RIGHT IS LIGHT

Time with Jesus - Sunday, 31 March 2013

Hi all,

Hallelujah - He is Risen

We live in a society where there seem to be absolutes. For me to say I am right and you are wrong, borders on “hate speech”. Facts have become relative; relative to what you think and what I think. Something that is true for me may not be true for you. This has been done primarily to prevent one religion criticising the other. The one side says “I’m right”. The other says the same thing. To solve this, by law, we are no longer allowed to take sides in this. We are told to be tolerant and allow others to express their opinion. They are entitled to think what they want to think. This means preaching a gospel of repentance is illegal. We may offend a Muslim, a Hindu or a Buddhist. So we are “condemned to silence”, particularly if we preach the gospel of Jesus. Today genuine Christians are regarded as fundamentalist extremists. We have become the enemy, in a society of compromise. In parts of the world, Christians have been sent to jail for saying that Jesus Christ is the only way. It is considered offensive and unacceptable.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul states, ¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 2 Cor. 6:14 NIV

Jim & Phyllida

This may well be considered “hate speech”. However, what Paul stated back then, was more than merely sound advice. It was a warning many Christians ignore. On scores of occasions, a Christian has married an unbeliever. Seldom do we find that in the end, both parties become Christian. Usually we find that the unbeliever makes things difficult for the Christian, as far as serving the Lord is concerned. Often, such marriages end in divorce. That’s when the Christian goes through agony. “God hates divorce” we are informed in Malachi:2 Read the whole chapter to get the feeling for what this is all about.

The marriage should never have been entered into in the first place. The reason is simple. Light and darkness don’t mix!

Today’s meditation looks at this in more detail.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Sunday, 31 March 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	Right is light
Back in my Bible School days, one of our favourite choruses was: “Walk, walk in the light, Walk, walk in the light, Walk, walk in the light, Walking in the light of love”. I’m not too sure why it was so popular. I think that a major contributing factor was the desire of the students to break out of the darkness of the apartheid era and walk in the light with brothers and sisters we had not met. It would be a further twelve years before it became a reality. Being kept in the dark has been one of the weapons of oppression for more years than any of us realise. The expression, “I didn’t know!” is a very common one. The German people didn’t know about the Nazi death camps. The People of the Soviet Union didn’t know what Stalin was busy with. Sadly, the “white people” of South Africa, had almost no idea what was happening in the townships. This was a deliberate policy of the government of the day. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men do nothing! It was true when stated by Edmund Burke (1729-1797) It’s still true some 250 years later. We have a similar problem in the church. In most instances, the people are kept ignorant of the truth of the gospel. Religion continues to be a profitable business. People are separated into clergy and laity - an unscriptural distinction that is most convenient. Who can challenge them? The average pew occupant certainly cannot! The tragedy is, the Lord Jesus Christ wants to walk with us. He desires us to have a personal relationship with Him. You can never have a relationship with someone you don’t know. We may know something about Him. But we don’t know Him. I may know that the President of the USA is Barrack Obama. But I don’t know him. His family does! One of the beautiful things about light is the way it enables us to see things. We see very little in the dark. Until recently, wars were only fought during the day. It’s hard to shoot an enemy you can’t see! That has changed since the development of night vision glasses and infra-red cameras. It’s impossible to walk in the light when it is dark. In John’s Gospel we are told: 9 Jesus replied, "There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light." John 11:9-10 NLT Today’s meditation looks at walking in the light of God’s word. In a nutshell, obedience to Him is to walk according to the instruction of His Word. Let’s do it, not just talk about it! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			14 Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? 2. Cor. 6:14 NLT 19 "Here is the judgment. Light has come into the worl d, but people loved darkness instead of light. They loved darkness because what they did was evil. John 3:16 NIrV 5 All of you are children of the light. You are children of the day. We don't belong to the night. We don't belong to the darkness. 1 Thess. 5:5 NIrV 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 1 John 2:11 ESV 105 By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path. 106 I've committed myself and I'll never turn back from living by your righteous order. Psalm 119:105-106 MSG 20 Remember Your covenant promises, for the land is full of darkness and violence! Psalm 74:20 NLT 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born again because of what God has done. That person knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 NIrV 18 But the path of righteous people is like the light of dawn that becomes brighter and brighter until it reaches midday. 19 The way of wicked people is like deep darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. Pro 4:18-19 GW 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. John 12:46 TNIV 8 At one time you were in the dark. But now you are in the light because of what the Lord has done. Live like children of the light. Eph. 5:8 NIrV	We see the dark as evil. The good is always light. Thieves break in at night time so they are not in sight. We find it is much better to sleep when it is dark. To slumber through the night time and get up with the lark! But there’s another meaning which we should all prefer. A warning from the Scripture, which should serve as a spur, To stop us all from doing it. Thereby, we have been warned; And we will bear the consequence if ever it is scorned. Keep away from partnerships with unbelieving men. They have a different outlook on which they will depend. Their motivation’s money. God’s Kingdom has no place; So if you are in partnership, you’ll surely be disgraced. If times are getting difficult, they’ll often up and run. And you will be deserted to face what has been done. It happens regularly. The Christian is the man, You find who has been cheated and carries home the can! But what is true in business is also true in life. Do not ever marry an unbelieving wife. Those who do it anyway, cease following the Lord. They find that they are walking on the way that’s wide and broad. My friends, I make confession, that it is what I did. It was a huge disaster costing many, many quid. It ended in a sad divorce and I was left alone; Having lost my furniture, possessions and my home. I went back to the Scripture and it was underlined. I’d been disobedient and thought God wouldn’t mind! I thought I’d lead her to the Lord, but that objective failed. And in my desperate anguish it felt I had been jailed. So if you’re doing something you know you shouldn’t do. Ask the Lord to bring His light and indicate to you, If what you’ve selected is darkness or is light. Make a firm decision, to do good in His sight. If it’s of the darkness, please ask Him show the way, To cut it off completely, while it is still your day. Know that you will have to pay the cost of consequence. But if you let Him do it, He’ll show you what makes sense. Do your very uttermost to bring it to the light. He will make the outcome to be good and clean and right. Jim Strickland Written 31st March 2012

