Blessed or a Blessing

Recently, I was reading about Joseph. You know about Joseph—spoilt, indulged, rich kid—favourite son of Jacob and Rachel. Sold by his jealous brothers to some Midianite traders on their way to Egypt, Joseph eventually rose from slave to ruler of all Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself.

Joseph went through some testing times, but never lost faith in God. Joseph’s parents may have spoilt him, and his brothers may have despised him, but God favoured him.

How do we feel when God favours our friends? When He showers them with gifts, or puts them in positions of honour? Do we rejoice with them and join in their excitement, or do we react like Joseph’s brothers with bitterness and jealousy because God doesn’t do the same for us?

My best friend of thirty-plus years is a great example of just how much God blesses and favours His children in very tangible ways. When Jan’s husband died suddenly from a heart attack at the age of fifty-one, she lost everything—the family business, their car, and their home. Yet around this same time, a ‘granny flat’ at the rear of a local Christian organization became vacant and my friend had a roof over her head.

Not long after that, she came into some money and was able to buy a new car.
About four years ago, my youngest daughter and her husband were looking for someone to rent a property they’d bought in the local area and guess who, at the same time, was about to have to move from the ‘granny flat’ because the Christian organization was going to be sold and would once again be homeless—yes, my friend.

As a result, Jan went from living in a converted garage with a tin roof—stifling hot in summer and freezing cold in winter—to a lovely three-bedroom house with a greenhouse, a rose garden and plenty of room for a vegetable garden. My friend was now worried how she would furnish her new home—the few pieces of furniture she had wouldn’t go very far, but the Father never does anything by half and she soon had more furniture than she knew what to do with.

A couple of years ago I won a new flat-screen TV at my work’s Christmas party. I had no use for a second TV, but guess who’s TV had just died? There are so many other instances where the Lord has showered blessings upon my friend—sometimes small, and sometimes…well, sometimes huge. Like last year when my youngest daughter and her husband were going to England with their three children to visit my son-in-law’s relatives. They paid for my friend’s ticket so she could go with them and visit her brother who had not long had major heart surgery.

Am I jealous of her? No, of course not, but I must admit, I sometimes ask God why He seems to bless her so regularly. I can almost hear Him chuckle as He says, “Well, you gave her the TV, it was your children who paid for her trip to England, and it was you who gave her extra money to take with her.”

I sigh and try to argue (albeit halfheartedly) that we didn’t really have much choice in the matter because it was He who had laid it on our hearts to do those things.

God blesses us every day and sometimes we’re too busy to notice. My friend notices though, and loves telling people just how much God blesses her. Some people will just shrug and put it down to coincidence—sadly, even Christians. We can bless others too, with our prayers, with our words and with our actions.

Blessed or a blessing? I think we’re definitely both.

Christ was alone so we won't be.

Has it ever felt to you that God was far away? Sometimes this can be a result of our own straying from Him and other times it’s just not explainable. One night recently, I awoke with a real sense of terror. It was as if some malevolent force was pressing in on me. The Bible talks about this very thing in Psalm 91:5 when it says, “You will not be afraid of the terror by night”, well, let me tell you, I was afraid—but not for long, because the Holy Spirit brought this verse to mind, and the moment I prayed, asking the Father to shelter me under the shadow of His wing, and surround me with His angels, the sense of evil went away.

And yet, our feeling apart from God is not necessarily a bad thing—especially when it makes us run to Him for forgiveness or protection. It all seems to be part of our living as imperfect creatures in a fallen world. We may not like it but it is part of our condition. Not so, however, with Jesus.

Jesus lived in perfect agreement with his Father, an unbroken consciousness of His presence—absolute light and no darkness—until Passover, when he was about 33 years old. That day, he suffered the horror of being forsaken and abandoned by his Father. This is the one and only time in the gospels that Jesus doesn't call God "Father".

It is as if the entire mass of the darkness of the sins of the world had descended on Jesus and completely blotted out the light of his Father's love, support and presence. God has turned His back. Not because He was repulsed by His Son, but because at that time, His son was bearing the hideous weight of our sin and rebellion against God. Something God, in His holiness, cannot look upon. The Amplified Bible puts it this way, “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which means, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me [deserting Me and leaving Me helpless and abandoned]?” Mark 15:34

Jesus suffered absolute separation from God. And he did it for us. He went through it so we wouldn't have to. If we ever think we don't need Christ’s grace and mercy, if we think we are good enough by our own efforts, then we scoff at His indescribable suffering.

