Merredin Uniting Church

Greetings!

Margie and I are really looking forward to our visit back to South Africa and the opportunity to visit with our family and friends. We depart at midnight on Monday and after an 11 hour flight, arrive in Johannesburg at 5.25am their time. Our daughters will fetch us at the airport and we will spend a couple of days with them. On Friday the whole family (including our son Garth from Howick) will drive down to Manaba Beach on the Natal South Coast where we own a timeshare unit right on the beach. It’s the best place to be in the South African winter – the sea is warm and the sun is hot. We will return to Johannesburg via Howick where we will be staying with friends and visiting our former parishioners. I must also finalise my South African tax returns and wind up my financial affairs in South Africa. And then its back home to Merredin on July 20^th!

Some good news is that the processing of our children’s emigration has stepped up a pace. After being given wrong advice about their nursing assessments, they are now back on stream. Tegan has applied for a midwifery bridging course in August at King Edward Hospital in Perth and will initially come across on a student visa to be converted into a permanent residence visa once the course is completed. Linda will follow the same route but will make the move a bit later because she still needs to make arrangements regarding her midwifery practice in Johannesburg. Garth’s situation has been complicated by a change in the Australian Skills List which now excludes anything to do with computers –  apparently there is now no shortage in Australia. However he is pursuing a rural option (where these skills are still needed) and is looking around for job vacancies. He may come to visit with his wife Roxanne in time for my 60^th birthday in October.

By the time we get back, we will have been here for one year. It has truly been a blessed year. The radical change of a new country, new church and new people has been the best thing ever. I have had cause to rethink my worldview as well as my understanding of God and the Church. There is nothing like looking at things from a fresh perspective to give you new insight into that which you begin to take for granted. It is so easy to get into a rut, and, as someone once said, “the only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth of the hole.” From the    pressures of a leading large church, trying to deal with a cycle of poverty in a community, and the politics of separation at government level, I have found a new lease of life during the past year. Much of this has come from more time spent in God’s Word and in prayer. This has challenged my perspectives and enriched my understanding of God’s intention with us. We are not just passing through time – we are on a radical journey into a deep relationship with our Maker. On this journey He is constantly with us, to lead and to guide. On this journey we travel with others – we are to learn to love them, because in loving them, we will begin to understand how we are loved by our Father and how we are to love Him.

Thank you for your part in my journey and may God bless us as we continue this journey together.

TEXT: Philippians 4:10-23 Ephesians 3:14-21  (Audio Version: http://sermon.net/daviddekock)

This is the last sermon in our series on the Letter to the Philippians, and we deal primarily with the subject of generosity.

I don’t know about you but whenever the issue of money and giving in the church is raised I get the picture of the American TV evangelists who seem always to be asking for money.

I laugh at the story (probably not true!) of one such evangelist who had electric wires connected to every seat in the church.

“All those who are willing to give one hundred dollars to God,” he shouted, “stand up!”

And then he pressed the button which sent a shot of electricity through each seat. There was a tremendous response but after the service they found three dead Scotsmen still clinging to their seats.

Another story is told of the beautiful silver collection plates being passed around for the offering. Everyone desperately dug in their pockets for loose change and the plates were finally returned, almost empty, to the minister. He took one look at them and then raised them up to heaven and prayed, “Lord, we thank you for the safe return of these plates…”

The picture Paul paints in our text today is quite different however. He writes to thank the Christians at Philippi who have sent him money via Epaphroditus. And he gives them two of the most wonderful promises of Scripture:

¹³ I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

and

My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

He also outlines the threefold blessing of generous giving –

• It blesses others
• It blesses us, and
• It blesses God.

First then, the blessing to others

Paul responds to the gift that he has received by saying, “I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.”

He is exceedingly grateful for the gift.

Nonetheless he shows clearly that it is not so much about the money for which he is grateful but for the opportunity that they have taken to bless him.

Paul’s attitude to money is far exceeded by the completeness that he finds in his relationship with the Lord. He intimates that he has known what it is to be in need, though he might not be at this time. He has, he says, found the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether in plenty or in want. He has found, in his relationship with the Lord, that whatever the circumstances “he can do everything through Him who gives him strength.”

