Ralph Waldo Emerson

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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LIVING LIFE ON PURPOSE

(May 05, 2022) Carol Round challenges us to live a purposeful life…

A recent devotional I received from Dr David Jeremiah via email was titled Cross Purposes. He cited an October 2021 editorial in The Economic Times titled ‘Life Has No Purpose.’
 
Quoting the writer, Dr Jeremiah shared the following: ‘The most significant thing to remember is that life is not a business. It does not exist for any particular end. It exists for the sheer joy of existing. There is no goal as such.’ 
 
Dr Jeremiah added, The writer blasted the concept of purposefulness, saying life is supposed to be nothing but sheer joy, playfulness, fun. It’s not to fulfill some purpose, just to be fulfilling within itself.’

They’re not completely selfish, but they have no intention of surrendering their life to God’s purpose. As Dr Jeremiah adds, ‘That’s a fair description of how much of the world lives.’
 
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, ‘The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.’

1 Peter 2:9 better describes our purpose for being here… ‘But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God himself – you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own – all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.’
 
Why are you even here?
If you’ve ever wondered, ‘Why am I even here?’ or ‘What is my purpose in life?’ you’re not alone.

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