Present time!

 Whenever I’m asked what I would like for Christmas my imagination runs out after “Socks”.  But I love giving and receiving presents at Christmas.  Its been part of the way we celebrate the birth of Christ since the wise men brought gifts to Jesus.  Often, though, the value of a present has very little to do with its actual cost.  The most precious gifts may cost very little, or we may fail to recognize the true value of something we’ve been given.

Recently a young mother died in hospital after refusing a blood transfusion on religious grounds.  To many people, including me, this seemed a tragic and unnecessary loss of life.  Hers is not the only young life to have been taken unnecessarily lately.  Think of the young firefighters who died responding to an arson attack, or the mother and daughter who died on the same stretch of railway line within weeks of each other; or the cheerful young lad gunned down in Liverpool for no reason, or the young woman who, it appears, had her throat cut as she resisted a sex attack.  We continue to hope and pray that Madeline McCann’s name will not be added to this painful but far from exhaustive list.   

Each of these cases is a powerful reminder of the value of human life.  The reason they make the headlines is that we still continue to think that individual lives matter.  Life itself is a very special gift from God and we cannot put a price on it.  It should be cherished, protected and valued.  

Christmas is a clear sign that God himself values human life and cares for each individual.  The reason God sent his Son into the world was to save people from the consequences of human sin and give them the opportunity of a new life with Him.  That’s why Jesus is sometimes described as “God’s greatest gift” - he opens up the possibility of a new relationship with our heavenly father which is priceless. 

But just as a wonderful present is useless if it’s left wrapped under the tree, so God’s amazing gift of new life with him has to be accepted and received before it can do us any good.  

I wonder if you’ve ever thought that even if you were the only person in the world God would still have sent Jesus, just for you.  He values your life so much and longs for you to enjoy to the full the relationship which Jesus makes possible.   

This Christmas let’s thank God for the gift of life - and for the even more amazing gift of new life which Jesus brings us.  

Bob Baker

 

 

 

AMAZING GRACE    by Brian Hogwood

If we try to look honestly at ourselves - personality, habits, lifestyle, hopes and fears - we become aware of the way in which we are bound up by convention, our background (family and nationality), natural likes and dislikes and, probably above all, what other people think of us.

"They can think what they like", we say, but inwardly that is the one thing that decides our day-to-day behaviour and reactions more than anything else.

Some things are very difficult to alter. For example, I am bald. Have been since my early twenties. A physical fact decided by genes I inherited from my ancestors. I could wear a wig, or a skull cap, or polish it, or just accept it as part of me an concentrate on more important things. The choice is mine.

But there are other things which bind or release us to react or behave in certain ways. Some of these may be good, others bad. A common example is how we view other people or situations. Are we positive and optimistic, looking for the good things, or are we out from the start to criticise, to pull apart, looking for the things we don't like, or, worse still, jumping to wrong conclusions from the start? Do we see the gold in those we love and those we don't or look for things to exaggerate which will bias opinion for the worse? Jesus always looks for the gold. If there are bad things, He will want to get rid of them for ours and others' sakes. As He said to the woman dragged in front of Him, caught committing adultery, "Neither do I condemn you". But also He said, "Go and sin no more" (John 8:3)

The greatest risk God took in creating us as we are was to give us the free will to choose good or evil. God knew that without this freedom we would be simply puppets. But with it we have the potential to love and be loved by Him and by each other. We can and do bind ourselves by exercising our free will just as Adam did, the first sinner. Or we can release our lives to live God's way as Jesus did.

We cannot do this all by ourselves, but God is waiting to give us the grace which will kick-start us in the right direction. Go for gold - God's gold!

Ultimately it means the difference between heaven and hell in this life and beyond.

'Amazing Grace......that saved a wretch like me."

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