Your King needs you!

Among my Facebook contacts are more than 300 of my former pupils - always at their request! I have requests from about another hundred, but either do not recall them at all - or recall them only too well!! A few days ago, one of them posted this picture on his Facebook page:

I freely confess that I have absolutely no idea as to what the picture refers. However, the wording caught my eye,as did the lion's head. I thought of Aslan - C.S.Lewis' feline figure that represents the Lord Jesus, the Lion of Judah, in "The Narnia Chronicles". 

I recall, many years ago, what I think about as "the sticker period". Self-adhesive stickers were very popular, and advertised all kinds of products, pop stars, and belief systems. One popular one among disciples of Jesus stated clearly "You need Christ"! That is still true today. Each one of us, whether or not we are aware of the fact; whether, or not, we accept the fact; whether, or not, we have the slightest interest in Jesus of Nazareth, or even believe in the existence of a Supreme and Supernatural Being to Whom, in the English language, we ascribe the nomenclature "God" - each one of us is a sinner, who needs a Saviour!

However, the obverse is also true - that the Lord Jesus needs us! The old poem sums it up beautifully:

Christ has no hands but our hands, to do His work today,
He has no feet but our feet to lead men in His way.
He has no tongue but  our tongue to tell men how He died,
He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.

We are the only Bible, the careless world will read,
We are  the sinners' gospel, we are the scoffers' creed.
We are the Lord's last message, given in deed and word,
What if the type is crooked, what if the print is blurred?

What if our hands are busy, with other work than  His,
What if our feet are walking, where sin's allurement is?
What if our tongues are speaking, of things His lips would  spurn,
How can we hope to help Him, and hasten His return?   (Annie Flint (1862-1932)

It's an amazing thought, is it not? The One "... for Whom and by Whom all things exist, ..." (Heb.2:10), needs you and me, to do His work in the world today! Your King needs you!

One other thing I noticed about the picture. The figure at the front appears to be some form of robot/android - but with a face resembling that of the lion. If you are a disciple of Jesus, you are no robot. He desires that you serve Him freely, and willingly, in love - not by coercion! However, you should be displaying Him before others - they should see His likeness in you!

Have you entered, freely, into His service? Are you truly one of His soldiers? Can He depend on you to be His hands; His feet; His tongue; His help? The precise manner in which you serve will be different from the manner in which I serve - for "... there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one." (I Cor.12:5-6). But all who are willing will be given a task - and the means by which to fulfil it - and, on that day when you stand before His Judgement Seat, you will hear those wonderful words: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.Come and share your master’s happiness!" (Matt.25:21).

Does true atheism really exist?

Yesterday, I came across an article in which Nick Clegg – the then newly-elected leader of the British Liberal Democratic Party, who is currently enjoying an unexpected surge in popularity on the basis of his television appearances in the Leadership Debates (that conveniently ignore all but three Party leaders!) – readily confessed that he does not “believe in God”.

Now, of course, there is not only a post, but a whole sermon/lesson on what that statement actually means – but that is for another time, and place. However, I thought of Mr Clegg’s declared stance – apparently shared by many in our so-called ‘secular’ society – as I listened, this morning, to Major Richard Streatfeild, Commanding officer of ‘A’ Company, 4^th Battalion The Rifles, serving in the very dangerous Sangin Valley, in the infamous Helmand Province of Afghanistan, share his regular despatch (http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8639000/8639053.stm).

He was reflecting on what were referred to as “soldiers’ superstitions” that have crept in during the Company’s tour of duty. "Riflemen are not usually a religious bunch", he stated, "but I can guarantee more prayers have been offered in the last six months than ever before. Early in the tour", he continues, "I heard a Section praying before they went out. ‘Lo, ’though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death’." It was, he said, simultaneously moving, and frightening! He also mentioned that although none of the riflemen wore a cross or a crucifix whilst stationed in the U.K., they were now very common. Almost his final comment was, "One doesn’t find too many atheists on the battlefield"!

Wasn’t it Augustine who once claimed, with reference to Almighty God, that “Thou hast made us for Thyself; and our hearts are restless ’til they find their rest in Thee.”? The modern equivalent would be the statement that “There’s a God-shaped blank in every heart, that only God can fill.”

So perhaps Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hitchens, Nick Clegg, and their like, should test their avowed atheism by volunteering to spend six months in Helmand Province – not as cosseted visitors, but as riflemen, facing the prospect of physical death each and every day. One wonders just how strong their atheistic ‘faith’ would be in such circumstances!