  He might be able to get no more than a zero-hours contract, at less than the minimum wage, doing a job that he hated, and that he felt was below him!  It would be then that he might come to his senses, realise that even the servants in his father's household were better off than he, and decide to go back, apologise to his father, and seek employment in his father's service.

The wonderful thing in the story is, of course, that the father, whom he has treated in such a shabby fashion, should not only accept him back, but give him a place of honour as his son. Indeed, many would claim that the usual title given to the parable - that of the Prodigal (i.e. wasteful) Son, should be replaced by the title of the Loving Father.

That's why the parable is still relevant today.  A parable is simply a lesson in story form.  And the main lesson in this parable is that Almighty God welcomes back men and women, and boys and girls, who recognise that they are not even able to maintain the standards they set themselves, let alone the standards that He has set.  Let's face it, how many of your New Year resolutions are you still keeping?! However, if we genuinely seek God, and accept the salvation that, according to the New Testament teaching, He offers through Jesus and His sacrificial death at Calvary, then we are welcomed back and made right in His sight.

You want to be right with God, the heavenly Father?  Come to Calvary!

A new year - what may it hold?!

Yesterday, as I searched for a parking space in the West End of the city of Glasgow (finding the crock of gold at the end of a rainbow is marginally easier!) that I noticed the very large sign that proclaimed "The Messiah has come"! Well, as I had just celebrated the annual Christmas season, when many of us remember the incarnation of Almighty God as a helpless infant, more than 2,000 years ago, I couldn't disagree. However, what was surprising was that the sign was on a building that is used as a mosque! It also had a picture of a bearded male who, it would appear, was the "messiah" to whom reference was made.

A few days ago, a newspaper made the statement: "The Bible indicates that the Rapture could come at any time and you will not be expecting it, ..." With that statement, I had no problem at all. My difficulty is with those who claim to know the date and time of the Rapture!

At this time of year, many people make predictions about the year that is about to commence (and has already commenced in some parts of the world!). However, many predictions have been shown to be totally wrong. For example, almost 150 years ago, the Chief Engineer of the British Post Office, stated that while Americans may have need of the new-fangled telephone, the British had no such need - because there were plenty of message-boys! One wonders what that gentleman's reaction would be today when, it seems, no-one is able to go anywhere without a mobile telephone!

Another prediction from the past (the only ones that we can truly 'judge'!) was that "Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures, after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." It's hard to believe that those words were spoken by Daryl Zanuck, a film producer and co-founder of 20th Century Fox!

We are living, of course, in a time of greater change than has been experienced in, almost certainly, the recorded history of mankind. As we look around, we are made aware of great changes in the natural world - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis. In social life, I am informed that one's birth-gender is irrelevant, as one may "choose" one's gender! The outcome of that kind of change is biological men competing in women's sports events; biological men using female changing rooms; insisting on being transferred to female prisons. I see the political élite being challenged by the "ordinary" people. I am reminded of the words of the hymn-writer: "Change and decay in all around I see" - and I wonder what Henry Francis Lyte would think in our contemporary situation!

However, there is that which is unchangeable! The author of the New Testament Letter to Hebrews disciples of Jesus noted that: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8). In  the Tanakh (the Old Testament), we read the words of Almighty God as given to the prophet Malachi: "I the Lord do not change." (3:6). 

The other "tradition" for many, at this time of year, is that of making "new year resolutions"! The only such resolution that I ever made, and kept for more than a few weeks, was many years ago when I resolved never to make another new year resolution!

If you are going to make a resolution for 2019, and have not yet accepted the salvation from sin, and sins, that is offered through the Lord Jesus, the Christ, may I encourage you to come to Him, in repentance and faith; receive the new life that is available through Him; and discover that His words are true: "I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matt 28:20).

A very happy New Year to all.

Resolutions!

Only twice in my lifetime have I managed to keep a New Year Resolution for more than a few weeks. On one of those occasions, I managed to keep my garage tidy for a little more than four months.  The second resolution was made many years ago - and I am still keeping it!  I resolved never to make any more New Year Resolutions!

Having said that, there are certain things that, for the disciple of Jesus, should surely be daily resolutions.  These resolutions ought to be easier to keep, because we have the promised help of God the Holy Spirit to assist us.  So what kind of resolutions might be in order?

Perhaps the first would be to spend more time, alone, with the Lord.  It's what we used to call our "Quiet Time", although nowadays, I talk more about my "Private Devotions".  Whatever the name given, it involves taking time to draw aside from the busy-ness of modern life, and spend it in reading God's written Word, the Bible; and in coming before Him in prayer.  How long should one spend?  That is between the believer and the Lord.  However, I know that I spend a lot longer nowadays than I did when I was younger.  Some, of course, would claim that they simply don't have the time to pray.  I would respond with the story of the man who said that he prayed for two hours every morning - unless he knew that he was going to have a particularly busy day.  In that case, he prayed for three hours!  Of course, spiritual exercises are like physical exercises.  If I have never run any appreciable distance before, I don't start by running a marathon!  I run as far as I can - but I keep increasing the distance.

The second resolution would be to develop a passion for holiness.  This is a word (there's a whole chapter on it in my book: Great Words of the Christian Faith - see post on Sept 20th) that basically means "separate".  In other words, as a disciple of Jesus, I am expected to be different!  My over-riding concern will be to please Him.  I'll ask Him about going to certain places; watching certain programmes/films; consuming certain items.  I won't always get it right.  As a sinful human being (albeit one who has been saved by the grace of God) I will fall.  But if I allow Him to, He will keep working in me, and on me, as He makes me more like Himself.  It's a process called sanctification (and there's a full chapter, in the book, on that, as well!).  Not every believer is called to be an evangelist.  However, whether we like it, or not, each of us is a witness!  The only question is - "Am I a good witness; or a bad one?!"

Just one more possible resolution - and that would be to be more faithful in my giving.  If I have handed my life over to the Lord; if I have accepted His Lordship in my life; if I am seeking to live in submission to Him; then that includes my finances.  The Biblical pattern is, as far as I can make out, of a tithe (10%) plus a love-gift (that is between me and the Lord).  As with the time spent in prayer and Bible reading (that will progress to Bible study!) there are those who will claim that this is impossible.  However, I think it was Billy Graham who once made the point that 90% (or less!) with God's blessing goes further than 100% without it.  I can certainly testify to the truth of that from my own experience!

Just three resolutions!  However, if everyone who claims to be a disciple of Jesus were to make, and keep, them, what a difference it would make in their own lives - and in the lives of so many others.

A blesséd, peaceful, and God-honouring New Year to each and all.