Category: Devotions

Tuesday 4^th

James 4:1-12

NIV (vv6-8) – ‘But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded’.

ESV (vv6-8) – ‘ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.’

These three verses give us a number of statements, which we will look at, the first being ‘But he gives more grace’, this comes after James has written what my ESV has labelled as a ‘warning against worldliness’, he is describing what has become the upside down or back to front thinking of the believers he is writing to, sometimes they do not have what they need because they do not ask for it, but at other times they ask but do not have because their motives in asking are wrong, it is for personal passions rather than for the glory of God. James makes a strong statement, ‘Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?’ (v4) It is a strong statement but also a very much needed statement, and I want to suggest it is much needed today, where sadly many who claim to love God also want to love the things of the world, its passions, its selfish ambition, and that which is dishonouring to a life that claims to have been made anew or born again by the Spirit of God. James continues in the same verse to say ‘Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?’ we cannot claim to love God and to love the things of this world at the same time, the gospel, the message of the Cross requires us to make significant choices and important changes, it requires us to separate ourselves from all that has the appearance of evil, it requires us to surrender our all to the will of God. It requires us to decide either for the things of God or the pleasures of the world, we cannot straggle, we cannot sit on the fence, we cannot attempt to indulge in both and expect blessing, we need as the challenge came from Joshua to ‘Choose this day who you will serve’, and my prayer is that we will all respond with ‘as for me and my house we will serve the Lord’.

It is not easy living as a Christian in today’s society, especially the younger generation with all it has to attract, with pressure from peers and with the rising hostility there is toward a biblical perspective on morality and righteousness, but James tells us here that if we ask God will give, and on this occasion, we need to ask for grace to live in an anti-Christian society, grace to strengthen, grace to help us to endure, grace to enable us to stand, grace to help us to boldly declare that we are on the Lord’s side.

He gives more grace, the context of this continues in the rest of these verses, but for today in what area do you need more grace, the Scripture tells us that ‘where sin abounds, his grace abounds more’ it means that as we are living as sinners saved by grace, in this world that is dominated by sinfulness, God will give us grace upon grace to enable us to stand tall as his children, grace upon grace to strengthen, grace to keep, grace to help in time of need. Grace to say no to friendship with the world and grace to keep us in fellowship with God himself.

He gives more grace – need it? Then ask for it and receive more grace in your life today.  

Monday May 3^rd

James 3:13-18

NIV (v17) – ‘But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.’

ESV (v17) – ‘But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.’

What is wisdom? From a purely intellectual perspective it is described as ‘the ability to use one’s experience and knowledge to make sensible decisions or judgments’.^* But when we come to wisdom in a biblical sense we are looking at something that is far superior to human wisdom, we are considering that which comes from God himself, it is more than just acting from experience and knowledge, it is gaining an understanding from God into areas where we may not even have any knowledge or experience.

When I came to this verse, I remembered a phrase I recently read and looked to find it, used at a Keswick Convention way back in 1904, ‘There is a great difference between wisdom and knowledge. Some people who are wise know little, and some who know a great deal are unwise. Knowledge is information-it is an acquisition, an accumulation; but wisdom is a personal characteristic.’^{^}

Earlier in his letter James has said ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.’ There are times for all of us when we need to act wisely, where we need wisdom for a situation, and even if we may be knowledgeable in so many areas the knowledge does not furnish us with the answer we need at that particular time, and suddenly God gives a flash of inspiration and we speak wisdom into the situation, it helps to dispel what may have been a difficult situation or it helps to meet the need of an individual or circumstance. Knowledge and wisdom although different are also sometimes linked together, I remember a situation where I firmly believe that God gave me a word of knowledge about a person who had suddenly walked into the Church where I was leading and going to be speaking, and as soon as I had received this word of knowledge I knew that if what I had gained as knowledge was correct, I would need godly wisdom to deal with it as well, and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, what I believe could have been a very difficult situation was deflected and the service continued without any problems. It is in 1 Corinthians 12 that we read of the spiritual gifts and two of them are the gift of the word of knowledge and the gift of the word of wisdom (vv7-11).

In the Old Testament we read that God had said to Solomon that he could ask for anything he wanted, and Solomon asked for wisdom, he could have asked for anything, but he knew that in the calling of God upon his life, above all he would need wisdom, and God granted him his desire and he became known as the wisest man (besides Jesus) who has ever walked on this earth, the wisdom God gave him not only allowed him to reign as a wise King but it enabled him to gain knowledge in so many areas.

