OUT WALKING...

Out Walking With the Lord

With a happy spring in my step I bob along a riverbank in heavy rain, as full of the Spirit of Christ as a balloon with air. Breaking the water’s surface tension are pearls innumerable rattling down from heaven. Lord, do You hear what I hear? Do You see what I see? Indeed You do! For, ‘The hearing ear and the seeing eye the LORD has made them both.’ Proverbs 20:12. Yes Lord, but are You able to hear through my ears and see through my eyes? Do You feel the cool sharp tingle of a raindrop as it hits the back of my exposed neck? Do You smell the earthy fragrances of the freshly baptised earth as its aromas rise to meet with my nostrils? Do You hear the gurgling rushing river as it rolls over boulders in its rush to gush over falls? Do You see the rugged beauty of it all – through my eyes? Lord, are You really in me?

If You, Lord, are with me, how with me are You? I know, ‘The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.’ Romans 8:16. And, I know that I am one of Your adopted children, for, praise Your holy name, I have been redeemed by the life, death and resurrection of my elder Brother, Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I trust Him alone to save me from Your coming judgment at the Last Day. Therefore, I don’t trust in my own feeble attempts at being good. But Lord, do You know the very thoughts and intents of my heart? Indeed You do! For, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.’ Jeremiah 17:9&10. Then I thank You, Lord, for giving me a new heart, just as You promise in Your Word. Yes, thank You Father and Son for giving me Your Spirit who now leads me in the ways revealed in Your written Word. I used to suppress Your truth in unrighteousness, but now like a bubbling spring, praise for You gushes up from within me at worship, rest, and play! Yes, the clouds are Your chariot and You do walk on the wings of the wind!

Each Lord’s Day, in fellowship with others, I hear a portion of Your Word read, explained and applied to me. Your Word washes over me. I am a little pebble whose sharp edges are being made smooth as I roll down the river of life. As a mountain stream after rain I want to gush forth Your praises! Yes, ‘Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity.’ Psalm 98:8&9. Father, I say with David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ Psalm 139:23&24.

‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.’ Psalm 46:1-4. Lord, plant me next to Your river that my leaf might not wither, that I might bring forth fruit in its season.

Now that the Word has become flesh and has tabernacled with us, may the Holy Spirit be pleased to tabernacle with me. For You, Lord, have opened my tent-flaps and have let Yourself in. Forgive the mess I have made of the perfect abode You had given me in the beginning along with Adam. Since Adam our representative rebelled against You in the Garden, our tabernacles have been in tatters, letting in rain and night creepers. I have feared darkness. I have feared death, but now fear these no longer forever. For, ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.’ Psalm 23:4.  In the gushing words of St Patrick, ‘Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.’

You have permitted me a glimpse through Your eyes as Your Father had You nailed to a tree to pay the penalty I owe for my sins. Lord, You said, ‘I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax, it has melted within Me.… For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones.’ Psalm 22:14&16. ‘For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.’ Hebrews 2:10.

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

TREASURE TROVE

Treasure Trove

‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’ I remember as a teenager struggling to understand why gold, silver and jewels were considered precious. The sun glinting on gold was so much polished brass to me. Diamonds? Glorified glass! Rubies and pearls? Trinkets and baubles. Then as a mature adult, when I looked more closely I began to see what all the fuss was about. You could say that was when I lost my marbles, for ‘when I became a man, I put away childish things.’ You see, as an undiscerning youth I had likened the Bible to other books and Jesus to other men. Foolishness!

‘Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.’ Proverbs 3:13-15. The Bible is the Book of Wisdom and Jesus is that Wisdom in the flesh! To see the difference between a real ruby and a piece of worthless glass one must hold them up to the light. And while we’re at it, speaking of light, there’s candlelight, lamplight, moonlight and sunlight. And then there’s the God/Man Jesus, ‘the light of the world’ (John 8:2). Cubic zirconia may look very much like a real diamond in romantic candlelight, but everything fake and phony is exposed when held up to the light of the world. God shines His light through the prism of Jesus. In Him are all the colours of God’s covenant rainbow. Only at His feet is the crock of gold to be found.

The Bible is THE treasure trove and Jesus is THE pearl of great price! ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it’ Matthew 13:45-46. Some think this ‘pearl of great price’ refers to the Church, i.e., the ‘bride of Christ’,’ rather than Jesus, and that it was Jesus who gave up all He had to buy her. Either way, like a husband and his wife, the two are one. As He has given His life for her, so she is to forsake all others for Him. For Jesus says, ‘Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses His life for My sake will find it’ Matthew 16:25. Find what? The ‘pearl of great price.’ For He is the life! (John 14:6).

