It’s back to school September 6, 2010
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With school just around the corner and the start of new programs at Glenbrook, please join us for a new devotional next Monday.
“God is with us” August 30, 2010
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Have you ever felt that God was with you, somehow present with you when going through a time of adversity? Have you ever felt that God was so present with you that it felt like another person was sharing the same space as you?
Recently I read the following story of Sir Ernest Shakleton and his daring expedition to cross the Antarctic.
In December of 1914, Shackleton and his 27-member crew aboard the ship Endurance entered the ice fields of Weddell Sea, navigating through dangerous pack ice. With only 100 miles left in the journey, Shackleton made the fateful decision to stop and wait for a break in the heavy ice. The temperature dropped and the ice closed in around the ship making it impossible to proceed. The crew would live aboard the ship for the next ten months.
Gradually the ship succumbed to the crushing grip of the ice. Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship. The crew began a march in search of safety, carrying minimal supplies and dragging three lifeboats. Eventually reaching open water, they boarded the lifeboats and sailed off in an attempt to find land. Surviving perilous conditions, they finally landed on the deserted Elephant Island.
Stranded on the island, with no hope of rescue, Shackleton and four other crew members set sail in a lifeboat in an effort to reach the island of South Georgia. Traveling 800 miles through the world’s worst seas, they arrived only to discover the whaling station was on the other side of the island. In order to rescue the remaining crew in time, Shackleton and two of his men must cross on foot the treacherous cliffs of the island, which were icy and forbidding, vulnerable to sudden blizzards and hurricane winds. The island’s inhabitants considered the journey impossible. Nevertheless, Shackleton and his two partners crossed in 36 hours.
Shackleton’s diary provides an interesting perspective on the South Georgia Island crossing:” I know that during that long and racking march of 36 hours over the unnamed mountains of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that there were four, not three. I said nothing to my companions, but afterwards Worsley said to me, “Boss, I had a curious feeling that there was another person with us.”
This experience of Sir Ernest Shackleton reminds me of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Book of Daniel (chapter 3) who were thrown into the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to a statue constructed by King Nebuchad-nezzar of Babylon. While they were in the furnace, they were not consumed by the flames, but instead were joined by a mysterious fourth person. Who was that person? Where did that person come from? Was it an angel? Was it a divine presence? Was it even a pre-existent Jesus? Speculation abounds.
I think one theme that we can glean from this text for our own lives is that when we are facing adversity, faith is believing that God is still there for us. Jesus was proclaimed as Emmanuel… “God is with us”. (Matthew 1:23) Jesus promised us and gave to us the Holy Spirit as his presence in us until his return. (John14:17) Not everyone has had the experience of a mysterious presence sharing the same space during tough times…but it is good to know that when we are going through adversity it is not just that we might get closer to God…but God has been and always will be close to us.
Pastor Ian McWhinnie
Rooted in Christ August 23, 2010
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“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17: 7-8 (NIV)
After some trial and error this summer I successfully grew lupins in my small suburban garden. The lupin flowers grow in a long cone-shaped column atop a sturdy stem. Or so I thought. As the flowers opened their weight caused the stem to double over. They needed to be tied to a stake for support.
Aren’t we just like the lupin? As we blossom with ever greater achievements and success here in the earthly realm, the greater our need to be rooted in Christ. The heavier our workload or responsibilities become, the more we need to cling to Him and trust in his help lest we topple over.
Now my lupins have achieved their full potential. They are tied firmly to a support that will not fail despite a heavy rainfall or a heavy blossom. They bring pleasure and are a reward for my perseverance. They are also a Godly reminder that if I am to achieve my full potential I will need to lean on Christ and trust that he will catch me if I am about to fall.
D. Lim
To not only know, but also to be known. August 16, 2010
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“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.” “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.” Proverbs 26:4-5 (NIV)
As young believers, we often read the bible for information and instruction, looking for answers to the questions of life or, at the minimum, for a list of dos and don’ts. We want to live a good life pleasing to God. God’s Kingdom is a rather large and strange domain when we are standing at the threshold. After a while, some of us realize that the list has become too unwieldy and too burdensome for achieving anything remotely like a godly life and we drop that in favour of seeking the general principles for living. The Bible becomes a stream where we patiently pan for gold, blithely dumping back the mud and stones without a second thought.
This is why I love Proverbs 26:4-5. What great sense of humour God has to put these two proverbs side by side. It pokes fun at how we read the Bible and how we tend to break mystery into edible bits. In the end, we have no choice but to abandon our search for lists and principles and abide in God as His beloved children. To not only know but also to be known. To seek Him more than the answers.
So, how should we live? Does God want us to answer fools according to their folly or not? I think He wants us to be guided by who He is, not according to our human logic based on biblical lists and principles we wrote for ourselves.
Jesus’ invitation to us is “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29 (NIV)
C. Wong
A fool defined August 9, 2010
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“Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’
“Jesus replied, ‘Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?’ Then he said to them. ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’
“And he told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops’.