We need wisdom, all of us, and we can gain wisdom through our experiences in life, but we can also get wisdom, by coming to God and asking for it, for ‘the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.’

^{*Collins English Dictionary}

^{^ Christ our wisdom from God. Dr. A. T. Pierson Keswick Convention 1904}

Friday 30^th

James 3:1-12

NIV (v5) – ‘Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.’

ESV (v5) – ‘So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!’

I mentioned back on Friday the 23^rd about what do we immediately call to mind when we think of the book of James, and I said that I think about his emphasis on faith and works and of the tongue. Here he has something important to say, ‘the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest fire is set ablaze by such a small fire!’ We know what James is saying, it only takes a spark to get a fire glowing and if it is a spark in the wrong place, it can have devastating effects. We see it do we not every year when we have a prolonged dry spell and a fire breaks out on the moors and mountains with incredible power, destroying everything in its path until it can finally be put out.

James is clear here in this Scripture that the tongue although a small part of the human anatomy can be incredibly powerful. Sadly, it too can often be like that little spark that starts the mountain fire that rages, causing destruction along the way.

Back in chapter 1:26 James had said, ‘If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridal his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.’ Remember also we considered a few days ago where he says that we need to be slow to speak and quick to listen, I wonder how often we can each look back over our lives and think of moments when we wish we had kept our mouth shut, we said something that we have lived to regret, the tongue was used to create a spark and the fire raged, maybe out of control and the effects are still being felt and known. It may have been a spiteful word, it may have been an unfounded accusation, it may have been a lie, a false statement or even a promise we knew we had no intention of keeping and as a result, others have been hurt and may still be hurting. Maybe it has prevented someone from entering the kingdom of God!

I once knew of a person who was the most dreadful gossip you could ever have known; this person would gossip about anyone and everything, if there was anything to be known about anyone, this person would be the source to go to! Gossip fits exactly what James means by a spark that sets a fire burning, for gossip is often based upon rumour, unverified information and it becomes contagious as the gossiped gossip is gossiped further, it spreads like a devastating fire, and the sad thing is it is causing damage, it is causing hurt, it can be a form of character assassination. But we must not just think in terms of gossip and other synonyms linked to it but what about a blasphemous word, an unkind word, a hateful word, a lie or untruth, an idle word as Jesus refers to in Matthew 12:36 or an oath as referred to in Matthew 5:33-37.

In Proverbs we read, ‘whoever guards his mouth preserves his life’ (13:3) and in Matthew 15 we read that what comes out of our mouths is the fruit of what is to be found in our hearts, David made this prayer ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in the sight O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Psalm 19:14) May we as James suggests, learn to control our tongues and may this be our prayer that that which comes from our hearts and out through our lips will be acceptable to God, may we use the tongue to build up and not to destroy, to encourage and not to put down, to bless and not to curse, to speak forth the praises of him who has brought us out of darkness into the most glorious light.

Thursday 29^th

James 2:14-26

NIV (v17) – ‘In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’

ESV (17) – ‘So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’

Many see James as being in contradiction to Paul in his theology because Paul emphasized being saved by faith and not of works and James seems to emphasize both faith and works. Both are right and it is important to understand the context of both. Simply summed up Paul says that works will never save us, this prevents man from boasting that he has earned his salvation because it is by faith in the work that Christ has done on our behalf at Calvary, James would agree wholeheartedly with Paul, but adds that once we have been justified by faith it should be evident by the people we have become and by the things that we do. In other words, pre-salvation, we would have been living for self, but post-salvation we no longer live for self but have a genuine interest and concern for others, which is demonstrated by our love for them and in our willingness to do for them. This is all intricately linked to what we have seen in the previous devotions, our faith is demonstrated in our willingness to be doers of the word, to ensure we do not show partiality and in loving our neighbour as ourselves.

‘Faith without works is dead’, means that our faith must be a living, active, practical, and outworking faith, our lives, our actions, our ‘work’ demonstrates to those on the outside that we have had a genuine life transforming encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, because we learn to love the unlovely, we are willing to help the helpless, we show mercy toward those who need mercy, we give compassion to those who are hurting. It does not mean that we set ourselves up to allow others to take advantage of us, I have had this happen to me and it has cost me, but as we have been transformed by the Holy Spirit, so we also live by the Spirit and are led by the Spirit and we learn to discern the areas (it is earlier in this book that James talks about us asking God for wisdom if we lack it) in which the Spirit is calling us to demonstrate our faith by works.

