SCRIP-BITS

Romans 5:8.       But God commendeth (demonstrated His own) LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Oh friends, this Tuesday of Christmas week has turned out to be somewhat contrary. (smile) It’s windy and cold, with a sprinkling of snow on the ground, and a cloudy kind of sunshine overshadowing the whole thing. Apparently, we had a snow warning for last night, but thankfully it did not hit our neighbourhood. But who knows what today will bring weatherwise, so if you’re going out, please be prepared for anything. And also, as we go about our Christmas preparations, let’s remember to always have Christ in mind as being the true reason for the season. We’ve already had the greatest gifts ever; the birth of Christ and His redemption of our sins, now we just have to trust and obey, for there’s no better way, to be happy in this crazy, evil and ungodly world. 

Now here’s a li’l prayer to remind us of all that our wonderful and ever magnanimous God does for us. Please pray with me: ‘The LIGHT of God surrounds me. The LOVE of God enfolds me. The POWER of God protects me. The PRESENCE of God watches over me. Where ever I am, God is there! And ALL is well! Yes ALL is well! Amen!’ And that ought to be a big, heartfelt, sincere ‘Amen’ because of the numerous ways in which Jehovah God surrounds and protects us. Just imagine nuh, we have His LIGHT surrounding us, His LOVE enfolding us, His POWER protecting us, and His PRESENCE constantly watching over us! Wow! We can’t ask for any more than that, because there’s nothing more to be had, that’s everything! 

Ah mih people, if we truly knew and understood how our heavenly Father cares for us, the breadth and depth of His LOVE and compassion, towards us, His most important and favoured creation, we would never, or rather, we’d try our very best not to ever disobey or disappoint Him. And I don’t believe there’s anything bigger and better that He could have done after we fell into the bondage of sin and disobedience than send His ONLY Son to take our abominable sins on His sinless shoulders and sacrifice His life on the cross of Calvary, so that we could be redeemed, be reconciled to Him. How many of us would do anything like that for a bunch of worthless sinners eh? Very few of us, if any! 

However, the Word tells us: ‘But God commendeth (demonstrated His own) LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Rom. 5:8) And later on in that same letter to the church at Rome, Bruh Paul reiterated his convictions by writing: ‘( Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the LOVE of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Rom. 8:39) In other words, nothing whatsoever can ever separate us from God’s LOVE that is to be found in Christ Jesus! 

Meanwhile, Jesus Himself pointed out the great LOVE that the Father has for us, when He said to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to Him by night seeking answers to confusing questions. ‘For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.’ (John 3:16-17) 

Now, that’s the kind of LOVE and compassion God has for us! But do we truly believe or appreciate it? No way! Otherwise our lives would not be in such a sad state of disarray, of willful sin and disobedience, and Christ’s church would not be the breeding ground it is, for all sorts of ungodly stuff. Neither would we forget and/or neglect to remember that this season of Christmas, when Christ was born, is the beginning of the story of our marvellous and miraculous redemption, that ends with Christ’s earth-shattering resurrection on that first Easter morn! 

Instead of our current behaviour and lifestyle, we ought to be saying and believing like the psalmist Asaph did in his famous Psalm 73, after being deceived by the prosperity of the wicked, then going into the Lord’s sanctuary and realizing their eventual destruction: ‘My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart (my rock), and my portion for ever… But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.’ (Ps. 73:26 &28) 

Oh my fellow believers, if we could only make those things true in our own lives, what a wonderful world we’d have! Drawing near to God, surrendering our all to Him, and faithfully declaring (steups!!!) His mighty works are the things we so badly need right now, so that we can fight the good fight of faith that’s staring us in the face, as Satan ramps up his offensive against the people of God. That’s why James warns and encourages us to: ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh (near) to God, and he will draw nigh (near) to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted (lament), and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness (gloom). Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.’ (James 4:7-10) 

Yes friends, that’s where it all begins; by drawing nearer to God, humbling ourselves in His sight, and overall cleaning up our lives. Now, James ends that passage with a further warning and admonishment, but I’ve kept it separate, because it’s of ever so much importance in our current society. He concludes it thus: ‘Speak not evil one of another brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another.’ (James 4:11-12) 

Ah mih  people, evil speaking, lying, slandering, gossiping and the many other forms of verbal abuse are running rampant in our society because of the proliferation of social media and our technological revolution. And with the recent improvements of Artificial Intelligence, it’s slated to become even worse. The sad part of it all though is because of this technical revolution, we can spread bad and false news without risk of incurring the necessary consequences. Thus, too many of us talk and are judgemental about things we know absolutely nothing about, therefore breeding even more evil in our society. 

And yes, we will all have opinions on all sorts of topics, but please, let’s try and restrict spreading them nuh, especially the ones we know nothing about. That would indeed be a valuable start to cleaning up our gossipy, lying world. Now, let’s go home declaring (chuh!!!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the whole world know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel! As one voice: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with my immediate neighbours, as well as with the whole wide world! Glory be!’ 

Now, let’s go out and do just that nuh; trust our awesome friend Jesus and share His amazing LOVE with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…all talk and no action…gets us nowhere fast… 

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