Category: Thought for the week

We are now in the exam season when many of our young people – including my daughters – are taking GCSEs, A levels or other exams. Like many others, my girls need to achieve certain grades in order to progress with their career choices. But what about life? What if there is a grade we need to achieve to get into Heaven? The Bible tells us that we have all missed the mark, none of us have achieved the required grade. So what is the pass mark? Perfection – 100%! Now that doesn’t seem fair – I’m a good person, surely 80% would be enough? God isn’t a stern examiner who deliberately sets a standard we can’t reach. He is a loving God who wants to have a relationship with us forever – now and in Heaven when we die. So he has provided a way that we can have that relationship with him – Jesus. Romans chapter 3 verses 23-24 says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” Jesus has given his life so that we can be given the pass mark we need. Verse 22 says, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”
Wendy Hill
King’s Lynn Christian Fellowship

A recent newspaper article recorded the resignation of Sir Paul Coleridge, an eminent high court judge for daring to publicly support traditional marriage as the ideal environment for raising children, an opinion supported by statistics. He had spent years in the high court, presiding over many divorce cases and had seen the effects of the breakups on the children, but because he expressed his opinions, he was reprimanded by the Lord Chief Justice and on protesting, was reprimanded again, prompting his resignation. I thought, how sad, in a country famed for its freedom of speech and expression!
But then I was reminded of Jesus Christ. If ever there was a man who spoke his mind, it was he! He was utterly un-PC. He was only interested in truth and he spoke it fearlessly. He was totally opposed to hypocrisy and falsehood, to the proud and the arrogant, while reaching out to the poor, the sick, the needy and the broken-hearted with compassion and healing.
But he was hated for it, beaten, lashed and crucified. The worst atrocities man could devise were executed against him and yet, as he died, he could say “Father, forgive them!” That’s why the Bible says “He bore our sins in his own body on the cross” so that as we trust and believe in him, we can know God’s forgiveness and peace.
He has changed countless millions of lives and is still doing so today – what a man!
Tim P, KLCF

Why Pentecost?
BY TONY KENDALL
The Church in the Woottons

Like London buses, our bank holidays come in clusters – several close together followed by none for ages. The Christmas cluster was followed by the Easter and May bunch, and with the exception of one in late August there are no more on the national calendar until Christmas Day.
Many of England’s bank holidays have a religious origin. The word ‘holiday’ is a derivation of the original title ‘holy day’, which explains why banks closed for the day – and still do in spite of most stores opening in response to public demand. The recent Spring bank holiday, which until 1971 was a movable feast on the Monday following Whitsun seven weeks after Easter, typifies how the rhythm of the year based on the Christian story has gradually diminished since World War 2.
However, we can still celebrate! The name Whitsun has been replaced by the much more meaningful Pentecost, which this year falls on Sunday 8th June. Stemming from a Jewish festival 50 days after the Passover, it’s the most significant Christian occasion after Christmas and Easter.
Why? Because it marks the birthday of the Church. Soon after Jesus Christ the Son of God had returned to heaven, having lived for 33 years as a man before enduring a cruel death and rising again, God sent his Holy Spirit at Pentecost to inspire Jesus’s disciples to continue his work on earth. That same Spirit lives today in the hearts of all who are prepared to serve and love him. Contact your local church to learn more!

“But I’ll never be able to play that!” Trayson wails, pointing emphatically to his music. “I don’t even know what that sideways “V” means!”

“That sideways ‘V’ is an accent mark,” I tell my young piano student. “It says to play with extra force. Listen.” I perform the measure, giving the accented note more muscle. “You’re so strong, I know you can do that.”

Trayson sits up straighter. “I am pretty strong,” he admits. He now attacks the accented notes, and before long has it mastered.

That night, I mentally replay the conversation and laugh. Don’t my piano students realize I know their exact capabilities and weaknesses? I taught them everything they know about piano. Why do they think they know better than me? Why do they assume they will fail? As their teacher, I would never give him any song too hard to learn.

Like a sforzando, an unexpected note that sings out of nowhere, God speaks to my heart. And how are you any different? He whispers. I know you intimately. I created you. I see the big picture, yet you insist you know better. Trust me, my precious one, I would never give you a song you couldn’t learn.

In the music of my life, I pray I never look at a problem and tell God it’s too much. As the master conductor, all beautiful melodies come from Him, perfectly orchestrated to my abilities and spiritual heartbeat. After all, He only gives me songs I can learn.

–Crystal Kupper, The Gateway Church

We’re in bank holiday season, which traditionally is the time for us to get down to our local DIY store and then, heroically, pretend to be carpenters, plumbers, painters and decorators. For me, DIY is a pastime associated with trauma and minor injuries, made worse by living in a house that is nearly 200 years old and makes the Leaning Tower of Pisa look structurally sound.

However, even in these moments of frustration, it’s possible to reflect on one’s relationship with God. And three things spring to mind. The first is that it’s good to persevere. The Bible says “I press on towards the goal for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”. It’s easy to lose heart, to get distracted, to take the easy way out or to settle for a bodged job, but we’re encouraged to keep going on regardless of the toughness of the task. And whilst I’ll get frustrated with myself when my DIY skills fail me, God is patient, loving and forgives when we ask.