HIS FATHER’S SON

Time with Jesus - Saturday, 30 March 2013

Hi all,

C S Lewis

One of the greatest Christian writers of the 20^th century was C S Lewis. The following paragraph is quoted verbatim from the page on Amazon advertising Lewis’ book entitled, “Surprised by Joy”

This book is not an autobiography. It is not a confession. It is, however, certainly one of the most beautiful and insightful accounts of a person coming to faith. Here, C.S. Lewis takes us from his childhood in Belfast through the loss of his mother, to boarding school and a youthful atheism in England, to the trenches of World War I, and then to Oxford, where he studied, read and, ultimately, reasoned his way back to God. It is perhaps this aspect of C S Lewis that we - believers and nonbelievers - find most compelling and meaningful; Lewis was searching for joy, for an elusive and momentary sensation of glorious yearning, but he found it, and spiritual life, through the use of reason.

Jim & Phyllida at the Trevi Fountain in Rome

The paragraph is quoted because it was the experience of the Prodigal Son when he returned home to his father. In like manner, it was my experience when I returned home to my parents in England in April 1960.

Phyllida and I have found that most people who come to Jesus Christ, have their own experience of finding the love of Jesus in a personal way. The prodigal son discovered that he was still his father’s son in spite of what he had done. I found the same. We were “Surprised by Joy”!