Yet he is blessed by the gift – “it was good of you to share in my troubles” and he thanks them for coming to his aid time and again in the past.

You see, it is not the gift so much that counts as the fact that the people at Philippi, more than the other churches, were concerned enough about him and his ministry in service of Jesus, to send the gift. Perhaps this is where we get the saying that “it’s the thought that counts” –though we often mean that when we would like to have given or received more than we did. For Paul, it really was the thought that counted –they were really thinking about him and his ministry and they really wanted to support him in a very practical way.

One gets the impression that even if they had sent no money, any other expression of their concern would have been a gift enough. The bottom line is that Paul had moved away from concern about money, he had found his contentment in the Lord –that wonderful promise: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

What is the secret of contentment?

Well, it is not to have everything you want. John D Rockefeller, a multi billionaire, was once asked how much money it takes to make a man happy. He replied, “Just a little more.” Contentment does not come from wealth, for this only creates a desire for more. Contentment finds its satisfaction in the transforming friendship of Jesus Christ.

Paul discovered this –he learned how to live not on outer resources but on the inner strength which comes from Jesus Christ. And so he writes to the Philippians that in some ways he did not need their gift.

However, in some ways he did need the money that they sent and he commends them for continually coming to his aid. They had shared his troubles and had sent him money again and again. He appreciated it immensely and it blessed him.

When we first went to Howick I set out to visit everyone in the congregation. In one home that I visited I found that the husband was a member of the congregation but his wife was not. The reason was that though she was a believer, she had not been baptized, and had been made to feel embarrassed about it. She never came to church because of that and so her husband had to retell the sermon to her each Sunday morning.

I spoke to her about it, and about the misconceptions she had received from the church. The following week I baptized her in her swimming pool. She only came to church once after that and then the family emigrated to England. After they had left, I received a letter from her with a substantial amount of money –the note on the card said simply, “I got some bonus and I want to share it with you.”

The word “share” is a word that Paul also uses in relation to the Philippian church’s gift to him. It is the word “koinonia” which means fellowship, communion or close relationship. The church were in close relationship with him in his ministry and they showed it by blessing him with gifts. The lady who shared her bonus with me, did so, she wrote later, because I had helped to bring her into a close relationship not only with Jesus, but also with her family, particularly her husband. They now worship regularly together in a church on the Isle of Man and are very involved with their fellowship as a family.

And I was blessed by the gift, not of the money, but by the thought that was expressed in the gift.

Generous giving also blesses the giver

I love to give gifts. And I especially love to give gifts anonymously and as surprises. This is often true also of God’s people everywhere. I have seen it in this congregation. In my previous congregation most preferred not to have their gifts to the church made public and so we had no credits to anyone for their giving to build and equip the church – no public thank you’s, no brass plaques, nothing. Even the Foundation Stone at the entrance to the church said “Not to us, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory.” – Ps 115:1. And yet there were many who gave sacrificially and some very substantially –how else did we pay out more than a million rand over our normal income in such a short period….

Why is this? Why the desire to have no accolades? I think it is because God’s people have found a blessing that is far more than the acknowledgement of men.

And Paul tells us this too by using technical banking and accounting terms throughout this passage as he details how the church at Philippi will be blessed for their gift.

In verse 15 he speaks of “giving and receiving” or more correctly translated, of debits and credits –the two sides of an accountant’s ledger.

In verse 17, he uses a word, translated as “credited”. He says, “Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.” The word would normally be used to speak of growth in interest income on a capital amount invested.

And then in verse 18, he says “I have received full payment” –which is a commercial term meaning “to receive a sum in full and to give a receipt for it.”

In a sense, by the use of this commercial language, Paul is saying the giving is an investment of capital, and that there will be a return on the investment which will be worth far more than a name on a foundation stone or a silver plaque. In 2 Corinthians 9:6, he again stresses this point –“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” Giving is like planting seed. A farmer is investing for the future and he knows that he will reap far more than he sows.