The second is that sometimes we need help. I have strong memories of trying to build boats out of balsa wood in my dad’s garage, but in particular I remember getting stroppy when my Dad tried to help. I wanted to do it myself, even if the boat sank. The Bible says “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”. We love and crave independence, and sometimes that’s a good thing (my Dad was proud to see me leave home for university), but an independence that excludes God is an independence that may never build things in the way He intended.

And the third lesson? Every time I use a spirit level on my house and compare that with the wonky angles on each wall, floor and ceiling, I’m reminded that the foolish man builds his house upon the sand.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I am against being against and for being for!
Being ‘against’ as a way of life is poisonous. It poisons the people around us and it is corrosive to our well-being. It makes enemies, not friends. It makes excuses for avoidance – not reasons to reach out. It condemns others as the cause of our misfortune – instead of facing up to our realities and doing something positive about them. It leads to jealousy – instead of gratitude for what we have.
Being ‘for’ means looking for the good in someone else – regardless. Being ‘for’ means not being afraid to say sorry – to say ‘help’ – to say, ‘come in’. It looks at differences in other people and wants to find out more about them. It means tolerance and forgiveness. But above all it means looking forward with excitement and back with thanks.
The older I get the more rewarding I am finding life. The older I get, the fewer are the things that annoy me and the greater is my joy at the wonders around me – the wonder of family, friends, work. The wonder of the song of a bird (cockerels at 5 in the morning excluded!), of blue skies and sunshine, of gentle rain on a spring garden, advances in science that free us and heal us, of finding the time to settle to read or watch something that we like. The list is endless if we are ‘for’ – limited and grey and angry if we are ‘against’
So take a look in the mirror and look at the face that the world sees. Is it a face that welcomes or a scowl that rejects?
Are YOU an against – or a for?

John Belfield
RC

I suppose that most of us need to stand in a queue sometimes, whether it be at a bus stop, an airport check in or a supermarket checkout, but we would never do that if we did not have a clear idea of what was available to us at the front, and a willingness to pay the price to obtain it.
The Bible makes some amazing offers to anyone who is willing to claim them but, as you may have noticed, there are not may queues outside churches! The offers include, a life free of anxiety and fear, regardless of the circumstances around us; a sense of belonging through a close personal relationship with the Creator of the universe; and a reserved place in a state of uninterrupted peace and joy for ever when we leave this life, “acceptance guaranteed, no examination required!”
Worth queuing for? That depends on the price. The price is that we put our trust in Jesus and what He did for us, rather than in our own merits, and the Bible reveals why there are so few “claimants”. It says that “people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths…..it all sounds foolishness to them2 (New Living Translation). In other words, to anyone looking at it from the outside, the benefits are invisible. But it also states “to all who received him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
Care to join the queue?

Jeff Trimingham

“Your faith is just a crutch,” is an accusation that has been levelled at me before. It is has been one of those things that presses my buttons. No one likes the thought of being unable to stand on their own two feet. I haven’t been a burden to anyone and have worked hard to get where I am! But as I gain wisdom from my life experiences I look around at other people. What is a crutch? Well, anything that supports you and helps take the weight off a tiring and sometimes difficult life. Perhaps it is the drink that helps you unwind at the end of the day or week. Or the mates that you catch up with in the pub or the football field. Perhaps it is the dogged commitment to your club, your golf or your ageing relative that gives you a sense of pride or duty.

Is there anything wrong with a crutch? Well, that depends, but when you bring God into the equation you are starting to rely on someone else bigger than yourself. It’s the point you start to admit that I don’t really have it all together. Is it easy? Not at first – but perhaps it is time to admit, at least to myself, that everyone has a crutch. So yes it is a crutch – a loving God who wants the best for me, his Son prepared to die on a cross for me – what an awesome crutch!

Graham
Kings Lynn Christian Fellowship

As I write this, the sun has just come out after a heavy downpour (another one!). There are bulbs poking out of the soaked ground and tiny buds appearing on the trees – surely spring is getting closer. There is something very hope inspiring about spring. Dark nights start giving way to light evenings and summer feels not so far away! Life can feel very dark at times and we desperately want to see the sunshine again. I don’t know what difficulties you are facing right now, maybe you feel you have lost hope. There is a verse in the Bible where God says “I will turn your valley of trouble into a door of hope”. However dark our lives may feel, God offers us hope. What is this hope? Not a vague wish that something will change, but the expectation of good. We read in the Bible that God says that he has plans for us, plans to give us a hope and a future. This world we live in doesn’t offer us much hope. The saying goes that there are no certainties in life except death and taxes! In a world of uncertainty the Bible talks about hope being an anchor – something to keep us secure in the midst of the storm. Where do we find this hope? Only in Jesus. He is the One who promises us hope for this life and for eternity. Meet Him at a church near you!

Wendy Hill
King’s Lynn Christian Fellowship