I vividly remember that night when our Professor of New Testament, James S. Stewart was preaching in Lothian Road in Edinburgh, Scotland, and his powerful and animated declaration, "Defend the Bible? I would just as soon defend a lion. Just turn the Bible loose. It will defend itself." It was only recently that I learned that it was Charles Spurgeon who first spoke these penetrating words.
Everything which relates to God is infinite. We must therefore, while we keep our hearts humble, keep our aims high. Our highest services are indeed but finite, imperfect, but as God is unlimited in goodness, He should have our unlimited love. Do these words not challenge our hearts?
We have the truth and we need not be afraid to say so. It was another strong Christian leader who spoke these words and they are so very relevant in 2009 for those of us who are in Christ and who believe the Bible.
Having a full life is not necessarily a long life. I have just been re-reading the memoirs of Robert Murray McCheyne of Dundee, and his influential ministry certainly supports these salutary words.
The world isn't reading the Bible. The world is reading Christians like you and me, and if they don't like what they see in us, they're not going to want what we have, and we have what everyone so needs, Jesus Christ. Again, that will not be popular in certain places in 2009, but it just happens to be true.
Only one life will soon be past and it is only what is done for Christ that will last. Let that sink in deeply!
Inner purity results in outer power. We see that so perfectly clearly in the life of Jesus Christ and to a lesser degree in the life of the early Church. But what a challenge it is to me! Is it a challenge to you?
With complete consecration comes perfect peace, and these words were breathed by a saintly Chinese believer in Jesus called Watchman Nee, whose teaching and writing has inspired many. He was a leader who continues to lead today as disciples of Jesus Christ study his writings.
No one ever became, or can become truly eloquent without being a reader of the Bible, and an admirer of the purity and sublimity of its language. Now, that is almost too strong but I know what the writer is getting at. Do you?
It's not the parts of the Bible I don't know that worries me, but the parts that I do. That statement from a leader is a very different field has something profound to say to each of us.
One of the greatest dangers in the Christian life is losing interest in what is familiar. Again this can happen almost without our noticing as we search for something fresh to say and at times perhaps even novel. It is better to say what is true than what is new!
Tell me what you do with your time and money and I will tell you where your heart is. How vitally important that is in these times of financial crisis.
We can have no power from Christ unless we are persuaded that we have none of our own. I need to remember that frequently. Would that not be true for us all?
Sandy Shaw.
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org entitled "Word from Scotland" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.
Sandy Shaw
sandyshaw63@yahoo.com
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