CAN YOU?

Time with Jesus - Monday, 15 April 2013

Hi all,

How pleased are you that you live in the 21^st century and not in the 19^th? Life was tough in the middle of the 1800’s. Charles Dickens chronicled much of it. Men worked for long hours for very little money. In many instances, this was because the owners of big business wanted to make maximum profit to safeguard their lifestyle. Women worked in the mines. Many of them were stark naked and fastened to a coal wagon. They dragged these wagons behind them as they crawled on hands and knees through the narrow tunnels. Little children of 5 and 6 also worked for long hours down in the mines. They opened and closed doors so that the mining operation was uninterrupted. 

Where am I

The ladies, who were not working down in the mines, were at home raising their many children. Big families were not uncommon. My mother’s mother had 7 children. My father’s mother also had 7 children. Neither homes had an inside toilet. It was in the backyard. The “Corporation dust cart” came round and emptied the associated buckets. Hot water was available from a stove in the kitchen or front room behind the fireplace. There was no other way to heat the water for the washing. In 1955 I recall seeing an old “zinc tub” in the back-yard. With it were a scrubbing board and a “dolly” once used for manually washing clothes. There were no electrical appliances. It was all done by man-power. Except it was mainly woman-power!

I'm Here!

There were no inside baths. You had to go to the public baths if you wanted to get properly clean. The public baths were still being used in the mid 1950’s. I was naïve. I thought they were swimming baths and couldn’t understand why there was a male section and a female section. In RSA we all swam together.

Happy!

In the mining villages where there were no public baths, Mom, daughters and sons who were not working down the “pit” kept the bath water hot in the zinc tub in front of the kitchen fire. They would also scrub the bodies of the members of the family who had been working down in the pit. Gender and cultural niceties were put to one side for the sake of cleanliness. Most of the young women couldn’t wait to get married. At least the initial work demand was reduced. Later, as they too started having children, they would get back into much the same routine as their father and mother had known. I know two women who married for this very reason. They couldn’t take being a servant for the rest of the family. Sometimes these marriages worked. Sometimes they didn’t. It didn’t matter one way or the other. Divorce was unthinkable and just about financially unobtainable. The expression back then was, “You made your bed. Now lie in it!”