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Saturday, 30 March 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	His Father’s Son
According to Mark Twain in His autobiography, “Truth is stranger than fiction; but it isn’t because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.” In the light of this statement, what do we do with Jesus’ parables? Were they real stories about real people, or were they merely teachings used as illustrations to demonstrate truth by the greatest mind Who has ever lived? It’s difficult thinking that Jesus would tell stories that were not true in real life. So were these parables the product of His fertile imagination or things that He had seen and known? We are inclined to think that they were just stories. But the fact is, what He spoke about had actually taken place somewhere. As the TV shows state, “Names have been changed to protect the identity of individuals.” We don’t have to be Jewish or Christian in order to follow His parables. Some are so well known that people are surprised they are Jesus’ parables. The Good Samaritan is a case in point. Regardless of our “religious” views, the story grips the imagination and can leave us feeling rather uncomfortable! One of the best known parables is the Prodigal Son. The word prodigal has two interconnected meanings: One is Profligate and wasteful. The other is extravagant. In this instance, the younger son was profligate and wasteful. Regardless the size of his inheritance, he wasted it on riotous living in that far country. His father was extravagant. He gave his youngest son his inheritance while still alive. It should never have happened. I suspect that if you check with a lawyer, you will be told that you can only receive an inheritance after the person dies. A “settlement” before death would be a gift or donation. Was this parable a story or something that actually happened? By way of answer, if we look back over Christianity for the past two thousand years, we see it repeated regularly by men and women in every generation. The details may not be identical, but the truth comes shining through in the lives of many Christians. Men like William Wilberforce and John Newton. Women like Florence Nightingale. Hundreds, dare I say hundreds of thousands, of Christians throughout the generations? It’s true of me. What does a young man do when the bottom has fallen out of his world? It happened to me. It’s true to say that I’m a 20th century prodigal son. What we can say is that Jesus had something in mind which prompted the parable. Truth or fiction is irrelevant. What we do know is Jesus understands human nature. Our meditation this morning contains a part of my own testimony to what God regularly does in the lives of people. I’m only one of them Jim & Phyllida Strickland			For the choir director; a psalm by David. 1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I make decisions alone with sorrow in my heart day after day? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Psalm 13:1-2 GW 17 Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. James 1:17 MSG 14 But the city of Zion said, "The LORD has deserted me. The Lord has forgotten me." 15 The LORD answers, "Can a mother forget the baby who is nursing at her breast? Can she stop showing her tender love to the child who was born to her? She might forget her child. But I will not forget you. Isaiah 49:14-15 NIrV 21 Remember these things, Jacob: You are my servant, Israel. I formed you; you are my servant. Israel, I will not forget you. 22 I made your rebellious acts disappear like a thick cloud and your sins like the morning mist. Come back to me, because I have reclaimed you. Isaiah 44:21-22 GW 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 But after he heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. 7 Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." 8 "But Rabbi," they said, "a short time ago the Jews tried to kill you with stones. Are you still going back there?" 9 Jesus answered, "Aren't there 12 hours of daylight? A person who walks during the day won't trip and fall. He can see because of this world's light John 11:5-9 NIrV 22 A Gentile woman who lived there came to Him, pleading, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely." 23 But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then His disciples urged Him to send her away. "Tell her to go away," they said. "She is bothering us with all her begging." 24 Then Jesus said to the woman, "I was sent only to help God's lost sheep--the people of Israel Mat 15:22-24 NLT 6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT	He sat down in the corner with his hands across his face. The thing he’d done was silly and he was in disgrace. His parents were so far away and he had let them down. How could he ever tell them in that far off distant town? He trembled with anxiety. He knew his foes were near. With each and every passing hour he trembled in his fear. Could he find forgiveness? How would things all turn out? And every time he thought of it, his mind was filled with doubt. He felt alone and desolate. He couldn’t face the truth. And life forever changed for him, that moment in his youth. There still was so much more to learn. He thought he knew it all. He’d heard about the Prodigal; about his rise and fall. He knew he had gone home again, disgraced and wearing rags. He knew that in the pig pen how much his heart could sag. But he was far too hungry. A servant of his dad, Was given food and clothing; a lot more than he had. And so he set out homeward. No sandals on his feet; Hoping that his father would give him food to eat. He didn’t know his father. At least not how he should. Perhaps the only thing he knew; his father was so good. And when his father greeted him, the thing that he had done, Was suddenly forgotten; he was his father’ son. That young man in the corner I have to say was me. What would my father ever say and just how would he be? And so I went back home again, “my tail between my legs”. I had received the poisoned cup and drained it to the dregs. My father didn’t mention it. Just, “welcome home my lad”. I felt I had been gob smacked!  To hear this from my dad! It’s not what I expected. I thought He’d rant and rave. Instead, he just accepted me. I thought he was so brave. A few short months thereafter I heard about the Lord. I went to Him in penitence and out to Him I poured; The truth of what had happened. But He already knew. He said I was forgiven and told me what to do. Learn about my Saviour and put Him in control. He would give direction, a purpose and a goal. And since that very moment the thing which I had done Was swallowed up by Jesus. Now I’m His Father’s son. Jim Strickland Written 30th March 2012.