Saturday 17 June 2017

We are all so unique

We are all individuals and all unique - something that has come home to roost with my brain this week.

How can God in this vast universe with our planet just the tiniest speck in the hemisphere know or even care about one unique individual with all our faults and foibles?

Well He does! How about this is Psalm 147?

"He counts the number of the stars and calls them all by name - He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds - He lifts up the humble and takes pleasure in those whose hope is in His mercy!"

WOW!! all that in one Psalm - God knows when we fall and when we are really struggling - He knows when we feel we just can't go on and we feel like giving up.

Everyone is unique in their own way - some, like me, have tried to blend in with the majority but here we are - we are all still unique! Some people actually 'wallow'in their uniqueness - they accept who they are and are unconcerned with any 'labels' the world might try to stick on them.

How many times have we tried to 'fit the mold' of the world and then get depressed because we just can't - speaking personally I have tried countless times to try to fit in - I've tried to change myself and my lifestyle all to no avail whatsoever - I am just different - I feel it and I know it. Are you the same?

What makes us unique? Well, we can be anything - we can be introspective, or an idealist or caring & hospitable - maybe driven by success or spontaneous in our life and thinking. Maybe  an extrovert or an OCD specialist.

Whatever is in our genes can make us individual and unique we can be funny, intense, boring even threatening. We can be pacifists or violent - we can be a daydreamer or a go-getter. Our entire makeup can be in-built or learnt from an early age.

God says that He knows all about us in Luke 12: 7 God says that the very hairs on our head are numbered - that means that he is intimately aware of every aspect of our life - our uniqueness and our individuality.

In families most of us are unique and we love our children for their uniqueness - so just imagine how God loves us even the more. After all He created us with our uniqueness and all of our differences.

God even says in the Scriptures that we are indeed one body of believers but that one body is made up of many vital parts or individuals. God is saying here that we are indeed all different.

God has wired us all differently to that there is no question! but He also says that each of us are wonderfully yet fearfully made. Made in the likeness of God Himself - so if you see yourself just as as ordinary or even above average - then take a closer look.

Look at your individuality through the eyes of God - you are the result of a divine creation and that truth is overwhelming - You are God's UNIQUE design.

God's design goes way beyond physical appearance - it even transcends the dimensional, setting us all apart as the most amazing and unique of God's Creation. Even in the face of the evolution theory that we have all grown up with, we as humans are vastly unique.

So even if you feel you are in a minority group in this topsy turvy world of ours - take heart - you are indeed unique probably in more ways than you will ever know.

God bless you this week as you look again at your uniqueness and then praise God for those very special things that go to make you the person you are.

Thursday 1 June 2017

Seeing the heart

Have you heard of the saying "Talking the talk but not walking the walk" - well that can just about sum it up for a lot of us Christians.

Many of us are in that situation as Christians and that was brought home to me just recently as I sat in church listening to a pretty blistering sermon.

Many of us just go from day to day - many of us don't even think about what it cost God to send His Son to die for us - Many of us live completely different lives from Monday through Saturday as we may do on a Sunday when we put on the face mask and become HOLY.

I include myself in this situation so please don't think I am judging anyone when I say this . The whole idea of this blog is to accurately as possible write down how the Lord is dealing in my life and to be completely honest in that valuation.

So here we have it - do I just talk the talk without really walking the walk??

I wonder how my non Christian friends would react if they heard the lyrics of songs I sing as I worship in church?

Would they nod in agreement, having seen me living the truth that I profess on a Sunday? Or would they shake their heads in amazement at the way I am able to turn my Christian commitment on and off as it suits me?

Do you sometimes feel like a Christian impersonator? You know the right words to say, the right things to do in church and the right image to present to the world - but are you just putting on an act?

If so, your performance may be good to fool the people around you, but there's one who can see straight through you and into your heart.

If our faith isn't pure and genuine God knows it.  Maybe it is time for us to look at whether we are being hypocrites to ourselves and to our Creator God.

In Amos chapter 5 and verses 21-24 God signals very much what He hates and despises and guess what?? Hypocrisy is way up there on His hit list.

Yes! when we put on a face and live completely different lives to what we profess as being Christians then that is exactly what it is - Hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is not only loathsome to God but it also has a HUGE negative impact on any unbelievers and it can totally ruin churches, dividing and splitting Christian communities.

Our hypocrisy can cause other people to doubt the very saving grace of Jesus and His amazing ability to change lives for the good.

As I am writing this blog I am becoming more and more aware of just how slack I have been personally and I have been praying right now that God will cleanse my heart and forgive me of my sin of hypocrisy and that He will come afresh into my life and fill me anew with his Holy Spirit.

I have been really thinking hard about the way I live. That is the things I say versus the things I do - do they line up?

We can't possibly change this on our own - I'm not even going to try. It is only through the very strength of God that we have any hope of changing.

Hypocrisy is a tricky thing  - Its so easy to spot in another persons life but really hard to spot in our own - I have been so convicted lately of this very thing! I have deiced that the very time I am tempted to dismiss someone as being a hypocrite then I am going to turn the spotlight fully on me.

We can't go easy on ourselves here - and it certainly won't be an easy process.

Thinking all of this through, Our best bet is to cut the act completely and ask God to work in our hearts so that we can serve Him, worship him and live for Him with every part of our being.

God bless you this week as you take up the challenge and rid yourself of any hypocrisy in your life.

Repent of the past and turn to Him - asking Him to take over your life completely, holding nothing back.



Human love - super romantic and amazing!

Sometimes it is hard to give up on something you love - especially when that impinges on your family or your life in so many different ways ...