We thank God for Christian organizations who show God’s love through the things that they do in society, Christian food banks, mercy missions taking humanitarian aid where crisis has struck, Teen Challenge and other Christian drug rehabilitation organizations, soup kitchens etc. where faith is being demonstrated by works, and we can help them by supporting them, but also we can look for opportunity on our own doorsteps where we can seek to demonstrate the love of God to those around us by helping them out in ways in which will be a blessing to them. Of course, there can be a danger that arises out of this where the Christian Church can begin to overemphasize the social aspect of the gospel and lose sight of the fact that its priority is to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so we must ensure we do not lose that focus, that we concentrate so much upon the social aspect of our communities that we forget they have souls that need reaching and saving. And the greatest demonstration of my faith is to share the gospel, to offer eternal hope to those who at this moment are eternally lost.

Wednesday 28^th

James 2:8-13

NIV (v8) – ‘If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing right.’

ESV (v8) – ‘If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well.’

Today’s verse is a continuation from where we were yesterday, it is the number one instruction, ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’. If we are not doing this, we are not doing right! Now of course it is not a literal reference to those who live in the house next door, for me, those who live in numbers 27 and 29, although it does include them, in other words, ‘neighbour’ is a reference to everybody else apart from yourself. It is a fully comprehensive word, it means love those who you like and those who you may not like, and those who you might consider as enemies, love those who have a different colour of skin, a different ethnicity, a different religion, Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones said in one of his sermons (and I may not be quoting it exactly) ‘we need to love someone even if we do not like everything about them.’ We are all different, we all have our failures, warts, and all, but we learn from the example of God himself who loved the world even though he did not like so much of what we were, for example God does not like the sin, but he loves the sinner, and as a result he came into this world to redeem us.

It was the one who thought he had it all who asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, and in answer Jesus asked him ‘What is written in the law? How do you read it?’ The lawyer answered with ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.’ Jesus told him you have answered correctly, but the man wanted to know more , he asks ‘And who is my neighbour?’ In other words, he was asking ‘who do I need to love?’ ‘Out of all of humanity who am I supposed to love?’ He obviously thought that there were those who would not count. And Jesus told him the story about the man who was attacked by robbers and beaten up, we know the story, finishing with the question ‘Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?’ The lawyer answered, ‘the one who showed him mercy’ It ends with Jesus saying, ‘You go, and do likewise.’  (Luke 10)

We have probably all seen this as a nice Sunday school story but let us not miss the importance of it. And within the context of this letter of James which we are going through at this moment, let’s see it in the context of James’s instructions, first in going back to being not only hearers of the word but doers as well, then secondly in not showing partiality, then thirdly in loving our neighbour as ourselves, may God help us to live out what we profess to believe, that in the eyes of God every individual is of value and worth, created in his image, ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him’. (Psalm 8:4) ‘What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him.’ (Job 7:17) and may we learn to live, love and care as Jesus did.

Tuesday 27^th

James 2:1-7

NIV (v1) – ‘My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism.’

ESV (v1) – ‘My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.’

As we go through this letter of James’s we see him make a lot of what become one sentence quotes that should challenge us as believers. This verse today is one of them, ‘show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.’ To use a modern phrase ‘don’t have a stuck-up nose approach toward other people’!

We can be so guilty of this without realising it, because we have preconceived ideas of who we are happy to connect with or to socialise with and if others don’t fit into that set mould, they have no chance of a look in. It was only last night I recalled an occasion with Elaine where I once went as a parent helper on a school trip with one of our daughters and while at the destination it soon became obvious to me that there was a girl who was not considered to be a part of the crowd, she was being left out of the fun, left out of the conversation and when it came to having our lunch she was left to sit on her own, no one making an effort to be alongside her, I remember so vividly how much I did not like what I was seeing and I went and sat alongside her to talk with her and to help get her included. And this was with a group of young children around 8 years old.

God does not want us to be selective in who we are willing to show care and compassion toward, when we have people come into our church buildings, we should welcome all, regardless of who they are or what they look like and can I even say whatever they may smell like! I once befriended someone and when he used to come into the church you knew immediately those who would welcome him and those who would turn away from him, sadly there were those guilty of showing partiality because he did not fit their preconception of those who were considered acceptable and sadly it was so noticeable. Imagine if God had shown partiality and decided he did not want to welcome some of us into his family because we did not quite fit the bill of what a respectable person should look like! How sad that would be and yet too easily this is how we can treat others.