Hudson Taylor, the Founder of the China Inland Mission and who it is said laid the foundation for the present revival now taking place there, was preparing to go to China in 1853. He lived a very frugal life, eating only a bowl of porridge in the morning and a bowl of gruel on alternate nights. One day he was asked to go and pray for a very poor man and his wife. The only money he possessed was his week’s wages of half-a-crown. When he saw their poverty he thought that he should give them a shilling. When the five children came out he decided to give one and six. Then he spoke to them of the love of the heavenly Father and decided to give two shillings. Eventually, as he closed off with the Lord’s prayer he knew that he had to give them everything he had. Joy flooded his heart and he sang all the way home. As he ate his bowl of gruel that night he was reminded that “he that giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord” and so he asked the Lord that the loan not be a long one. He slept peacefully and the next morning he received an unexpected letter. Inside was a pair of gloves and half a sovereign. He had received back 400% in just 12 hours. The incident became a turning point in his life and he came back to it time and again as he faced even more serious trials in his life.

That spiritual principle applies to everything in life. Whatever we give to the Lord he multiplies, whether it is our time, home, gifts, ambitions or our money. Our return is not necessarily financial though, because we are investing in people. We see lives changed, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, addicts set free, marriages restored and the sick made well again.

The New Testament principle is that if we want treasure in heaven, we have to send it on ahead –we can’t take it behind the hearse in a trailer!

What will our reward be? I don’t know but I suspect that we will see those we have unknowingly helped –someone who says, “I am here partly because of your gift” or “my marriage was restored” or “I was healed”.

We get a foretaste of this now by giving generously –for it is not only the recipients who are blessed: we are also blessed through our giving.

But more than anything generous giving is blessing to God

From verse 18, Paul moves to the language of the Temple. He says that our giving is “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”

Our giving blesses God because we are fulfilling His desire for us. In Malachi 3, the prophet tells us that the withholding of our offering is like robbing God. The Lord wants us to support His mission in the world, bringing the good news about Jesus into the hearts and lives of people, making disciples of them and teaching them to obey all that He has commanded.

And throughout the New Testament we are encouraged to give generously –regularly (“on the first day of the week” it says in 1 Corinthians 16:2) and proportionately (“a sum of money in keeping with your income” it says in the same verse).

Some people believe we should give a tenth accordingly to the Old Testament guidelines, but the only New Testament rule is generosity. Jacob the swindler gave a tenth, but then he was Old Testament. Zaccheus, after meeting Jesus, gave half of all he owned.

If we give generously, Paul says, “My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Ultimately then, we can never out-give God.

Our generosity must stem from the generosity of God’s grace to us.

Perhaps then it’s not surprising that this letter begins and ends with “Grace”. At the beginning Paul says, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” and he ends with “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” The central theme of the letter has been God’s love and generosity and indeed that’s the central theme of the New Testament and of the Bible as a whole.

Jesus taught that our highest duty is to love God with all our heart and soul and mind. After that our duty is to love our neighbour as ourselves and indeed, that’s how Paul closes the letter. “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” And then “Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus.”

Then he closes by asking that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with them –for Jesus is the channel of all the good gifts which come to us. It is His love which enables us to love Him and His love which enables us to love others.

I think that if we had to ask Paul for a two-word answer to the question, “Why is this life worth living?” he would say simply, “Jesus Christ” and he would explain that He supplies all our needs and strengthens us to do everything.

To Him be glory in the Church for ever and ever. Amen

TEXT: Philippians 4:1-9  (Audio Version: http://sermon.net/daviddekock)

As we continue in this series on Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi, we come today to reflect on the resources which we have which will enable us to stand firm in this life in Christ. We need a good foundation from which we can draw our steadfastness.

When I left school I was done with church. For 10 years I had been to church every day – twice on Wednesdays and Thursdays, three times on Sundays and sometimes twice on Saturdays. It was enough, so I didn’t go to church for a long time after that – for a further ten years in fact, except for the time when Margie and I were married.

When I came to the Lord in 1977, I looked back on those years of going to church and I realized just how important they were in building a Christian foundation in my life. I didn’t know it at the time – I thought I was just there for the money (as a choir boy and altar boy we were paid a tickey for going to church and two shillings for singing at weddings).

I also looked back on the ten years that I didn’t go to church and regretted that it took me so long to find my way back. I had been sidetracked by peer pressure, a life of trying to have fun and sheer laziness.

