WELL

“water with a splash of life,” says the advertisement above the entrance to the coffee shop. We are in Taipa, in the Far North of New Zealand, and stopping for some refreshments.

Ardent readers of the BIBLE are straight away reminded of the “living water,” the Lord Jesus Christ talks about.

LIVING WATER IS THE GIFT GOD HAS FOR US. (John 4:10)

In his letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul teaches that Salvation is a GIFT of God. (Ephesians 2:8)

DRINKING THE LIVING WATER GIVES US ETERNAL LIFE. (John 4:14)

In his letter to the Romans the apostle Paul teaches that ETERNAL LIFE is a gift from God. (Romans 6:23)

The Lord Jesus Christ compares the water from the spring with the water he gives and says:

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” – John 4:13,14

THE DEAD TREE

Seeing that dead tree today at Taipa Beach, not far from Kaitaia, reminded me of what the apostle Peter and Jude, the brother of Jesus, are writing about the false teachers. Peter writes about them in his second letter and Jude writes about them in his very short letter of 25 verses.

Here is what Jude says about them in the verses 12 and 13:

“When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love,

1.  they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you.

2. They are like shameless shepherds who care only about themselves.

3. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain.

4.  They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. 

5. They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds.

6. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.” (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)

“NO WORRIES,” was written on the back and the front of the camper van we overtook last Sunday on our journey from Auckland to the north of New Zealand, where we live.

Reading about worries on that camper van made me think again about the theme.

What do people say about WORRY?

Vance Havner says this about worry: “Worry is like sitting in a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.”

CAPE REINGA IN THE NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND

In the publication called Coffee News, 1st March 2010, I read this about worrying, “You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying over the future.”

And Corrie ten Boom has this to say about worry: “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.”

What has the Bible to say about the subject?

Paul writes that we should make our needs known to God. We read that in his letter to the Philippians in Philippian 4:6.

Peter says that we should cast all our worries on God. You find that in First Peter 5:7, where it says, “Give all worries and cares to God, because he cares for you.”

The Lord Jesus Christ asks in Matthew 6:27 “‘Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?'”

 I have also opened two Devotional Treasuries to find out what the Holy Spirit has taught his servants.

Billy Graham stresses our relationship to God in his Devotional Treasury UNTO THE HILLS, when writing about Philippians 4:4-6. (Anxious in Nothing)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon explains First Peter 5:7 in his MORNING AND EVENING Daily Readings and asks the following two questions: “If God cares for you, why do you have to care too? Can you trust him just for your soul, and not for your body?”

THERE ARE NEEDS! THERE ARE REQUESTS! THERE ARE CARES! THERE ARE WORRIES!

What are we doing with our needs, our requests, our cares, and our worries?

WE NEED A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

I am wondering if the occupants of the camper van we overtook last Sunday have a relationship with God? I would like to ask them. But the opportunity to do so is very slim.

“Der beste Zeitpunkt einen Baum zu pflanzen war vor 20 Jahren. Der zweitbeste ist heute.”

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all.” – J. K. Rowlings