March 1, 2019
Dear friends,
Don’t you love the first day of a new month? If you keep a calendar on the wall, on which you write appointments, you get to flip to a new page and dream of what exciting events might take place in the days ahead. From what I’ve heard on the news lately, there are some politicians that might be dreading the future, as controversy swirls around them.
In recent years, there have been a lot of changes in the Canadian and American governments. When I was thirteen, I decided to distribute literature for a man who was running for election in my favourite political party at the time, even though I was too young to vote. Less than forty years later, the son of the Prime Minister of Canada in the late 1960s became the leader of the party that formed the current government. Justin Trudeau followed in the footsteps of his father, Pierre Elliott, for whom the Montreal airport is named, by choosing to enter public service. As was the case with his father, he has many friends and many detractors.
As we try to ascertain which politicians are telling the truth, we would do well to remember that God has given us everything we need to know about truth in His Word. One of the ways in which the Lord Jesus described Himself was to say that He is the truth (John 14:6). How wonderful it is to know that the Holy Spirit, one of the three persons of God, inspired men to write the 66 books of the Bible, our source of truth! In his book “The God Who Walks Beside Us,” David Roper examines the differences between Jacob and Esau. He writes: “Of the two brothers, Esau seemingly had the easier life. He lived in untrammeled ease and affluence throughout his entire existence, his good name intact to the end. Esau was a distinguished statesman who founded a long line of great kings (Genesis 36) … Jacob never had it that good. Despite his aptitude for finagling, his entire life was a swarm of sorrow, pain, trouble and care.” Brother Roper goes on to show how God loved and disciplined Jacob, declaring twenty-two times that He was “the God of Jacob.”
Have you been experiencing difficult circumstances? As believers, we know that God desires that we follow Him wholeheartedly. If you have never asked God’s forgiveness for your sins, now is the time to repent (change your way of thinking) and turn to the One who not only created the world, but also created Man and wants to have a close relationship with His creation.
Scripture for the weekend: “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things” Acts 17:24-25 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “No matter how flawed by deceit, how cursed by sin, how guilt-ridden, disgraced, and ruined we may be, we can be made new if we will only give ourselves to the mighty God of Jacob.” – David Roper (from his book “The God Who Walks Beside Us,” Discovery House Publishers, Grand Rapids, Michigan)
By His grace,
Steve