Grains of Sand

Google Images They didn’t get it. The Lord had just fed more than five thousand people with a handful of fish and a few hunks of bread. The crowd had already seen Him heal the sick. What do you want of someone who looks after these most basic of human needs? You make Him your king (John 6:15), or at least you try to. How could anyone resist the best social services and health care plan in town? After that attempt failed, the crowd realized that Jesus had not escaped them with His disciples and yet only one boat was missing (John 6:24). Where had He gone and how had He gotten there? No problem—they simply guessed that He would go to Capernaum so they followed him there. Jesus knew what they were looking for so He went immediately to the point: “ I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give ...

Genesis 25 ends the story of Abraham and begins that of Isaac. Oddly enough, considering the Isaac was the son of promise, we know relatively little about him. It’s as though we skip a generation and go from the patriarch Abraham to the story of his grandchildren, Esau and Jacob. The twins had a pretty rocky relationship, aided and abetted by parents who showed too much favouritism. Esau was the eldest—by a hair, or a heel—so to him went the larger portion of the family inheritance. It was a great privilege but one that Esau didn’t value. One day, coming home from the hunt, he came across Jacob cooking up a pot of stew. Esau was hungry and bartered away his inheritance for the price of a bowl of red lentils. The Scripture records: “ So Esau despised his birthright ” (25:34, NIV). He threw away something of great value for something of little value. I got to thinking about how this story applies to me. As a child of God I have huge privileges. But how often to I “give away” thos...

“ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also ” —Matthew 6:21, NIV I’ve lost a lot of things and people in my life. Moving around from country to country has cost me over the years—a little glimpse of what the phrase means: “you can’t take it with you.” Sacrifices, some of which come back to haunt me have had to have been made along the way. Some of them aren’t all that big or significant. Others poke and prod in the back of my mind, big enough to cause regret. I have consoled myself by remembering Peter’s statement and the Lord’s answer in Mark 10:28-30: “ Peter said to him, ‘We have left everything to follow you!’ ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecution) and in the age to come, eternal life .” I was kind of hop...

Word reached us on Sunday that one of our missionaries has thyroid cancer. He had stayed in Canada because his routine check-up showed a few things that needed to be followed-up. His wife and children returned earlier to France to get settled into the school year. None of us anticipated the diagnosis that was to come. There are so many decisions to be made and issues to be dealt with. My heart goes out to them, and my prayers go up to God on their behalf. I can't imagine what they might be feeling right now. Having that situation in mind, today's verse struck me in a special way. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:17, " For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all ." Do my friends and colleagues feel that this is a " light and momentary " trouble? When faced with the inconceivable, the unexpected, the complicated, the terrifying, Paul reminds us to " not lose heart " (vs. 16), to remember that w...

If there ever was a question that requires constant self-examination, this one is it: "What should be your priorities today, Lynda?" I read Matthew 6:21 this morning, and while the context has to do with our attitude toward material things, the verse can be applied to everything else in life, everything and anything that might be "treasure." Matthew writes: " For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also " (Matthew 6:21). What, or who, do I treasure most? What, or who, receives the majority of my attention and effort? What am I most anxious to obtain? Who am I most anxious to please? The context of this verse carries a warning label. This passage is part of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus tells His listeners to examine the durability of their treasures and to make a priority of those things that have eternal value. It's a good criteria by which to measure all the activities of today: "Does _____________ have eternal value?" ...