“Then he said, ‘this is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and all my goods, and I’ll say to myself . ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’
‘But God said to him, ‘you fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself.’
‘This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13-21 (NIV)
One day while Jesus was teaching, someone in the crowd shouted to him—not a question, but a request. “Make my brother divide the family inheritance with me!” This is a sadly typically scenario. A parent has died and the family is bickering over the estate. Jesus refused to get into this situation, but left the person, and all assembled, with a lesson. He told a story about a rich man—a first-century Donald Trump.
This rich man has a problem. He owns land that is so productive, that he no longer has space to store its produce. It keeps him up at night. It starts to stress him out. After much thought, he decides to tear down his storehouses and build bigger ones. A good idea and one that would gain the approval of anyone with an MBA.
What happens next, however, is a problem. The man looks at his achievements and breathes a huge sigh of relief and says, “Now I can relax! I’ve covered all of my bases and ensured a prosperous future for myself.”
Immediately, God confronts him and calls him a fool. Why? He’s done the prudent thing. Should he have kept his old barns and let the excess grain rot in the field?
Why all of a sudden is he a “fool”?
In the Bible, “fool” can mean several things. A fool can be someone who is, as we say, a “dim bulb,” “a few bricks short of a load,” or the “village idiot.” But most often, a fool is someone who lives without regard to God.
Psalm 53:1 says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
The passage goes on to say of fools, “They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.”
To leave God out of the mix leaves a person open to corruption because it leaves him or her with no basis for ethics apart from our own whims. This is the great danger of atheism, or secularism, or just plain indifference. The Bible’s approach is to remind us that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Psa. 111:10).
In the story Jesus told the quarrelling family member, the point is that it is folly to do anything and leave God out of the mix. And this is exactly what the rich man does. It’s not so much that he’s hostile to God, it’s just that he’s not paying attention to God. As a follower of Jesus, no decision in life is solely yours to make. Whether the choice before you concerns your job, your relationships, or building a barn, God wants—and needs—to be in the mix.
B. Irwin
Who Gets the Credit? August 2, 2010
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“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV)
I worked for many years in the field of corporate public relations. As part of my job I organized corporate sponsorships and oversaw corporate donations. The goal of both was the same: for our company to receive as much public recognition as possible for our money. This recognition came in many forms: advertising in event programs and advertising; our company logo emblazoned on athlete clothing and equipment; or public expressions of thanks.
But God’s view is radically different. He wants us to do good with no fanfare at all. He wants us to drop our addiction to doing good and getting credit for it. Consider the story of the prodigal son. Shouldn’t it really be titled: “The Forgiving Father?” Shouldn’t the dad get the credit for forgiving his son and throwing him a big party? But no, God places the focus on the prodigal son: the sinner in need of forgiveness. God wants us to identify with the sinner, not applaud the father. He wants us to recognize the prodigal son in each of us. Next time you write a cheque for charity, visit a friend in hospital or volunteer at church, do so quietly. God sees what you do and you will receive a far greater reward than earthly accolades.
D. Lim
Where To? July 26, 2010
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To trust is not always easy.
During our holidays my wife and I took a one-week road trip through the beautiful province of Quebec.
One of the items… or more specifically one of the gadgets that we took along was a GPS.
A GPS (Global Positioning System) is designed to give directions to the driver, both visually and audibly, assisting the driver to the desired destination. As we found out on our road trip it was a handy gadget to have, because not only did it give us directions, but it identified places of interest to visit, how long it would take to get from one place to the next…and of course the closest Tim Horton’s for the occasional pit stop!
As those who are familiar with GPS can confirm, there is an element of trust that is needed when using them. When the GPS had determined the route to the desired destination the decision was ours to either trust or reject the decision that the GPS had already made.
At one point on our journey, the GPS indicated that we should stay right, but I thought it would be better to turn left. Mistake! “Re-calculating, Re-calculating, Re-calculating” the voice said from the GPS. As I said, to trust is not always easy.
At another point in the journey, the GPS indicated that there was “severe traffic ahead” and re-routed us onto a different and unfamiliar route. We were glad we trusted – because it saved us from sitting in a traffic jam, saved us some time and allowed us to see a part of Montreal that we had not travelled through before.
There are benefits to trusting.
It occurred to me that our relationship with the triune God of grace also requires a response of trust on our part. In other words there is a response of trust that we need to make…to respond to a decision that God has already taken for us in Jesus Christ. Sort of like my GPS.
The good news of Christianity is that my existence has already been brought under God’s sovereign grace in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. The good news is that my destiny has already been laid hold of by Christ and determined by his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. I am saved not because of my own act of faith or decision, but according to the New Testament what has saved me is the obedience of Christ, and it is through his Spirit that I have a share in his obedience.* Thus my decision rests upon a decision already made for me…and for you…out of love on the cross and the empty tomb.
So will we trust? It is not always easy…sometimes there is “re-calculating” needed…but when we trust in what God in Christ has already done for us, our destination is assured.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
Pastor Ian McWhinnie
* T. Torrance Incarnation p.27
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