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    God Cares for Us

    Wednesday, June 15, 2011


    The other day while praying, I thanked God for caring for me. My prayer immediately caused me to laugh to myself – as if God needed thanking for caring for me! Of course He cares for me! He sent His Son to die a torturous and humiliating death at Calvary - so of course He cares for me! It goes without saying when His love for us is considered, so the issue of His care hardly needs a mention, does it? Isn’t it more important to thank Him for salvation?


    As a pastor it occurred to me that I have rarely had to assist a Christian to understand and recognise that Jesus Christ died on the cross for them. This single fact we know without hesitation or doubt and whenever this event is questioned it is a very real and rare crisis of faith. What is far more common is the question of God’s care of us. Pastors repeatedly find themselves offering support and encouragement in this important area. It seems rather odd and somewhat inconsistent that on the one hand we do not doubt or question Jesus death at Calvary and the love that this demonstrates for each of us. Yet the care of God often needs to be clarified and affirmed in our minds.


    It occurs to me we need to understand and know God’s big picture of salvation but it is also very necessary for us to understand the detail of God’s care for our lives on a daily basis. We are reassured when we are reminded that God’s thinks about and understands our circumstances; be they financial, health, marriage, family, education or social. Not only is it important to us to have God know when there are problems in our lives, but it’s also important for us to know God knows all about our hopes and dreams, our joys and plans for the future. At its essence, the Christian life is about sharing our lives with God including all the issues and all the blessings and in return we experience His consistent care for us.


    Any doubts about God’s care or interest in us may arise when we begin to think that He’s too busy for us, or too distracted by other things, or we think that we’re simply not important enough to Him. This type of thinking is in conflict to the facts of what happened to Jesus and why He came to this earth. The message of Jesus’ life speaks volumes! That yes, Christ died to cleanse our sin and give us eternal life, but He also died to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden – fellowship with God. God not only wants to save us, which He has done, but He also wants to share in our lives – including the very detail of them. So does that mean He cares? You better believe it! He cares more than we could ever know or understand! How important it is then to thank Him, as an act of faith, for His daily care and concern for us.


    “O Lord, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of Him?” Psalm 144:3


    Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7



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    Remembering Sacrifice

    Wednesday, April 20, 2011


    This year’s Easter long weekend is particularly long due to Easter coinciding with ANZAC day.

    Australia is sometimes known as the land of the long weekend, but over the years ANZAC day has helped shape a national identity of a different sort; equating courage, discipline, and sacrifice as qualities intrinsically Australian.  It’s a day that reminds us of the sacrifice made by our countrymen and women in years past; and in particular that of those who went to war and didn’t return.

    My grandfather used to tell me the story of fighting along the Kokoda track, the battle at Shaggy ridge; and as a battalion intelligence officer, being a part of the Japanese surrender ceremony at Kendari in the Celebes (now Sulawesi in Indonesia) in 1945 – at which his Japanese counterpart gave my granddad his family Samurai sword as a sign of surrender. (Also my father having fought in 2 wars, and my great grandfather having been in the artillery, may have influenced my decision to join the army at 17!)

    I certainly don’t want to glorify war, but as a country, we do have a history of great sacrifice on the battlefield, and I can’t reflect on ANZAC day, and the sacrifice of men and women who have laid down their lives for the freedom of others, without also thinking about Jesus’ words, “greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”(John 15).

    This is what we remember on ANZAC day; not celebrating war, but remembering and honouring sacrifice.  This is also what we remember at Easter; but on this occasion we also celebrate!  Jesus’ perfect sacrifice – laying down his life for us – restoring us to relationship with God, didn’t come about by treaty or mutual decision, but by taking our sin upon Himself.

    For those of us in Christ, this is the most amazing news!  Once we were dead in our transgressions, but now we’re alive in Jesus!  He died in our place, and rose again to take the place of glory at the right hand of the Father.  So, this extended long weekend, as you eat hot cross buns, consume chocolate, participate in church services, or wake up early for a dawn service, remember the ultimate sacrifice… God’s son.


    Don.



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