Your Choice

Your Choice
To my mind as a Christian there is no more important matter in life to consider than who you the individual thinks Jesus is.
The book of John records Jesus speaking to Martha,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 
“Yes Lord” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
             John 11:25,-27
The question is do you believe.
Below are a few quotes from the New Testament regarding Jesus. I put them here for you to consider.
The Apostle John records in his gospel,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” 
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 
                                                                                                     John 1:1-4,14
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                            John 3:16-18
The apostle John records while Jesus was at Solomon’s Colonnade,
“The Jews gathered around him,(Jesus) saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  
I and the Father are one.”
                    John10: 34-30.
Jesus speaking to one of his disciples is recorded as saying,
....“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
                                                                                                                                                 John 14:6
The above quotes show three important claims Jesus and His disciples made.
One Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is God incarnate, God in the flesh.
Two, Jesus is God. He was in the beginning when the universe was made and the universe was made by Him.
Thirdly, Jesus is the way to heaven. He makes it clear that He is the resurrection and the life. That no one can come to the Father except through Him.
These claims for their day were radical. Claiming to be God or even the Son of God was under Jewish law at the time a crime punishable by death.
C. S. Lewis states,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” 
                                                                                       C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Lewis also made the following statement I leave with you.
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
                                                                 C. S. Lewis.
The decision is yours to make.
Please think about it.

Where will you end up?

Where will you end up?

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote,

Requiem

“Under the wide and starry sky

Dig the grave and let me lie.

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies were he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from the sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.”

                                                                            By Robert Louis Stevenson
It’s a fact the day you’re born is the day you start dying. We will not get out of this life alive. The question is where will you spend eternity?
I have said many times I cannot believe that this life is all there is. That the spark that is you, your soul, has to live on forever. If it’s not so, then why live? There has to be more than this life.
The poet wrote,

Where are the people?

Where?

Are they but shadows in the mall?

Are they?

Are they shadows in time,

Shadows wandering looking for the latest trinkets, bobbles or beads.

What is life?

What?

Is life but a wisp of smoke carried in the air?

A wisp in the eternal aether 

Are people wisps of smoke?

What of man’s, or woman’s! accomplishments?

What of them?

Is the sum total of all ones life simply a pile of shinny tin, brass, and wood?

Is that life?

Is life simply a cacophony of sounds travelling through endless time?

Is it?

Or 

Is life.

Yours and mine, more?

Is it a divine opera?

An opera played out on a high mesa 

On a stage suspended between heaven and hell.

Are we as Shakespear said “simply actors”?

Actors who write our own script?

I think,

No,... I truly believe!

Life is an opera played out before God.

On a high mesa between heaven and hell.

We are actors in a play?

Actors who write our own script awaiting the final curtain call?

Are you ready for the final curtain call?

Are you?

What is the sum total of your life?

What?

What will “they” say about you as you pass on?

What will God say?

I firmly believe it is here and now that we determine where we will spend eternity. Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                             John 3:16-18.
The choice is yours to make. If I am wrong you have nothing to fear if I am right you have a lot to fear and a serious choice to make.
Please think carefully about it.

