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For those who are bi-lingual, I now have a second blog, in the French language, that publishes twice-monthly. Go to: https://crazyrevfr.blogspot.com/
Showing posts with label regrets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label regrets. Show all posts

5 Sept 2017

There's no time like the present!

Have you ever put off making a decision - and, later regretted having done so? I suspect that I am not alone in being able to look back over my life, and have some regrets. In Dr Luke's record of the acts of apostolic men, he tells of one particular man - a Roman governor named Felix.

"... Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.” Then he gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in custody but should have some liberty, and that none of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs. After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess; and he sent for Paul and heard him speak upon faith in Christ Jesus. And as he argued about justice and self-control and future judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present; when I have an opportunity I will summon you.” At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with him. But when two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison." (Acts 24:22-27).

This man, by all accounts, was notoriously ruthless in suppressing opposition. He was also avaricious, and was prepared to curry favour to gain cheap popularity. The historian, Tacitus, writes: "He exercised the power of king with the mind of a slave." Drusilla was his third wife - and she was already an adulteress before she grew out of her teens. It is quite likely that it was this renegade Jewess who prompted Felix to send for Paul. As Calvin comments: "apostates of that sort are tickled by a certain curiosity, rather than moved by a s sincere desire to learn." 

However, neither Felix nor Drusilla had bargained for the kind of talk that Paul gave in their presence. What the apostle knew they most need to hear was not at all welcomed by them, but filled Felix with alarm. Sadly, like so many who come under conviction of sin, by God the Holy Spirit, he postponed any action. "Go away for the present; when I have an opportunity I will summon you." As far as we know, that further opportunity never presented itself! This kind of delay is something against which God warns us in His written Word: "Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts ..." (Heb.3:15).

That decision is one that no individual can afford to postpone. 

We may also see, from Paul's words, that he preached a full Gospel! There is a contemporary danger of cheapening the Gospel message by painting only a part of the picture. Paul spoke, not only of faith in the Lord Jesus, the Christ; but also of justice (God's standard for mankind), self-control, and future judgement. He knew that it is only against this backcloth that the splendour of God's amazing grace may be seen in its true light.

In my personal devotions, I  am still reading in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus, given by Father God, to John. In what we know as chapter 6, we read these words of warning: "... I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?” " (vs.12-17).

Don't find yourself in that situation - come to the Son now, and know forgiveness of sin, and new life in Him. It's the most important decision that you will ever make!

12 Feb 2015

Regrets?

Tomorrow, DV, I will once again celebrate the day of my physical birth!  Okay, when I say "celebrate", I really mean "remember"!   No big party; no special meal; not even a cake!   Just my wee wife and me, here in the static, spending another evening together.

I've had quite a few of these birthday anniversaries and, as I look back over my life, I've had quite an interesting one.  Of course, as with (I would think) everyone else, I have a number of regrets.  There have been decisions made that I have wished I had not made; there have been choices made that I have wished I had not made; there have been things done that I wish that I had not done.

The other side of that is that there have been other decisions, choices, actions, that I have not regretted, and do not regret.  The most important of those was made just a few days before I celebrated my physical birth for the fifteenth time (Feb.9th, to be precise!).  That decision was to yield my life to the Lord Jesus, the Christ, and to seek to serve Him for all of the days that He would grant to me.   As I have, of course, often said, I doubt that I fully understood the import of that decision, at that time.  However, I can happily testify that I have no regrets about having made it.  I have often -all too often - let Him down; but He has never let me down.  I have found Him to be completely, and utterly, trustworthy; totally dependable; and the best Friend that anyone could ever have.

Another decision about which I have no regrets is the one that took place some ten years later when I asked a certain young girl if she would condescend to be my wife.  Thankfully, she made the decision to do so - and we are now in our forty-fifth year of marriage.   Yes, we have had our 'ups and downs'; but she has been a faithful, supportive, encouraging, loving wife - no man could ask for better.  I loved her then - or so I thought.  Actually, as the years have passed, I have discovered that I didn't really know what love was, all of those years ago.  I love her, now, far more than I would even have thought possible on that evening when I made my marriage proposal.

Nor have I regretted our decision to have a family.  We have two daughters of whom I am so very proud.  They are very different from one another, in many ways; but each is "the fruit of my loins", and is greatly loved by their dad.

I wonder, as you read this post, if you have ever taken time to look over the decisions that you have made - like myself, some that you will regret, and others that you will not.  It is, I would suggest, a salutary experience to take the time to do so.   When you do, I trust that you will be able, with me, to give thanks to Almighty God for His guiding hand upon your life.   My first excursion into tertiary Education was my attendance at the Bible Training Institute, in Glasgow.  The motto of the College was (in transliterated Greek!) "pistos ho Theos".  In translation, that means "God is faithful".  That is certainly my testimony; I trust that it is yours, also!