Today, in the Western world, we are spoiled. The “pill” has liberated women in a way thought impossible 100 years ago. At the same time this has released the vast majority of women to obtain employment in areas where, at one time, there were only men. Although this liberation is a good thing, it has meant that the workforce has doubled. (Men and women seeking employment) But the quantity of work has not kept pace with the available labour (men and women). So salaries have not kept pace. The result is that to live in the 21^st century, it takes two salaries to buy a house, educate, as well as clothe and feed the family. Are we any better off? You tell me! One thing is certain. Male or female, the way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. That has not and will not ever change.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Monday, 15 April 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	Can you?
Many Christians have a habit of not wanting to listen. Why should they? They are usually so busy telling other people what to do; they can’t spare a moment to listen. I kno,w I do that more often than I should! One of the things we all seem to forget is that Christianity is a lifestyle, not a panel debate on TV. We tend to sit around discussing what we should do as Christians. But we seldom get down to the business of actually doing what we talk about. I suspect it’s a bit like a male gynaecologist. Lots of theory; can even tell the ladies what to do. But no personal experience of being pregnant and giving birth! Not that this disqualifies him. Some of them are very empathetic with their patients. In this instance, calling the ladies patients is most appropriate. The gestation period gives them a time of enforced patience! In today’s meditation, I’ve tried to address the question of being a genuine Christian. The emphasis is on being a Leader in a Christian Church. Can we do what is required of us in the Scripture? James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus put it like this: 22 But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. Jas 1:22 NLT I suppose it’s a question of establishing whom we serve. Are we serving Jesus Christ, ourselves, or our ministry? The question is an easy one to ask. But can we be truthful with our answer? Very often we think that our Christian-based activity is being a doer of His Word. Frequently this is not the case. We all seem to have the ability of double standards. Is our Sunday behaviour the same from Monday to Saturday? Many of us are inconsistent. I’ve struggled with this more times than I dare admit. Jesus tells us to take up our cross daily and follow Him. In this regard I recall the answer of a man who was asked why he went to work. “Hunger” he answered. If I don’t work, I don’t eat”. Essentially we are faced with a confrontation between what we want and what the Lord has said. Our ambitions in the ministry drive us. Thus our Christian lifestyle is compromised. Even when we find this to be true, more often than not, we deny it vehemently. Matthew puts it as follows: 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. Mat 16:24 NLT Most of us have exchanged the cross for a mobile sofa. We don’t have to pick it up. Just sit there and allow it to go anywhere Jesus would like! We no longer see the cross as an instrument of an exquisite and agonising death, for ourselves and our desires. It’s been exchanged for a seat in a theatre where we can watch other people performing and convince ourselves this is being a good Christian. Am I being unfair? I would be, if I wasn’t including myself amongst the accused. How do we change? I’m not advocating self-flagellation. I’m not asking for the return of the Spanish Inquisition. What I would like to see in myself and in my fellow Christians, is living the way Christians have been shown in God’s Word. In particular I would like to see this in Christian leaders. Today’s meditation asks a number of testing questions. Don’t give me your answers. I’m struggling with my own. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			2 "This is what the LORD God of Israel says to you, Baruch: 3 You said, 'I'm so miserable! The LORD has added grief to my pain. I'm worn out from groaning. I can't find any rest.' 4 "Say this to Baruch, 'This is what the LORD says: I will tear down what I have built. I will uproot what I have planted throughout the earth. 5 Are you looking for great things for yourself? Don't look for them, because I'm going to bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD. But wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.'" Jer. 45:2-5 GW 28 Then Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." Mat 11:28-30 NLT 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, 8 He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. Philip 2:5-8 NLT 37 "If you love your father or mother more than you love Me, you are not worthy of being Mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. 38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. 39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for Me, you will find it. Mat 10:37-39 NLT 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21 ESV 6 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 1 Tim 6:6-8 ESV 11 Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. Philip 4:11 MSG	Contrition for ambition is what the Lord requires. Devotion to promotion is not what He desires. Does it really matter, if you are tucked away, Taken from the limelight and told you cannot stay? Will it make a difference if Jesus Christ has said, “You must be the rear-guard, and not be up ahead?” Will it be a burden, if He tells you to wait? Can you face the prospect of such a lowly state? Must you be the leader? Can you be number two? How do you think you will cope, if that’s required of you? Can you spend a lifetime holding someone else’s coat? Are you an obedient sheep or just a headstrong goat? Can you take the pressure of being put aside? Can you be the bridesmaid and never be the bride? What will be your answer if God says, “sit and stay”? Do you think you’ll do it, or will you run away? Does it really matter if He makes you the least? Could you be the altar boy and never be the priest? Can you sit in silence when you can make things right? If you think that things are wrong, will you stand up and fight? Can you let a brother make a very big mistake, Or will you go and interfere and say, “For Jesus sake”? Can you be a Joshua for almost forty years, Waiting till your Moses quietly disappears? This is Christianity. Promoting other men; Seeing them as better, time and time again. Never seeking favour or popularity, Only being what the Lord has said that you must be? It isn’t very popular. In fact it’s very hard. Sitting under someone else and acting as his guard. But there’s no alternative. If things are built by me, Jesus is the person others will not ever see. Can you let your teaching fall upon deaf ears? That’s what Jeremiah did from many, many years. He was never popular, except perhaps with God. Can you bear the suffering or will you think it’s odd? Can you face a giant with his huge and mighty sword? Will you overcome him in the Name of Christ the Lord? Will you be contented when all the ladies sing Praise to your assistant and to you not a thing? When you’re made the leader, What action will you take Against your opposition, when your leadership’s at stake? Will your people follow you voluntarily? Or see how big a bully that you can really be? If you can face all of this and never turn and run. You will be a man of God who’s following His Son! Jim Strickland Written 15th April 2012