I realized the importance of laying a firm foundation as early as possible in life – if my foundation during my school years had been better, more focussed on Jesus, I possibly would not have even have wasted the subsequent ten years. I give thanks to God for the past thirty or so years and I had a little private celebration with God in 2004 when I crossed the line to become one who had followed of Jesus for more years than I had not.

Over the past couple of weeks the significance of laying a good and early Christian foundation in our lives, and the lives of our children has been strong in my mind. I shared a little of this with the elders on Thursday evening and I am going to devote a lot of my holiday to thinking out the relevance of this in our situation here in this Parish.

Back to our text. Paul tells us that we must “stand firm in the Lord”. And then he tells us how!

The word that he uses for “stand firm” is the same as that of a soldier in the middle of a battle, or of a gladiator in the Roman arena. Standing poised against the enemy, firm and resolute, pumped with adrenalin, positive of victory!

He shows how we can not only hold off the enemy but come through victorious, full of joy, peace and a sense of the presence of God. And this is so vitally important for us today.

The first thing is the need for us to watch our relationships with each other. “Standing firm”, as we have seen is used in the context of battle – it describes a phalanx, soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder. When they stood like that they were virtually invincible –provided they did not break rank. In a modern context we could use the term to describe a scrum in rugby union.

The enemy is always looking for cracks and divisions to exploit in the church. When the church breaks ranks, when the soldiers of Christ’s army are no longer shoulder to shoulder, the Evil One has a field day.

In our text we see a personality clash between two women, Euodia and Syntyche. In dealing with them, Paul does not take sides; rather he urges both of them to take the initiative in order to reach agreement and he appeals to others to help bring them together.

He doesn’t criticise them; rather he concentrates on their good points to build them up –they have contended by his side, and their names are written in the book of life.

Even trivial personality clashes can lead people away from the Lord. I once read a story of a woman who despite having been a faithful Christian and churchgoer stopped going to church for over 15 years. The reason –at a church fete she bought a cake at the cake stall. Seeing another cake she wanted, she said, “I’ll have that one as well”. The woman behind the stall said, “Oh no, you can’t have two”. Deeply offended by the remark, the woman concluded that the church was full of hypocrites and never went back.

It was silly, and we can laugh at it, but the example may not be far from us all. We must watch our relationships with other Christians. Disagreements, disunity, unnecessary remarks and unforgiveness can weaken then church and destroy our faith. One of the vital secrets of standing firm in the Lord is to work at our Christian friendships in the church.

From taking care about our relationships with each other, Paul now tells us that we can “stand firm in the Lord” by watching our relationship with the Lord, and he gives us three invaluable tips.

First, Enjoy the Lord

Sixteen times in Philippians, Paul tells us to “rejoice in the Lord”. However bad our circumstances, we need to find our joy in the Lord. The Westminster Confession tells us that “the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever”. John Piper, one of my favourite authors and pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, calls himself a Christian hedonist –almost a contradiction in terms if we look at many Christians today. He finds absolute pleasure and delight in the Lord –not one sermon is preached, not one word is written without calling people to enjoy God. He was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer –it has not changed his joyful outlook because he is standing firm in the Lord.

Second, Expect the Lord

Immediately following the call to “rejoice in the Lord”, Paul says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near”.

Because the Lord is near –near to those who walk with Him, and because it is near to the Day when He shall return –we can, and must be gentle people. We don’t need to be contentious, abrasive and driven by self-seeking desires. Retaliation is not part of our vocabulary because we are abiding in His presence.

We can “stand firm in the Lord” because it is the Lord who is near who will vindicate us. We have no need to stand up to fight for our own position –God has it all in the palm  of His hand.

Third, Entreat the Lord

He says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.

Prayer and worry are not easy bedfellows. And living a life weighed down with worries is not really living. Prayer takes care of worries –a sign outside a church read “Why pray, when you can worry and take tranquilizers?”

If we want to lift ourselves above the troubles which threaten to pull us down, then we need to be a people of prayer, bringing our prayers, petitions and requests to God. It helps us to keep a journal or prayer diary so that when prayers are answered we can pray with thanksgiving. This is another matter which has been on my mind and when we return from our holidays, I want to focus on prayer as the primary foundation of our relationship with God.