Freedom and Christians

Freedom and Christians
Nelson Mandela said,
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
                                                     Nelson Mandela.
From the outset let me make things clear I am a Christian. I accepted Christ as my Saviour over forty years ago. I currently teach the adult midweek bible study at my church. Throughout the years I have done everything from ushering in the church to talking to people on the street about Christ and everything in the middle.
I however look with dismay at those calling themselves Christians who are protesting against gay marriage and gay rights in general, as well as anything else it seems they object to. Which lately seems to be a lot of things.
 This in a free and democratic society should not be.
Over the years, indeed over the centuries, men and women calling themselves Christians have used the Bible, WRONGLY, to support everything from the crusades, to slavery, to segregation to anti-Semitism.
Now people are using it again wrongly, against homosexuals and those in the transgendered community.
While some of those protesting against Gay rights and other things may be Christians by the slimmest of margins I believe they are wrong in protesting against anything.
The only thing I believe Christians should be protesting in a democracy is when an elected government tries to restrict the rights of Christians or any other group without good reason.
Tony Campolo the American evangelist made a good point when he said,
“These issues are biblical issues: to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, to stand up for the oppressed. I contend that if the evangelical community became more biblical, everything would change.”
        Tony Campolo
As Christians we are called to love God, our neighbour, and even our enemy. If we attempt to restrict the freedom of even one person simply because we disagree with them it is wrong and not acting in love.
We live in a secular democracy quite similar in some ways to that of the Roman empire Jesus and the apostles lived in. I’m sure Paul and the other apostles saw a great many things they disagreed with in the society in which they lived. Yet they never spoke against the Roman government, laws or Roman society in general. In fact Paul wrote,
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  
Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.  
For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.” 
                                                                                                                                  Romans 13:1-3.
Here in North America and in western democracies elected secular governments set the laws. They, because they are secular, do their best to cater to everyone from every faith, race and lifestyle. This is the way it should be.
I as a Christian believe God gave man a free will to go his own way and do his own thing. That free will even gives him the right to believe in God or not.
It does not give anyone the right to restrict the rights of others who are living in peace and doing no harm to others.
It is my wish as a Christian that everyone irrespective of who they are or their lifestyle would come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Still I cannot and will not force my beliefs on them. Like I said, God has given each person the freedom to choose the direction of their life.
As for me I believe the words of Jesus when asked,
 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 
                                                                                             Matthew 22:37-40.
I believe all men are my neighbours and I have the responsibility to give them the option Jesus gives all men when he said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                        John 3:16-18
Please think about it.

The Way to Heaven

The way to heaven
The apostle Paul wrote,
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.  
‘But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”
1 Timothy 1:15,16.
Paul referred to himself as the worst of sinners, but according to the New Testament writers we are all sinners,
 The apostle Paul says,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
                                                                      Romans 3:23.
The apostle John Wrote,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” 
      1 John 1:9-10.
We as people fall short everyday of our lives of what God wants for our lives. Falling short of what God wants for us is sinning. Sinning is missing the mark.
We are human we make mistakes. God understands that. That’s why God provided away for us to have our sins forgiven.
God realizing we couldn’t live lives perfect enough for us to be with him so he reached down to us in the form of Jesus. Through Jesus he showed how far in human terms He would go to reconcile each and every person to himself.
The apostle Paul writes,
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”
                                                                                                                                          Romans 5:6.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” 
   John 3:16,17.
Ultimately salvation is based on two things.
The first is who you think Jesus is. Jesus asks us to believe the following statements,
“...“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
                                                                                                                                                 John 14:6
“....“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 
                                                                                                    John 11:25,26
The second is we are asked to act in faith,
The apostle Paul make it clear salvation is not something we can work for. Paul writing to the Ephesians stating,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.” 
                                                                  Ephesians 2:8,9.
The writer of Hebrews stating,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”
                                                                                                            Hebrews 11:6
Faith defined as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” 
                                                                                                                           Hebrews 11:1.
So the choice is yours.
Please think about it.

The greatest thing

The greatest thing

Here is a universal truth that everyone can understand irrespective of their faith, Love.
The apostle Paul wrote,

“Love is patient, love is kind.

 It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs.

 Love does not delight in evil 

but rejoices with the truth.  Reliant

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Love never fails....

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  

                                                                                                        1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.

Is this the kind of love you have?
The world today lacks love in many ways. Especially here in the west and in North America were all too many people bow down to the dollar bill, love is lacking.
You walk through any major city in North America and you might as well be an emotionless, faceless automaton. Commuters pass the same people day after day and yet never know their name.
Even when we conduct our business we do so by Email or through an emotionless computer. It’s be come a press one for this, press two for that society. Personal contact is lacking. People are simply becoming figures on a ledger.
Is it any wonder our young people are turning to terrorist groups to find meaning and love in their life?
We as individuals need to show more love. We need to reach out and embrace someone once in a while. To tell people we love them.
Businesses need to step up to the plate and show more compassion for their workers cater as much as possible to their workers needs. Show them that they are appreciated.
When I was younger there was a movie musical came out called Good by Mr Chips. It’s theme music had the title “In the morning of my life” the lyrics say,

In the morning of my life

I will look to the Sunrise

At a moment in my life 

When the world is new.

