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Thought for the Day by Phil Washington (BH Member)Why so much hatred? ‘The acts of the flesh are obvious.....hatred, discord...factions.’ Galatians 5:19 What saddens me so much about our current world situation, is not so much the pandemic, or the climate crisis, nor even the hatred that we see between individuals, groups and nations. What gets me is the belief that we can fix all these problems! The optimism of mankind, bearing in mind the dreadful track record so far, is utterly staggering - don't you think? Take human hatred for example. 'All you need is love' sang the Beatles at the start of the 'Make love, not war' hippy generation. A few years later those four fabulous friends were at each others throats. It's the same wherever you look isn't it? Why can't we just get along? Why has there been, and continues to be war and hatred in all it's ugly manifestations? The writers of the (wonderful) Heidelberg Catechism of 1594, showed far more sense when they wrote 'I am by nature prone to hate God and my neighbour' (Question 5). It sounds rather harsh to our (woke-ish) ears doesn't it? But what they were teaching was biblical truth. God's Word tells us that we are bent upon hatred. It festers in all of our hearts in some form or another. As Galatians 5:19 teaches us, it's an act of our (fallen) nature. So, don't be over optimistic for world peace, or for a Utopian society. Rather seek a new heart, a new nature, that will (naturally) bear the fruit of peace and righteousness. That new heart and nature is the gift of God to all who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. 'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you' Ezekiel 36:26 Brighton and Hove City Mission
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Thought for the Day by Chris Dalton (BH Member)It’s not where you start... I wonder what you think these Bible characters have in common... Solomon, Asa, Joash, Demas. The first 3 are Old testament kings and the last a New Testament disciple. All of them started out well but sadly they didn’t finish well! There are many others sadly who could be on this list. Solomon – the wisest man of his time and still fêted for his wisdom, at the end of his life turned away from God, “For when Solomon was old...Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and...Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites...” 1 Kings 11:4 – 8 Asa and Joash were both good kings at the beginning of their reigns following God but they ended up putting their trust in other things and Demas is spoken of by Paul when he wrote to Timothy [2 Timothy 4:9] as a deserter who was ‘in love with this present world’. It’s so sad when we hear about those who have been obeying God that they’ve turned away from Him. We probably all know people who have backslidden or wandered away from God. I’m not going to go into a discussion about whether those who are saved can ever be lost because that’s not my purpose in writing this...I just want to remind us all of the need to keep going!! The Bible does also give us examples of godly men and women who did persevere. Hurrah!! My favourite is Caleb – one of the spies Moses sent into Canaan when he was about 40, who even at 85 was still wholeheartedly following God, trusting Him and eager to claim all God had promised him. Do read about him in Numbers 14:6 – 14 and be encouraged. The finish line is just ahead and although we don’t know how long our individual race will be we do know the end point and the prize – heaven! Let’s finish well😊 Sussex Gospel PartnershipThought for the Day by Dave Howarth |
Mental Health Awareness 2021
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