It’s church for kiwis, just because.
LoveAny living creature must love. Love can be presented in many different ways. There is loving your partner, loving your boyfriend, loving your annoying little sister, loving your friends, and even loving your dog! Love is one of the most important parts of life. God created us to love, so it is important to love the things, people, and places he made for us. But most of all, it is important to love God.
What is The Bible? The Bible is the book of God. There are two parts to The Bible. The first is called the old testament, and the second is the new testament. In The Bible, you can find stories before Jesus came to earth, and after. ( The old is before and new testament is after.) So how can we trust The Bible? Well, in The Bible, there are different writers. Some of the writers had directly seen Jesus, or had even been one of his close followers, and other writers had written what others had said to them. So many people have witnessed the same thing and written about it. When you read The Bible, all of the stories link together and have many things in common. The Bible is the most important book in the world, now, then, and forever.
What does it take to overcome corruption?
Honesty. Trust.
But, more than anything, it takes courage:
Courage, to step out of the darkness;
Courage, to step into the light.
Light hurts the eyes, when our eyes have adjusted to the dark,
But our eyes can adjust back again to the light.
The greatest courage is found when we face ourselves:
When we set our eyes on God, beyond ourselves, and emerge out of hiding into a new way of life.
Have courage. Have faith. Be loved.
Step into the Light.
What is the immense worth and beauty of Light?
Light shines in the Darkness.
Light undoes the Darkness.
A single beam of Light overcomes the threat of utter gloom.
If we move into the Light, the Light can evoke our vision into brilliant clarity.
A violent husband can see himself, and quickly change his ways.
An unfaithful wife can see herself, and change her mind.
A bullying brother can take his sister’s hand.
A gossiping sister can channel her words into goodness.
An absent father can turn back to empower his children.
A dominating mother can step back to allow her children’s voices to rise.
A nation can talk with another nation,
And both nations, together, can choose to disarm.
The Light is shining in the Darkness, but will the Darkness understand it?
Light calls for action; Light calls for change.
Light calls us to be more than we are: to become better than we already are.
Light seeks to illuminate the Darkness, and to utterly undo it.
We, humanity, stand at a cross-roads:
We stand with one foot in light, and one foot in darkness.
The Light, eventually, must have its way.
One way or other, the Light must undo the Darkness.
We ourselves can choose the Light.
We ourselves can seek out the greater Way.
We can make the Light our Ally.
We can enter into the higher Way.
The World lives perched between light and darkness,
But the Light is waiting.
Lift up the Light, for all to see.
Let the Light shine in the Darkness.
There is a higher Way; there is a better Way.
God is the Light of the World.
In the hard times, there is comfort.
In the testing times, comfort.
In the trials, comfort.
Love beckons, and calls.
Love draws us out of ourselves into safety.
Love pulls us to higher ground.
God is Love.
Why is it more of a blessing to give than to receive?
Giving is the essence of our life and souls – our purpose; our fulfilment.
But to really give, we must first receive.
The baby must suck from his mother’s breast;
The child must grasp her daddy’s stronger hand.
The youth must wrestle with his father’s guidance.
The young adult must stand in vulnerable freedom, cheered on by her mother.
The independent adult must think, and feel, and test, and know that he and she is loved by her brothers and sisters, amidst the testing.
The middle aged adult (That’s me, folks!) must give.
It’s more of a blessing to give than to receive, you see:
It is the realization of all of the life that came before.
Life is to be passed on, in all its fullness: in all its beauty, and struggle, and profundity.
So, then: why not pass it on?
I’m struck today about family.
Family is a powerful force: we can make or break each other, just with a few words.
We can bring life or death, simply with the way we choose to spend our time.
Family is potent: family is strength, or weakness;
the roots of our identity, or our downfall.
But I am also now being struck by time.
Is time really money? Is time not also love?
Our most precious resource: the outworking of our very lives?
The evidence of our most precious treasure?
Time is the currency of our souls.
So, then: on the one hand family; on the other hand, time.
Family, the potential of a life-giving force;
Time, the price paid to be that force.
How will you spend your time today?
Who is your family?