And the Question

I shall ask only God can answer.

Will I be brave and strong and true,

Will I fill the world with love my whole life through?

Will I fill the world with love my whole life through?

In the evening of my life

I will look to the sunset

At a moment in my life 

When my life is through.

And the question I shall ask only I can answer 

Was I brave and strong and true.

Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?

Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?

                                                                             From the movie Good by Mr. Chips.
Question: At the end of your life will you be able to say “I filled the world with Love?”
Will God say that?
Please think about it.

A Christian Thing

A Christian thing

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.  
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 
For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father’” ? 
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” ? 
  And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” 
But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” 
                                                                                   Hebrews 1:1-9.
Here is sound Christian belief. The writer of Hebrews telling us several important things about Jesus,
1/“but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.”  
2/“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
3/ The writer notes that the Son (Jesus), provided purification for our sins.  
“After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
4/ Jesus is superior to the angels.
“So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.”
5/The writer noting that God said, 
“I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” 
6/The writer saying,
“And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 
7/Then finally the writer says,
“...about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
In conclusion
Jesus is the Son of God, the creator of the universe, the Saviour of the world. The one who died for our sins. And His throne will last for ever and ever.
You cannot be a Christian if you do not believe this.
You cannot enter heaven if you do not believe in Jesus.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                               John 3:16-18
Please think about it

Christian Belief

Christian belief

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.  
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 
For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father’” ? 
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” ? 
  And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” 
But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” 
                                                                                 Hebrews 1:1-9.
Here is sound Christian belief. The writer of Hebrews telling us several important things about Jesus,
1/“but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.”
2/“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
3/ The writer notes that the Son (Jesus), provided purification for our sins.
“After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
4/ Jesus is superior to the angels.
“So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.”
5/The writer noting that God said,
“I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” 
6/The writer saying,
“And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 
7/Then finally the writer says,
“...about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
In conclusion
Jesus is the Son of God, the creator of the universe, the Saviour of the world. The one who died for our sins. And His throne will last for ever and ever.
You cannot be a Christian if you do not believe this.
You cannot enter heaven if you do not believe in Jesus.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                             John 3:16-18
Please think about it.

Not Bad

Not Bad

“He spreads out the northern  skies  over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.”
                                      Job 26:7.
For me to see the picture taken by the Apollo 17 crew coming from the moon, showing the earth suspended on nothing, shows how great an insight God gave Job.
The more I look into science the more I realize that things point to a God who created the universe and everything in it.
The psalmist writes,
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” 
                                                     Psalm 19:1.
When I look at the world around me I am amazed at it’s perfection. Near us is a Butterfly museum. When you enter it there are live butterflies everywhere. My wife was wearing a green dress and they kept landing on her. I marvelled at how delicate yet magnificently made they are. Some flying thousands of miles from Canada to Mexico each year.
I look at the flowers in my garden the trees the grass and I see perfection. As I look into the heavens there is a wondrous beauty as there is when I look into a microscope.
Everything from the greatest galaxies to the smallest subatomic particles are in such perfect balance without which life on this plant could not exist.
I cannot believe this is all by chance. There is a creator behind all of this that we call the universe.
The psalmist writes,
“The earth is the LORD'S, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;..”
                                                                                                                               Psalm 24:1
I believe there is a God who loves us. Who gave us freedom of choice. That freedom of choice even includes the freedom to believe whether He exists or not. The choice is always ours.
We may not be able to see God but by simply looking around us we can see all He has created. All he asks of us is to have faith in Him.
The writer of the book of Hebrews saying,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
                                                                                                      Hebrews 11:6.
The apostle John quoting Jesus as saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                      John 3:16-18.
Jesus posing a question to Martha the sister of Lazarus a question we all must answer,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 
                                                                                                                     John 11:25,26.
Please think about it.

You and Eternity

You and Eternity
“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.  
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”  
                         Mark 8:34-37.
I as a Christian believe people are eternal beings. That which we call the soul the part of us that is our very being lives on beyond death. The thing is I believe the soul after death has only one of two places to go. Heaven or Hell.
The choice as to where we will spend eternity is taken in this life. We can either believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or we can reject him. Jesus said,
 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
                                                                                                                                               John 14:6.
Jesus made it clear what our choices are when he said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                                John 3:16-18.
Following Jesus is an act of faith. The writer of Hebrews stating,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  
                                                                                                                                   Hebrews 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
                                                                                                                  Hebrews 11:6.
Who do you think Jesus is?
Please think about it.

