forgiveness of sin

DARK SHADOWS – GOD’S SHADOW OF LIGHT

(February 28, 2023) Brian Bell shares a timely meditation…

Standing Somewhere in the Shadows (that 1943 once very popular number by E J Rollings) came to me afresh recently…

Are your crosses too heavy to carry,
And burdens too heavy to bear;
Are there heartaches and tears and anguish
And there’s no one who seems to care?

Standing somewhere in the shadows you’ll find Jesus,
He’s the friend who always cares and understands.
Standing somewhere in the shadows you will find Him,
And you’ll know Him by the nail prints in His hands.

Overshadowing darkness
Christians are called to carry crosses (Matthew 10:38, Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23) and as we do so, life can be shades of shadows at times! Praise God that our Saviour is there for us!

The reality is that it is not Jesus who is standing in the shadows, it is us – men and women ‘lost’ in the dark shadows of life.

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MY ‘HEART’ MAY FAIL… BUT GOD IS MY STRENGTH!

(August 6, 2022) Brian Bell reflects on the ‘heart’ …

My thoughts turned recently to Asaph’s Psalm 73:26 which says, ‘My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart…’ 

Just as we also may do today, the psalmist was struggling with what we might call apparent ‘injustices’ of life.

My flesh
‘Fail’ seems to be in the sense ‘to falter in weakness’ and this suggests to me not simply a failing as in a sudden moment of pressure, or by reason of sustained pressure – think of an elastic band – but a weakness which is a tendency, having always been there and always will be.

‘Flesh’ in its literal sense refers to our physical bodies. I’ve known many people familiar with weaknesses of their physical body to a greater or lesser degree; some who were born with or acquired a disability, and more recently those with cancers which have destroyed their formerly healthy bodies.

Even those of us who may not presently be affected by a specific disability or illness and are fortunate to enjoy general good health, realise the experience of others is a sufficient testimony to the fact that our physical bodies can falter in weakness!

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FAMOUS LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS

(April 04, 2022) Richard Winter challenges…

We’ve all been in a discussion when we wanted to get the last word… but sometimes that’s the wrong thing to aim at.

For example… Guys, you may say when asked: ‘Yes, Honey, those jeans do make you look fat.’ But they may be your famous last words!

Let’s look at Jesus’ last words.

The context is that Jesus is on a cross and Luke 23: 32-33 tell us that ‘Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals – one on His right, the other on His left.’ 

What had led Jesus to this point?

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