The extraordinary and wonderful promise is that when we pray out our worries and anxieties, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.”

Peace for the Christian means far more than the absence of hostility –The word Paul uses is “shalom”: it means wholeness, soundness, well-being, oneness with God, every kind of blessing and good. It surpasses all our hopes and expectations and it transcends the understanding of others because they do not understand how we can be so peaceful in the face of major worries and anxieties.

Back to the focus on how we stand firm in the Lord. First, he said that we must watch our relationships with each other. Then he said that we must watch our relationship with the Lord. Paul now goes on to tell us that “standing firm in the Lord” needs us to be thinking right thoughts – He tells us to think about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—the excellent and praiseworthy things.

It has been said that “a man is not what he thinks he is, but what he thinks, he is.”

And Jesus said that the things that enter our body through our mouth are not to be worried over because will eventually they leave our bodies. However that which comes out of our mouth is important because it comes from the heart and “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander. It is these things, Jesus says, which make a man unclean.

These are the thoughts of our mind and so we need to be careful about what we think about.

In today’s world its hard to do this because we are surrounded by images and words from television, newspapers, movies and so on which easily lead us in a wrong direction. Our thoughts are then not on true and pure things. We are angered by the politicians on the news, we are sidetracked by the easy sex in the movies, we are misled by false advertising claims.

But, while we may be tempted daily by wrong thoughts we don’t have to succumb to them. Martin Luther said that you can’t stop a bird from flying over your head but you can stop it nesting in your hair.

The way to get wrong thoughts out is to put right thoughts in –occupy your mind with good thoughts and the enemy will find no place to put any bad ones!

One way to do this is to start first thing in the morning with prayer and Bible reading. Memorising scripture verses is a great exercise, as does reading Christian books.

What we think about is not something which can be seen by others. It is part of our secret life but it is vital to standing firm in the Lord. Our unseen life is like the roots of a tree or the foundation of a building –our ability to withstand the storms of life depends on the strength of the unseen parts.

And then finally, Paul says, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.” It’s a challenge for us to build our Christian stability by following the example of the lives of outstanding Christians.

Paul is not afraid to put himself forward as an example of the life to be followed – he has no fear of the “tall poppy” syndrome. He encourages his readers not only to follow his teaching but also his lifestyle –his words and his actions!

In Robert Anderson’s book, “The Effective Pastor” he makes the telling point that the pastor needs to be an outstanding example to the congregation of how to know Jesus, how to pray and how to live. He has little time for professional pastors and those who just want to be “one of the boys”.

And let me tell you that the world watches the Christians. They expect us to be above the things of the world, and we are, and we must be.

It is not so easy however to do all these things. Paul encourages his readers to put into practice what he has taught them –practice is the only way.

We must practice avoiding quarrels.

We must practice being united with other Christians.

We must practice avoiding worry and anxiety by bringing it to the Lord in prayer.

We must practice thinking about good things.

We must practice what we see in the lives of godly men and women.

And remember ….

Unforgiveness cuts us off from God.

Quarreling cuts us off from God.

Sinful thoughts cut us off from God.

Following bad examples cuts us off from God.

But forgiveness, unity, prayer, thankfulness, right thinking and following good examples keep us close to the God of peace.

And then we can stand firm in the Lord, not be sidetracked and so rejoice in living the life that is worthy.

Greetings!

This morning our focus is on “standing firm in the Lord” and particularly on how we are to do that. Our text sets out three simple rules – Be care-full of our relationships with each other, with the Lord and with ourselves. First, we must watch our relationships with each other – in the dispute between Euodia and Syntyche Paul pleads with them to make peace, and calls the community to help them. Disagreements, disunity, unnecessary remarks and unforgiveness can weaken the church and destroy our faith. The striving for good    relationships is a vital secret to standing firm in the Lord. Second, we must watch our relationship with the Lord – Paul gives us three tips for doing this: We must enjoy the Lord (rejoice in Him); we must expect the Lord (be gentle with each other for the Lord is near) and we must entreat the Lord (do not be anxious but pray). And then third, we must watch the things that fill our mind – we must think true, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy thoughts. Someone once said, “A man is not what he thinks he is, but what he thinks – he is!”