A conversation

A Conversation

“Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  
You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.  
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” 
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 
Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” 
                                                                    John 4: 21-26.
Here as Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman Jesus breaks several social norms of the day, tells who he is, and what God the Father seeks.
First of all he a Jewish teacher speaks to a Samaritan woman. Jewish teachers hardly ever spoke to women additionally Jews considered Samaritans unclean and thus didn’t associate with them.
Secondly he predicts that the time will come “when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”
In other words something had to happen to prevent the worship at the temple. Something that occurred with the destruction of the Temple in 70 A. D.  shortly after the death of Jesus.
  Thirdly Jesus goes on to say,
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”
Here is what the God the Father wants. God doesn’t care where we worship Him. A building is just a building. True believers worship God wherever they are.
We Christians believe each person is a part of the church. Believers in Christ make up the Church it is not a bricks and mortar structure.
The fourth thing Jesus admits to here, Jesus admits to being the Messiah.
The question to those who claim to be Christians is, do you worship God in spirit and in truth.
To those who are not Christians the question is, a question that Jesus asked Martha,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 
                                                                                                                             John 11:25,26.
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God the Saviour of the world?
Please think about it.

Mary's Song

Mary’s Song

“And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, 
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 
He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.” 
                                                             Luke 1:46-55.
The Song of Mary or the Magnificat is Mary the mother of Christ singing the praises of God because she had been chosen to give birth to God’s anointed.
Mary did not know it at the time but a lot of things would transpire in her life and in the life of the child she was to bear.
At a young age probably when Jesus was around the age of two she and her husband Joseph had to flee with their infant son to Egypt to protect him.
She would watch her son grow to manhood. She would see him become a teacher of the word of God. She would see his fame grow and his enemies plot against him.
And she would see him beaten and placed on a Roman cross to die a horrible death.
Mary however would witness that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. She would witness that he rose from the grave conquering death, walk on this earth again briefly before ascending to heaven to sit at the right hand of God.
Mary if you will was probably the first Christian. She witnessed and believed all that Christians today believe.
She believed the words of her son when he said,
 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
                                                                                                                                             John 14:6.
Mary would have believed the words of John who wrote,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  
In him was life, and that life was the light of men... 
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
                                                                                           John 1:1-4,14.
She would have believed because through her God Himself entered into His creation. She had no doubt about that.
She would have also believed the words of her Son who said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                           John 3:16-18.
The question is do you?
Please think about it.

You and God

You and God
“God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.”
                                                                                                            Billy Graham.
Billy Graham is right.
I was with a group of very secular people not so long ago. I was the only person of any faith with them. We were having lunch when the topic of God was brought up by one of them who’d gone to a large church and seen a presentation there.
She was impressed with the professionalism of the presentation and the message. The others however said they didn’t think much about religion and sloughed faith off as insignificant.
Everyone knew where I stood and I pointed out that it was a sad thing that they thought so little about faith. Even just from a cultural stand point Christianity had contributed a great deal of positive things.
I think however the reaction of this group who were all well educated, all of whom had at least one degree from university, is not uncommon in our western society.
Sadly people don’t think beyond the here and now. Beyond this life. Yet we all know the ultimate statistic is death. We will all one day pass from this life into eternity.
That is why God sent His One and Only Son into this world because he cared for us. The most famous word in the Bible state,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
            John 3:16,17.
The apostle Paul tells us,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 
Romans 5:8.
Before we realized our need for God Christ died for us.
As a Christian I believe it is important that everyone consider what Jesus taught. Consider who Jesus is. If for nothing else than the warning Jesus gave when he said,
“Whoever believes in him (Jesus) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.   
                                                                                                                John 3:18.
C. S. Lewis said,
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
                                                  C. S. Lewis.
The decision is up to the individual because in creating man with a free will God actually gave man the choice to believe in Him or not.
Please think about it.