Jesus is also the truth. Therefore, it is against Him that we measure all truth. He prayed that His Father would do the following: ‘Sanctify them by Your truth, Your Word is truth’ John 17:17. Therefore, we are to use His Word to discern the truth from the lie, the fact from the fiction, the ruby from the rubbish, the treasure from the trash. Indeed, even light itself needs to be examined in God’s light, for the Psalmist says, ‘In Your light we see light’ Psalm 36:9b. The triune God is ‘the Father of lights’ from whom comes ‘every good gift and every perfect gift’ including the ‘pearl of great price.’

Jesus is the spade we use to dig for hidden treasure. He is the water we drink to quench our thirst. He is the lever we use to prise open the lid of the chest. He is the light we shine to see the jewels. He is the magnifying glass through which we view their authenticity.

Dear reader, do not trash treasure, for ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’ 1 Peter 2:7b.

WINDOWS TO THE SOUL

WINDOWS TO THE SOUL

I grew up in the same hometown as my friend Billy Scobie, (a.k.a. Alexander Tait, author of Whisky in the Jar, The Cup, Mightier Than the Sword, Upon This Rock). The town, the Vale of Leven, is located just north of Glasgow, where the River Leven flows out of Loch Lomond and into the River Clyde at Dumbarton Rock.

Billy posted the following on his Facebook page:

INFLUENCE FOR GOOD

Every day I look across the river and see the (apparently now derelict) Dalmonach Hall.

Those distinctive church-like windows remind me that, although originally built as a schoolhouse, it was in the Victorian era used as a Sunday School and Church Hall. I get to thinking about all these well-meaning generations of folk who tried to raise children to live Christian lives. I find myself wondering if their endeavours really made the world a better place. I am almost surprised to conclude that, all said and done, they probably did.

W. Scobie

The following is some of the thoughts Billy’s Facebook post inspired me to write:

Billy, (I’ll try to be brief as I know you’re not a fan of long-winded comments), but it is patently obvious that “all these well-meaning generations of folk who tried to raise children to live Christian lives … really made the world a better place.” (See what I did there?) 

The world is a better place because of Christ and the influence of Christianity, i.e., Christian (as in Christ’s) teachings. It’s as Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” Matthew 13:33. Sure, there’s a big difference between someone being influenced by Christianity and someone being converted to Christianity. However, either way, both make for a better society. Whether the butcher, the baker, or the candlestick-maker, all strive to deal honestly and fairly with each other because they have been taught that selfishness is bad for self and for society and “loving your neighbour as yourself’ is good.

The secret for social governance is in self-governance. The influence of Christianity meant that we as individuals, and society as a whole, were all on the same (Bible) page. We were all singing from the same hymnbook. This is what we mean by freedom, both personal and public.

On a deeper level, the internal law that rules my heart matches the external law that rules society. (Both of which are based on a correct understanding of the Ten Commandments, justice and mercy etc., (i.e., the law of His Kingdom). Social cohesion and all of that.  However, social morals, (like the buildings in your picture above), whether obeyed in gratitude to God’s mercy or obeyed in fear of civil or criminal punishment or eternal, have been neglected and have become rundown, even dilapidated. However, the good news is that one can still make out “those distinctive church-like windows”, the ones through which we can see an encouraging past as well as a glorious future – if society moves in the right direction.

Like the Maid of the Loch paddling full-steam ahead towards Balloch Pier after an excursion up the loch, would suddenly stop those great paddlewheels and slam them into reverse, yet the boat still moved forward, so Vale society, (and indeed Western society) is still drifting forwards towards its destination. But society’s engines have slowed things down and the great paddles have churned the water into the foam and froth of social confusion.

I’m an optimist, a Biblical optimist! Though the Maid of the Loch has been out of commission for so many decades collecting rust, she will sail again. People cannot stand standing

idly by and watching our great heritage, the things that made us great and the envy of others, sink into oblivion. They will rally together. They will donate their cash and their time. They will advertise. They will refurbish. They will join with each other and form a community of hope. The community will expand, growing into a great tree from a tiny mustard seed.

God bless the Maid of the Loch and all who sail in her! And God bless His Kingdom and all who enter in – till the shadows flee, till all is leavened, the Vale, the whole world.

Just as individuals on social media brought to my attention (here in Australia) the sorry state and plight of the Maid of the Loch (– which now looks like it has been revived to the point of present and future happy days), so individuals, such as yourself, by your postings (such as the one above), may serve to revive a great interest in our Christian heritage.

May God be pleased to use you mightily in this endeavour.

Addendum: Neil, Thank you most sincerely for that wonderfully uplifting piece of spiritual writing ... It really has done me good to read it. I liked your use of the Maid of the Loch. Not only did I serve as assistant purser aboard her (season 1970), but she was launched the year I was born (1953), so I have a special feeling for that wee steamer. What seeds you sow with your words!