Life…

So I realised that I havent really been blogging much at all recently, I have found that things have been so busy that I havent really had the time.

Work still continues much the same, although I am now just doing 4 days a week as on Thursdays I am doing the South Downs Ministry Training Course which is run by the Sussex Gospel Partnership which has been really great so far. We do a bible overview in the morning followed by an exposition and then have practical groups looking at how to lead bible studies etc. New Testament Greek in the afternoon is a challenge though!

It seems strange that it is already the middle of October! In two months it will be Christmas again!

One thing I have been trying to drill in recently is that it is totally by grace that I am saved, I can do absolutely nothing to contribute to my salvation. In his book, You Can Change, Tim Chester says that thinking we can offer something to our salvation is like saying ‘Jesus, I know you said on the cross it is finished but I dont quite think so yet so I am just going to try and do some good things to finish the job.’ I saw more of how insulting to God it is when I try and earn His love.

The love of God is totally undeserved and totally free and will be sufficient for this life and for the eternity that is to follow, I need to remember this every single day as this is the only solid ground on which to build my life.

Working for God’s Glory

Ive been in my job just about 20 months now. I work in a Pharmacy close to where I live and I work Monday to Friday, 9-6 and 1 in 4 Saturday mornings. My Pharmacy is a very busy one, doing about 12,000 prescription items a month, the main part of my job is to dispense these 12,000 odd items.

Often with the pressures of a busy job its so easy to only think about getting through to the end of the day and not actually making the most of work, to think only of myself and what I will be doing with my evening. Especially at times when my job is not stimulating it is very easy just to become bored with what I am doing, forgetting that God has given me this job for a reason.

When I first started working at the Pharmacy, Bart, our curate at Church, said to me ‘God wants you in this job, He has given you this job, not anyone else, you!’ It is an amazing thought to think that God has placed me where I am for a reason.

So far I am so grateful that The Lord has given me many opportunities to bring people to things at Church and to share the Gospel with many of the people I work with. I hope that this can be my legacy. I often think about how I want people to remember me. I want them to remember someone who loved Jesus and lived differently, not so that they think I’m great, but so that our Saviour is glorified (1 Peter 2:12)

I try not waste my days but do end up wasting far too many. Life is short and time is short and people need to know that Jesus is King, this is why we all need to not waste our time at work.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…                                                                   Colossians 3:23

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.                     1 Peter 2:12

Swine Flu and Jesus

In the past few weeks our nation has been gripped by the fear of the dreaded Swine Flu. It seems that the UK, along with other countries, are terrified as we are in the midst of a Pandemic. Everyone has been shocked by the outrageous figures we see on the tv or in newspapers: That 1 in 8 people in any work place could be off with Swine Flu at any one time, that as many as 65,000 could perish, that a mere 2 million could contract the virus, that this could close down schools, hospitals and all public life.

Working in a Pharmacy you get to see all the paranoia that people have, and also just what measures people will go to to ensure that they never contract this flu. Even the doctor’s surgery that we work closely with has done away with all its noticeboards and instead replaced them with warnings about not entering if you feel you have ‘flu-like’ symptoms, then there is ample hand gel to use wherever you go.

Now of course no-one wants to get unwell, but why are people so terrified by this pandemic? The reason can be summed up in two words: The Grave. No-one wants to die. Everyone is petrified by death and will do anything they can to escape it for as long as possible. The subject of death is one of the biggest ‘taboo’s’ in our society.

Death isn’t how things are supposed to be. We know that in the new creation there will be no more death (Rev 21:4) and this is because we were never meant to die. Death is the ultimate statistic, it gets 1 out of 1 people, 10 out of 10, 1000 out of  1000, 1,000,000 out of 1,000,000. Death will catch up with everyone.

I hope that through this pandemic Jesus will open people’s eyes to the fragility of life. Death is scary if you don’t know what is beyond it, but Jesus tells us exactly what is beyond it. As Christians we need to support in every way we can during these times, but also to tell people why they need not fear death, because Jesus has overcome the grave! What a gospel we have to proclaim!

It reminds me also of a sad, current story, that of John Hartson, the ex-professional footballer who is extremely unwell at the moment. How two weeks ago he was told he had cancer in three different parts of his body and is now critically ill in hospital. We see that no amount of money, or possessions or good health care can make anyone escape death. When thought of in this way Jesus’ words seem so real and straight forward:

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Mark 8:36

We have one life and we cannot escape death. We need not to waste our lives but use them for the Glory of the One who has defeated death, and who offers life to all who would accept it.

Is there Hope?

I’ve been working in a Pharmacy for about 18 months now and all throughout each day there are so many people who come in with many different stories to tell. Some tell you there very ill, or there mother or father or wife or husband has just died, or you get phone calls informing you of such things.

What always seems to be the case with everyone that tells you this is sadness and fear, which I guess isn’t really suprising. It makes me think alot of the time when I hear these stories, even today as I heard some, that people need hope. People often say that death is just a part of life but I can’t accept that death is how things should be, if death were so natural why does it have to be the most painful thing that people ever experience?

The glorious message of the Gospel states that Jesus Christ died in the place of sinners that they could have freedom from sin, death and hell. What a message of hope we have to proclaim! That actually death isn’t the end and that there is hope for everyone who puts there trust in Jesus! I need to fix my eyes on this more and more for this is what is real in life, and also what life is all about.

Jesus said ‘”I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”                           John 11:25-26