Thought for the week February 5th 2012
It is a reasonable assumption that people with energy and vitality will use this to make things better. All too often it is to make things better for themselves and their families, and to some extent this is to be commended. All too often the price paid for this lifestyle results in a loss of passion for the simple things of life, a lesser appreciation of nature, strained and broken friendships and absence of any thought for God.
So we have to ask the question “Is it worth it?
Almost seventeen years ago when God graciously called us to come to and serve Him and His church in Hartcliffe, it was with a positive and specific intention of making things better. Very conscious of God’s inexhaustible love and care for the people on one hand, and equally that of our own limitations. Right from those early days, today, and when our time comes to an end, we want Hartcliffe to be better than when we came…. a big ask.
It seems that almost everyone in Hartcliffe has swallowed a lie, maybe elsewhere too. The lie that “If we have more, everything will be better”. My observation is that successive administrations have been very generous to the Hartcliffe community especially in the post “Wills” era. State aided communities are increasingly difficult to fund and here we constantly see the true cost of despondency.
We have the “Betterware” salesman peddling his goods at our door, we hear people say they want to “better themselves”, get the newer car, the bigger TV, mobile phones for the children, all with a view to keeping up with the others. None of these things will ever make a real difference.
My dear, godly mother, used to encourage everyone around when things were hard with “Never mind – things will be better next year”. She had a deep conviction that through Jesus, things would always be better. Why she had to wait until next year baffled me.
So what is “Better” in real terms? If money, benefit and massive resources have not eased the ache of despair, what will, what can?
We look to God our Father for the real answer. Written as long as 3000 years ago, the Psalms have much to say about life and the better way.
Psalm 118:8-9 says “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.
In the Christian marriage service the bride and groom are reminded of their commitment to love one another in the times of “better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health”. (These are not part of the legal vows)
At one wedding here at the River a number of years ago, the devoted Christian couple refused to say these words in a positive expression that come what may everything would get better and better, God their Father would always provide “enough”, and they had no expectation of ill health. They continue to travel the world teaching and preaching the good news of salvation through our Lord Jesus.
They would be the first to say that salvation through Jesus is so much more than life enhancement. This flows as a result of coming to our Lord Jesus with a heart broken at the realisation of our sin and rebellion, knowing that without Him we are nothing, without His forgiveness we are doomed.
Better? O yes, much, much better than we can ever imagine.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.
- River of Life Christian Centre on the
- mini-roundabout junction of Bishport Avenue and
- Lampton Avenue, Hartcliffe
- Bristol UK
- BS13 0PT
0117 964 4506
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