Christ suffered all of this, so we can enjoy not only the pleasures of heaven, but also His presence for eternity.

Grandchildren are your reward...for not strangling your kids!

Today is the 22nd day of Autumn, and the temperature is a beautiful 74 degrees. This is a stark contrast to Saturday when it was 98.6.

Saturday was my youngest of five grandchildren's 3rd birthday. Eliza had been up since dawn and was making the most of the day. Helium balloons covered the ceiling like an upside down garden of pink flowers, and a pile of presents sat in one corner of the room waiting for the children to wear themselves out enough to sit quietly while the birthday girl opened her gifts.

Apart from Eliza's older brother and sister, Sam aged 5 and Bella aged 8, there were 10 adults and 11 children in various stages of meltiness when the air-conditioner decided it couldn't cope. The children, as usual, fared much better than the adults and ran around like lunatics. The only time they slowed down was when they were eating and when my oldest granddaughter, thirteen-year-old Emma, organised a game of "Dead Ants". This is a wonderful game, which I am sure all the parents appreciated. Emma counted to five and shouted, "Dead Ants." The kids all had to drop to the ground where they were and not move or make a sound until she said, "Ants alive."

Needless to say, there was a lot of giggling coming from the dead ants as they waited for their resurrection and could chase one another around the lounge room until the command 'dead ants' was once again given.

The birthday girl announced today, that she wanted another party because the other one was so much fun and her friends could all come again and they would eat cake and ice cream, but they didn't need to bring her more presents.

This coming Thursday, Eliza starts pre-school one day a week. That she is looking forward to going is an understatement, for one day last week, she woke at midnight, dressed herself, put on her school hat and her backpack, picked up her lunch bag and demanded that her daddy, who was still up watching TV, take her to school. Daddy did manage to convince her that the teachers were all asleep, but not until he took her into the backyard and showed her the moon and stars.

Children grow up far too quickly. Eliza is my baby, and I doubt there will be any more grandchildren-unless God decides otherwise-and in two years time when she goes to big school, my services as a babysitter will no longer be required except when Mummy needs to go shopping on her own.

Psalm 127:3 says, "Behold, children are a gift of the LORD," and I reckon with Grandchildren that goes double. So, in the meanwhile, I'll continue to thank God for them. I'll continue to pray that they each come to a saving knowledge of Christ, and I will love them, play with them and generally let them twist me around their little (and sometimes not so little) fingers.

How Do You Celebrate Lent?

Believe it or not, the custom of Lent has been around for some 4000 years. Many people, both Christians and non-Christians, think Lent is taught in the Bible, that it is taken from Christ’s forty days of being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, it is not.

Lent is a period of 40 days self-denial commencing on Ash Wednesday. The word “Lent” comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word “Lencten” which means the “spring” of the year (Encyclopedia Britannica).

Why the confusion? Well, according to Cassian in the fifth century, “there was no observance of Lent; but when men began to decline from the apostolic fervor of devotion, then the priests in general agreed to recall them from secular cares by a canonical law of fasting…” (Antiquities of the Christian Church Book 21, chapter 1)

Fasting, or abstaining from certain foods, was imposed AFTER the days of the apostles—by the authority of the priests.

Lent is not of Biblical origin. It did not originate with Christ. It entered the Roman World of Christianity in the second century.

Lent however, goes back much further, and is mentioned in the Old Testament. It was part of the annual festival in commemorating the death and resurrection of Tammuz, the pagan Babylonian Messiah. For forty days prior to the feast of Tammuz, the pagans held their Lenten season. Ezekiel describes it vividly in Ezekiel 8:13-14.

But why did the church at Rome institute such a pagan holiday?

Alexander Hislop, in his book “The Two Babylons” wrote, “To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity—now far sunk in idolatry—in this as in so many other things, to shake hands”.

The Roman church replaced Passover with Easter, moving the pagan Feast of Tammuz to early spring, “Christianizing” it. Lent moved with it.

Hislop also says, “This change of the calendar in regard to Easter was attended with momentous consequences. It brought into the Church the grossest corruption and the rankest superstition in connection with the abstinence of Lent’”

But what does it matter if Easter and lent are ancient pagan festivals, isn’t it okay if we use them to honor Christ? It doesn’t matter what we thinks, it DOES matter what God thinks.

God warned the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 12:30-32, “30 and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." 31 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. 32 See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

Should we accept, encourage and try and sanitize something God calls an abomination? Or do we like Joshua declare “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 12:24)