True Contentment

 

True Contentment,

I had a faith secure as any bank.

I saw the rich guy gloat, a pig in muck.

I want that life. I want his happy luck.

My faith, it took a dive and truly sank.

I want his clothes, his house all neat and chic.

“Blow you” he says. He does not care a dot.

> Cos All is well with him . He’s got the lot.

Fun mates, free thought and scorn, all that I seek.

I’ve tried so hard to be so very good,

Despair and failure drove me to my knees.

God told me truth is not in these

The careless fail to find the bliss they would.

Now with my God I have a true contentment,

To live with him and not with false resentment,

Peter M. Grinham 27^th June 2022

crumbs26

 

Crumbs from the Master ‘s Table 26 : Joy

John 16:19-24 NIV  Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Crumbs

Accepting the Gospel is not the reversal of all our troubles. Jesus predicts sorrow ahead butultimate and secure joy. As I study Scripture I have become convinced that Christian hope refers to something heavenly to be held in our hearts now but realised in the hereafter. In the Greek New Testament the word for joy is used over fifty times. It seems to describe the way we react to the various experiences and relationships that life brings us. The positive reaction is joy. Some basics have hit me. 1, It is a divine quality. In Luke 15:7 Jesus tells us that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. In Romans 14: 17 Paul teaches God’s kingdom is a matter of joy along side righteousness and peace. 2. It comes with accepting the Gospel. 1Thessalonians 1:6 is a vital text here. The Holy Spirit plays His vital part in establishing a relation between the unbeliever and God which results in joy. 3. It comes from Christian fellowship. This is particularly evident in the letter to the Philippians. Love among believers leads to joy when they interact. 4. It is developmental . We do not get complete joy straight away when we first realise our relationship with God in Christ. Paul and John write about the completing of joy. 5. It is part of our reaction to the hard things of life. In the passage above Jesus describes that putting up with grief can lead to joy. James develops this;James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,”

Queries ( for private thought or joint discussion)

1. How does the Spirit of God act in our lives to give us joy? 2. What can we do to give our fellow believers joy? 3. What would promote joy in the face of life’s troubles ?

 Please note that this is also published on my blog along with poems and other items on https://pmgsblog.blogspot.com

 Forgive a very serious poem  but I hope you find hope here...

Dying

As a drop of rain falls into the sea

So I shall join Your great immensity.

And shall become what I was meant to be.

As a son in alien lands gone bad

Yields to the arms of his waiting Dad,

Where nothing there shall make him sad.

And I shall join those I have lost awhile

And nought our sweet communion shall defile

And cease from every earth bourne irksome trial.

Peter M. Grinham 19^th June 2022

Er ...Um

 

Er ...Um

I wish I were more decisive

It makes my friends so derisive

When problems arise and come hither

I find myself all of a dither.

I wish I were more decisive .

When issues prevail,

I’m all of a quail.

Life’s problems precipitate

I do nothing but hesitate,

I wish I were more decisive .

To publish this verse?

It’s all so perverse.

I’m all of a quaver,

And do nothing but haver.

I wish I were more decisive .

Peter M. Grinham 9^th June 2022

Will You be there my Lord?

 

Will You be there my Lord

Will You be there my Lord

Making my thought so holy unto you,

Changing routine to liturgy divine,

Making the every day for ever new,

And my desires and words a heavenly sign?

Will You be there my Lord,

Making my waking thoughts a sight of You

Making each meal a sacrament divine,

Making each friend a loving brother true

Giving me love that is for ever thine?

Will You be there my Lord

When my imprisoned spirit leaps so free

And heaven beckons full of holy light

And I at last your glorious face shall see

To kneel and revel in the wondrous sight.?

Peter M. Grinham 14^th June 2022

Crumbs 25

 

Crumbs from the Master ‘s Table 25

Love

1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Crumbs

If I were foolish enough to try to show the qualities of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my own strength, “love” would be the hardest. Love is defined in 1 John 3:16 NIV “ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” John gives us a picture of a man dying painfully for those who had done Him wrong. The only phrase I can find is “ for others”

Love is the very essence of God. Twice John says “ God is love”

God is the origin of love. If it’s our heart’s desire to be more loving we must get closer to the source of love. I note whether the qualities describe in Galatians or thr descriptions given in 1 Corinthians 13 Love is the source of all other virtues.

We discover God by loving one another. In these epistles at the end of the New Testament there is a strong emphasis love professed should be practically expressed

It seems to me the truth that all Scripture is building up to, the utmost pinnacle in the writings of the apostles and the life and words of the Lord Jesus is this. God is love.

Queries ( for private thought or joint discussion)

1. What does God being love affect us?

2. How is the love of God expressed in our lives?

3. How does loving each other help us to know God?

 b

Please note that this is also published on my blog along with poems and other items on https://pmgsblog.blogspot.com

Crumbs24

 

Crumbs from the Master ‘s Table 24

The Outcome of the Indwelling

Galatians 5:22-26 New International Version 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Crumbs

Before considering these nine qualities of the fruit of the Spirit, let’s take a wider view.

The commentaries agree! The word “fruit” is singular. These are aspects of one thing. The Spirit’s work does not result in a multiple choice question. He does not accentuate your kindness while ignoring our lack of self-control.

  Paul is writing of God the Holy Spirit here. So these qualities will show us what God is like. I hope this will be reflected in the studies to become.

In Matthew 7:16 NIV “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” our Lord indicates that it’s our life styles that indicate what we truly are.

Paul states that there is no law against these qualities. Why does include that comment? Perhaps some of his readers were Jews who had sought salvation through obedience to the Law. They were now on a different path, the path of grace.

That does not mean we go through life devoid of a moral compass. In verse 25 he reminds us that we owe our very existence as Christians to the Holy Spirit and we should strive to live according to His guidance. Thereby we would avoid the provocative arrogance that would so disrupt our unity with each other

Queries ( for private thought or joint discussion)

1. What does living by the Spirit mean?

2. How do we keep in step with the Spirit?

3. How do we crucify the flesh?

 

 

Crumbs from the Master ‘s Table 23

Watch Out

 

Galatians 5:19-21NIV 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Crumbs

These are the sins which disqualify us from inheriting God’s kingdom. These are the same sins that proved so unacceptable to God in the Old Testament. They all affect our relationship with God and with each other. Three broad areas are covered; sex, self control and society.

Our bodies are described as the temples of the Spirit. Sexual sins are Therefore sacrilegious. They wound our relationship with God and with our nearest and dearest. Marriage is used in Scripture as a metaphor for Christ’s relationship with the Church. His sacrificial love should be our guide in our sexual love.

The occult is clearly censured; It is seeking God and His help from agencies other than God. We all need to seek our hearts to find out if any of our faith is placed in some thing or someone else other than God.

Loss of self control whether through alcohol, group activity or excess anger militates against the love and unity which God so much desires, We often do things which we regret later under peer pressure in a group situation or when we have yielded control of ourselves to other things than the Spirit.

We are so self centred that contention is bound to follow. How God loves harmony and is grieved by division between us !

All these things are so natural to us we are hard put to find an antidote. The key is walk by the Spirit.

 

 

Queries ( for private thought or joint discussion)

 

1. What changes in attitude and life style do we need to combat these temptations ?

2. How are these sins inter related one leading to another ?

3. Which works of the flesh pose most threat to the 21^st cent church ?