We need to keep reminding ourselves that we have all been made in the image of God, and although that image might have become more marred in some compared to others God’s grace and mercy is such that he can save the whosoever and he can transform the whosoever, he can transform anybody into a new creation. That tramp that we might decide to cross the road on the other side to avoid, may be the next rough diamond that God wants to shape into a person of beauty, that addict who has been dragged so low that they look an awful mess may be the one that God is going to save and transform and could be the one who will eventually bring others into the household of faith, and that one who has everything, who seems to be so far above us in his wealth and possessions and position, has a soul that unless reached by the grace of God will be lost for ever, all his temporal gain counting has nothing.

May God helps us to see what he sees, men and women who need to be drawn to his side, knowing the same love, mercy, and grace that we have received and who knows, it maybe you or me that is the channel that God wants to use to bring them into his kingdom, imagine the sad consequences if we show partiality.

Monday 26^th

James 1:22-25

NIV (v22) – ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.’

ESV (v22) – ‘But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.’

I wonder how many of us have looked in a mirror this morning, and I wonder how many of us have already forgotten what we look like? James uses this as an example of how we can be toward the word of God, we read it or listen to it and then immediately forget what it is we have read or heard, we choose to just make a quick or casual glance into the word and then we move straightaway into doing something else and what was read was never absorbed or in the context of James’ letter not acted upon.

We live in a fast-paced world, we have fast foods to enable us to grab and go, to move from one activity to another and today, James would suggest that many Christians would take the word of God like a fast-food chain, which we would go to, grab a verse or two, read it or listen to it then move on, quickly forgetting what we have read or heard.

We need to remind ourselves that the word of God is living and active, it is our daily bread, and we need to spend time with it, for it is God’s word for our lives, for us to live out our relationship with him. It requires our obedience, it requires action, it requires as James says our doing, be not listeners only of the word of God but doers also.

Much of God’s word is instruction or guidance, it has been given to us to enable us to live how God wants us to live as his sons and daughters, a verse I have quoted a few times is from Psalm which asks a question ‘How can a young man keep his way pure?’ and the answer is given, ‘by guarding it according to your word.’ (Psalm 119:9) And this guarding according to your word does not happen with a fast-food approach but happens by sitting down and having a healthy meal approach, taking it in, absorbing it, allowing it to be digested and allowing its spiritual benefits to be outworked in our lives like the nutrients of a healthy meal. We will only ever be doers of the word if we have this kind of approach. It requires us to meditate upon what we have heard or read, it requires us to mull it over, and to ask questions such as what does this require from me? The listening (or reading) of the word requires a ready response, does it require me to do something practical or spiritual, does it require me to make some spiritual adjustments, does it require me to make some corrections, does it require me to respond in obedience to a certain matter, it may even be to stop us in our tracks and to completely realign our lives to what the word is saying. In Timothy we read, ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’ (Timothy 3:16) A grab and go attitude toward the word will lead to us losing out on all that the word of God is as being profitable for us as believers, it will lead to us being inadequately equipped to live life in this modern world in which we are found, it will lead to us simply as being like the illustration given by James, as just looking into a mirror and walking away, like noticing my hair looks scruffy and needs correcting and yet walking away, not doing anything about it.

Friday 23^rd

James 1:19-21

NIV (v19-20) – ‘My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.’

ESV (v19-20) – ‘Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.’

I wonder if I were to ask the question ‘what do you think about first when you consider the book of James’, what would you answer?

My answer would be two things, the first is his reference to the tongue and secondly the emphasis he places upon works alongside faith. It is here in our verses today that he begins to talk about the way that we speak, and he continues this more comprehensively in chapter 3.

For our devotion today, ‘be quick to hear or listen, slow to speak and slow to be angry’ and the reason being that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James is very quickly letting the readers of his letter know that anger is not a good or positive quality in the life of a believer, anger is described as, ‘a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility’, it can be expressed through our actions or it can be so easily manifested in the way that we speak. For those who the letter was being written to, they may be having a lot of pressure placed upon them concerning their faith, opposition or persecution and anger could so easily be being manifested toward it.

James helps us to understand that one of the ways to prevent anger from arising within us is to be slow to speak and quick to listen. Someone has said that God has given us two ears and only one mouth, listen more and speak less!

We are all faced with things that can cause anger to arise, it may be when we see injustice, it may be when someone holds or expresses a view that is different to our own and they express it so fiercely that we feel we have to react and if not careful, anger can arise, it may even be when we see the way someone behaves and acts wrongly in a situation and we want to react against it and it can lead to anger, it could even be when someone speaks to us in a manner that we don’t like and we can easily react in an angry manner. We are all suspectable to anger, we all have feelings of frustration that could give rise to anger, but we need as God’s children to learn as we see in Galatians 5:22-23 to put into effect the fruit of the Spirit, especially that of self-control.

