I really liked Selwyn’s conclusion – that Jesus can, and does, comfort us during our times of pain and grief. We, who follow Jesus, have access to our God who fully understands our human feelings. He is our God, who’s nature, is to run down the road, with arms outstretched – to greet and comfort us – when He sees us at a distance walking towards Him, loaded up with pain and burdens.
Selwyn writes:“The problems on the surface of our lives may have different wrappings, but deep down in our hearts the pain we experience has the same labels – hurt, sadness, grief, emptiness, despair and disappointment. The problems in our world lead to pain in the heart and it is that pain, whatever its label, that Christ has touched somewhere in the journey between His birth and His death. No wonder our Lord is referred to be so many as ‘the comforting Christ’.”
Selwyn has selected Isaiah Chapter 53 for reading and meditation; with verse 3, highlighted: “He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.” In both the Old and New Testaments, we are presented with the image of a suffering servant as a key indicator of the nature of our Saviour.
In addition, you may recall these verses from John 13:14-15 (referred to on 3rd March): “And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” We are also called upon to comfort each other – as we follow in His footsteps.
Any comments?
In today’s study Selwyn uses the verse Hebrews 4:16, to illustrate the truth that we can boldly come into God’s presence.
Hebrews 4:12-16 (NLT): ” … the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
It’s important to realise that we can approach God as we hold firmly to what we believe. As Selwyn says, part of the reason is that we have a perfect High Priest who understands our weaknesses. Yet, these follow verses from Hebrews clearly states – why, and how, the barrier between God and us – has been removed.
Hebrews 10:19-24 (NLT): “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. … “
It’s the sacrifice of Jesus – His blood – that enables us to enter into God’s presence; what Selwyn writes about in today’s study - flows both, from what Jesus has done; and, who He is! Do you agree?
I thought these words – taken from today’s study, were good: “The visit of God to our world was not a momentary rift in the clouds, giving us a fleeting glance of the Deity. No, He dwelt among us, from the manager to the tomb; amid our poverty, amid our temptations, amid our problems and our choices, amid our oppositions and disappointments.”
I think, the important point is that God’s plan, to be with us – was formed before time began. Jesus, our creator God, knew about the agony on His cross, before He even walked with Adam and Eve in His beautiful garden.
The story of our God is a story about relationships – it’s a story with an ending that does not depend on our frail ‘good intentions’. It’s a story, that starts and ends, with God’s perfect love for His people. Do you agree?
The first five verses of John’s gospel – really do – tells us a lot, about God; what follows, is my translation 
: “In the beginning Jesus already existed. Jesus was with God, and Jesus is God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through Jesus. Jesus gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. Jesus’ light shines in the darkness, and Satan can never extinguish His light.”
Any comments?
Okay – I guess over all these years – such a day, does come along – I can find nothing positive to say about what Selwyn has written.
However, I would like to say that John 13:34, is a favourite verse of mine: “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”
It’s a clarification of the golden rule – ‘to love others as you would like to them to love you’ – but, our understanding of love is flawed. Consequently, we need a perfect example of love, to follow – Jesus, by His actions, gives us that example. In this aspect it is a totally new commandment - this commandment is to replace the human interpretation of ‘love your neighbour’. To understand the difference, requires the moulding of our heart into a new shape by the hands of the Holy Spirit.
Any comments?
Tags: love
I thought that the following statements made by Selwyn in today’s study, were useful: “There are three main words used to describe the action of feeling for someone who has been hurt or wounded – pity, sympathy and empathy. Pity is feeling for someone; sympathy is feeling like someone; empathy is feeling withsomeone. …
There is a small degree of pity and sympathy to be found in all true empathy, but the thing that makes empathy so much more helpful is that while it feels so deeply, it is able to identify with the hurt and draw alongside without being overcome with the plight of the person. Our Father’s heart is like this; His sojourn among us enables Him to feel, not onlt for us, but with us.”
However, as in an earlier post, I have a problem when Selwyn makes statements such as: “God, (if He had not become human) would not have been able to empathise with us, for empathy flows only from involvement.”
God, as our creator- is able to fully and perfectly understand our emotions – the full range of our feelings – it is He who gave us the palette of emotional responses. To say what God can, and can’t do – always, I think, puts you on dangerous ground. Scripture only gives us a brief glimpse of the fullness of God – enough to get us safely home – we are ignorant of much of what God is about. Consequently, we don’t know enough to say what God can and can’t do – but what we do know is that God made us in His image – this spiritual aspect of our personalities – is completely known by God, we only lightly scratch the surface. We have not been told the full detail of every truth. Hard as that might be – to believe!
Any comments?
I liked Selwyn’s introduction: “The willingness of our Creator to subject Himself to the conditions under which we live must surely spell out one thing – God is intensely interested in and concerned about all aspects of our lives, including our hurts and sorrows.” Jesus does all this – because He loves us! The most important spiritual truth that I can ever proclaim – is that our God loves us – with all His power. Nothing is held back – not even the life of His Son – can you say the same?
Verses 8 and 9, from Chapter 13, of the book of Hebrews (the author of this letter has not been verified) – supports our trust in God’s promises: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them. … “.
Jesus, our God who walked with Adam and Eve, who punished those nations that did wicked acts in His sight – and who, as a man, died - a perfect sacrifice on a cross – is the same then, as He is now. His love for the world – His creation – is never ending – it’s His love expressed through grace that gives us the strength to carry on – proclaiming His name.
Can there be anything better – than to know that we are loved – by Jesus?
Tags: love
The blight of loneliness
I was surprised that when I searched for a list of emotions on the ‘net, I found that there are different lists and the majority of these lists did not include loneliness as a prime emotion. The common prime emotions I found in lists, were: love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, and fear. Loneliness was seen by some, to be a secondary emotion that came out of a feeling of sadness due to ‘being alone’, caused by a range of circumstances, such as - friendlessness, isolation, rejection, grief, homesickness, insecurity, or alienation.
I think that our need to be loved or respected within our own community - are powerful needs, and results in equally powerful emotions, such as loneliness – when these needs are not met (or, perceived to be not met). Our personal isolation may even be more evident, when we are in a crowd. It’s not so much a lack of contact with other people – it’s more, a lack of relationship with other people whom we accept as having a reciprocal interest in our well-being.
The lonely person’s constant thought is – ‘who cares about me?’ A feeling of sadness then dominates their personality – when they chronically answer the former question – with the terrifying words - ‘No one!’ [As, the American band Three Dog Night, once sang - 'One, is the loneliest number ... ']
Selwyn, in today’s study, talks ‘about the fact that Jesus knew loneliness as no one has ever known it – before or since.’ He goes onto say:“Loneliness is the feeling of being bereft of human companionship, the sadness that comes through the loss of a loved one or the failure to find a close or loving friend. … Christians can walk with God, even have a rich relationship with Him, yet at times feel incredibly lonely.”
In Matthew 26:36-40 (NLT), we read about a special type of loneliness – those times when your friends fail to provide support, in your times of distress: “Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.
He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? … “
As Selwyn, mentioned in today’s study – all of us will experience loneliness at some point in our lives – Jesus understands how you feel, take your loneliness to Him in prayer – He loves you, and He will embrace and comfort, your aching heart.
Tags: loneliness