The Beauty of Scripture

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness ~ Genesis 15:6   Adam C lar ke says this verse in the Old Testament is one of the most important messages as it is the doctrine of justification by faith. The Apostle Paul talked much about this doctrine, as we are saved by the shed blood, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Here Abram believed in what God said, and trusted in the promise made to him, and so it did come about. Abram, as you or I, can not ever do anything to merit God’s saving grace. We cannot pray our way into grace, act our way into grace, love our way into grace, for all we do falls far short of God’s expectations. There is only one way into God’s grace and that is through belief. As God had made a covenant with Abram, so that covenant has been made to us through Jesus Christ. However, Abram had to act, just as we have to act, and he had to be obedient. This is the key, for belief in Christ is always followed by obedience. He calls us...

The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation ~ Psalm 118:14 We keep hearing over and over the words, “we are living in an unprecedented times,” and so we are. The majority of the news we read and hear is filled with the uncertainty of COVID-19 – who will come down with it, why is one city, province, country, nation, so different in the amount of cases of illness and deaths than another? When will they find the treatment, the cure for this? When will it end? We are all filled with questions and for the time, there are no answers. But, we want them, and soon. Human nature is always human nature. We want to control, we want to be sure, we want to know where we are going and what is ahead of us at each turn. But life has never been like that; it is just in times of great stress we demand to know, to be assured, so that we can then relax. Here is the only thing I know we are and can be sure of – the Almighty God. When all crashes around me, God is still the sam...

In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now ~Numbers 14:19 Moses was a man of intercession for his people, the ones he led from Egypt on toward the promised land. We, as Christ followers, intercede now for the sins of the land in which we live and for the mercy of God to rain down upon us. Moses knew that God’s love was greater than the sins committed, but he does not go on and on in prayer. It is but a simple prayer asking only that God do what God does best – forgive. God is not only a loving and forgiving God, but He is a patient God, longing always for His children to come back to Him, just as the prodigal son returned to his home after leaving and running away. We are all prodigals until we repent and turn around toward home. But, the moment we decide that our way is not the right way, that it is just not working for us, the Lord God is there at the entrance to Home, with His ar...

Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins ~ James 5:20 It may be a grand and noble thing to turn a backslider back to the Lord, that I do not argue, for if we can be an encourager in another’s life so that they see the Gospel Truth of Jesus Christ, and once more dedicate their lives to Him, praise be to His name! To be an instrument in God’s saving grace is a great honour, and one to which we as Christians long for as we look around at the lost lives of those we love. We know that it is not of ourselves that we bring that one back to God, but that it is His Holy Spirit working in us and through us to speak into that person’s life. We ourselves know the grace we have received from the sins we had committed, and the freedom that brings to our lives. To know that we had a hand in bringing that grace to someone else is worth more than all the material possession we could ever expect! To cheat the d...

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord ~ Acts 3:19 The acknowledgement is that the person spoken to has been convinced Jesus is the Messiah. It is not until that recognition comes to an individual that Jesus can be seen as what He is – the Saviour of the world. Once our heart opens up to that message and truth, then our minds can be changed and altered, and our hearts become sorry for how we have sinned against God. Before COVID-19, many thought we were living in difficult times, some thought the end times were here and soon Christ would return. Those days of a few months ago, with all the violence and wars, and world catastrophes taking place seem far away now, as we all fight a common battle – a deadly virus. It has become the sin of our world, yet it is the surface product, not the underlying product. Mankind still finds ways to cheat others for profit, or to hoard unnecessarily, or to cough and snee...

The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him ~ Daniel 9:9 Our God is merciful, it is His nature to be so. It is so much His nature that He delights in mercy and in forgiveness. If a child makes a mistake and then comes to admit it to you, whether they have been caught or not, do they come knowing that you, as their loving parent, will forgive them? Of course, they will, if you are a loving parent! So, Father God is our parent, and through Jesus Christ we receive His pardon. There would be no point of us coming before Him and confessing our sins, our weaknesses, if we were not supported by the confidence that God would pardon us! If we did not have this confidence, we would be like those who believe that God is a hardened, stern God that expects ritual and continued penance. This is not the Christian God, for through Jesus Christ we have the incarnated example of who God is and how He loves. Through the stories of old, Daniel being one exa...

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins ~ Matthew 6:14, 15 Someone recently said to me, “It’s not easy for any of us to forgive.” We certainly here have the mandate to forgive, for if we don’t, God will not forgive us! It is very clear! We have to forgive our brother or sister in the Lord, or we will deal with the consequences of being shut out of heaven. So, if we have been hurt, and I am sure we have all been, how do we forgive?   Why should we let that person “off the hook” so to speak! So, let’s look first at what forgiveness is. In the wronged person, it is the deliberate, conscious decision to release…hmmm, I think I want to stop there. To release, to let go, to open the hand and drop, or open the heart and feel different! Is that then the stem of unforgiveness, that we hang on, hold tight, grasp with strength? But what is ...

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity ~ Joel 2:13 In the Old Testament especially, when a person was grieving in remorse, either personally or for the community, they would pour ashes over themselves and tear their clothing in response. But, just as washing the outside of the cup does not clean the inside, neither does tearing the clothes display the inner heart. A penitent heart is called a “broken heart” or a “contrite heart”, and this is the offering God wants to see from us. This is because when we come to the Lord in this way, we pour out all that is diseased within us, expelling our wayward thoughts and feelings, and those mental images which go against what God has deemed as holy. It is only through true repentance we come into the grace of Jesus Christ and are then saved from our sins. Joel states that if we return to our God, He ...

“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence ~ Hosea 6:1, 2 Israel at this time had abandoned God and so found God had abandoned them, so they sought to return to where He alone could be found, His temple. They had finally come to the realization they were weak, fickle, weary and unfaithful. Instead of worshipping the God of Creation, they had found idols and allies to claim as god. Do they in their ancient time, not resemble us in our present time? How far has this world fallen away from God, taken up idols and allies and so find we are spiritually weak and fickle, weary and unfaithful. I do not write to proclaim God has caused the virus we now deal with in the way the ancient Israelite’s state, “he has injured us”. I do not believe in a God that will pour down a virus of death upon His cr...

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,  to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple ~ Psalm 27:4 Worship Him, those of you whom have been awakened by His Spirit. Come as you are and join with others spiritually today, to worship the God of creation. In these days our physical presence cannot come together, but our spiritual beings most certainly can. This psalmist wanted to enter into the sanctuary of the Lord with His people, to come into God’s house. We cannot literally do this with what is happening in our world right now, but we can worship God from our homes, for God is with us wherever we are if our heart is joined with His. Today is our sabbath, our day of worship, and we too have the opportunity to bring all our longings down to one: to praise the Lord. The psalmist’s great desire is to live as a permanent resident in the Lord’s house, to enjoy His Divine presence and...