As I prepared this sermon, it seemed to me that this focus on “standing firm in the Lord” could be pivotal in directing the future course of our ministry in the Wheatbelt. We need to set the foundation on which we stand as early as possible in our life and so we need to work really hard at creating a good, viable and fulfilling ministry to the children and young people. We need to set within ourselves a foundation of prayer and personal devotion to God. We need to develop good   approaches to reading and understanding Scripture and we need to build good relationships with each other and the community. My mind has already been filled with thoughts which I will share with the elders so that we can begin to develop the ideas. I also plan to devote a lot of time to “thinking on these things” while we are on leave in South Africa.

You might already have heard the news that Brett Guthrie, the Chaplain at the High School, is not well at the moment. He was flown to Perth last week and at the time of writing, the diagnosis was still not clear. Please pray for him, his wife Lyn, and their son, Jonathan. Pray also for the school community which he serves.

Another important item of news is that Rev Paul Cannon from the Anglican Church has been called to the Parish of Bridgetown/Boyup Brook with effect from the beginning of August. He and his wife have played a significant role in the community and they will be missed. A farewell service will be held at All Saints at 10am on July 18^th. Please pray for them as they prepare to enter into a new phase of ministry and pray also for the Anglican Parish as they face a time of uncertainty as they await the appointment of a new minister.

Christian greetings to all of you. Shalom. Peace.

A little while back, Margie bought me an iPod Nano. They were at reduced prices at Target. I loaded up all my favourite music – real classic rock stuff, the blues and those songs which have been my personal “golds” through the years. I haven’t had much opportunity to listen to this music since we got married because Margie doesn’t really like it. It was great to listen to the driving beat of Ten Years After, Blind Faith and Eric Clapton’s early days with Cream. But after a little while I realized that my taste in   music, and the things I actually wanted to listen to, had changed. I dumped the rock music and refilled my iPod with Il Divo, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Tomlin and Amy Grant. And I added a couple of sermon podcasts from iTunes, including, Bill Hybels, Louis Giglio and Rob Bell. And for those serene moments, I put on some  Gregorian chants.

I began to think about why we change our music tastes and life preferences. My parents hated my music when I was a kid and I thought their taste was pretty dull. And yet, if they were alive today, I think that they would really like the music I listen to. I don’t think that I’ve become dull as the years have piled onto my life. In fact, as I matured, I think that my listening tastes have become fuller and far more discerning.

As I thought about it, I began to discount all the usual answers – that I was “finally” maturing, that I was become more risk averse as I approached the end of my life, and so on. No. I think it is that I have come to appreciate the really good things in life, and, by the way, that still includes really good rock music – I still go crazy when I hear Alvin Lee’s guitar riffs in “I’m going home” and Ginger Baker’s drum solo in  “Do what you like” on the Blind Faith album. As a child, everything is just amazing, we have to try it, have to do it, even when it is really rubbish. For a child, the new and the novel is the attraction, but as maturity comes we become more discerning. We want the good things, the things of value and truth, rather than just the latest gimmick, or hot pop star.

I think that this has a whole lot to do with God. We might not always recognize His hand in our life, but He is constantly guiding and directing His creation back    towards Himself. And as we come into His view we begin to “throw off the things that so easily entangle” and we desire more to enjoy the good and pleasant things that God has blessed us with in this world. We look for quality, we appreciate the wonderful, and we see value in eternal things.

And, by the way, this has very little to do with age. It has, it seems to my way of thinking, much more to do with understanding life and what it is all about. Sometimes, perhaps mostly, it is about a new appreciation for God, who is the author of life and who has redeemed our lost life through the Cross. And, even though I have been a Christian for most of my life, I have, through this process of thinking about music,  realized that I am drawn closer to God and have, in the last few months, come to  appreciate more and more the wonder of God’s grace towards me and His creation.

I hope that this little reflection will give you cause to think about why you do things you do, and like the things you like. I really believe that God loves us much more than we can imagine and that His desire is for us to enjoy all things and to be at peace with everything that He made so well.

God bless.