In Proverbs we read, ‘Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.’ In Matthew 5 we see the words of Jesus while speaking to the crowd, in what we call the sermon on the mount and in verse 22 he makes a challenging statement, ‘But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.’ Wow, that is a statement and a half! what a challenge to those who belong to the family of God, ‘anyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement’, this behoves us to look into our hearts and see if there are any areas where anger has been shown that needs putting right and we should in particular make sure it is put right before we come to the place of communion for we are told, ‘Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.’ 1 Corinthians 11:27-34.

May God help us to keep from anger, may we be slow to speak and quick to listen.

Thursday 22^nd

James 1:12-18

NIV (v17) – ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’

ESV (v17) – ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.’

Our heavenly Father is a great God, for he not only blesses us with eternal salvation, but he continually gives us gifts, good gifts, and perfect gifts. For very every gift from God is good and perfect.

The greatest gift of all is eternal life, for we were so undeserving of it, yet he gave himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ so that he could give to us this amazing gift, he also gives us the Holy Spirit, he has given us his word, he has given us the joy of being family together, and as Paul has expressed it in Ephesians 1:3, he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.’

This will be a shorter than usual devotion for I want it to be a devotion that will lead us to a place of gratitude to God for all he has done and all he is doing for us and also for all he has given and all he will yet give and all that has been already provided for us into eternity, in the words of Lamentation, ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ (3:22–23)

James continues with words that should cause us to rejoice, the God who gives good and perfect gifts does not change, in him there is no variation or shadow due to change, therefore we can have an assured confidence in his continuing goodness and blessing toward us, his faithfulness is eternal, his mercy is eternal, his provision will be available tomorrow, next week, next month, next year . . . and right through the countless ages of eternity. This is our God, this is our Saviour, hold out your hands and receive his blessing for your life today and give him thanks from a grateful heart.  

Wednesday 21st

James 1:5-11

NIV (vv9-10) – ‘Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.’

ESV (vv9-10) – ‘Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.’

James comes to the subject of humility and pride here, what he says reverses the thought pattern of this world, he says that it is the one in humble circumstances who is in the higher position, and the one who is proud needs to take note of humility, for the same end will come to all, ‘like a flower of the grass he will pass away.’

Humility is an essential characteristic in the life of a believer, whatever our circumstances in life we are all born sinners, we will all eventually die, we can achieve plenty, accumulate plenty and yet only what we have done with Christ and for Christ will have a lasting effect.

There is a right form of pride in that we take pride in what we do, in other words we should seek to excel in our education, career, marriage etc. but we should not place our trust in these things at the cost of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. What is eternal is of far more value than anything that is temporal. But this is not what I intend to be covering here, it is the last few words, ‘like a flower of the grass he will pass away’.

Death comes to all. We cannot get away from it, unless of course we happen to be alive at that moment when Jesus returns, when we will be raptured, but we need to be prepared for the inevitable. It is in 1 Peter 1 that we read ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flowers of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls . . .’ (v24) As you probably know by now, I love my spring flowers, especially the tulips and I have been waiting patiently for them to bloom, there is not a day goes by where I don’t go out and look at them and admire them, they are so beautiful and majestic in all the various colours, now, some of them are beginning to die, the glory that I saw in them a few days ago is vanishing and they are getting a bit tired and droopy, in a day or two they will be gone. All of us will go the same way, we might think that we have plenty of time, but we still need to be prepared, for we are reminded clearly in Scripture, that man has an appointment with death and after that will come the judgment. (Hebrews 9:28)

The wonder about my tulips is this, they are here today and gone tomorrow, but in another year I will look forward to seeing them in bloom again because the seed of life is hidden within the planted bulb, and we too have this wonderful assurance that if we have committed our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, that is if we have acknowledged him as our Lord and Saviour, there is the seed of eternal life already residing in our lives and when the day comes, when we will fade away, that moment when death calls, yes, we will be like the flower that fades, but a glorious resurrection awaits, just like my tulips, the day will come when we will bust from out of the ground again and for us it will be to a new and eternal life.  Romans 8:11 ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’ and  ‘Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”’

What a glorious hope, what a wonderful day that is going to be. I end with a challenge, do you believe this, have you come to the place in your experience that you know with confidence that when your turn comes to fade away like the flower, it will be in preparation for the glorious resurrection to eternal life?