“BOOKS BRING HOPE” is an article called in one of our local papers. In fact it is the first article on the front page. (Northern News, April 3, 2013)
IN WHICH BOOK ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR HOPE?
The Northland Regional Correction facility is not far from Kaikohe. There are inmates who are taking part in the prison’s Foundation Skills Programme. To help them to improve their literacy while serving time Far North Rotary Clubs have donated 300 dictionaries (English and Maori dictionaries) worth about $5000.
“BOOKS BRING HOPE.”
The psalmist says in Psalm 119:74: “May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.” And in Psalm 130:5 the psalmist says: “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.”
I also put my HOPE in the BIBLE!
What about you?
“The word of the Lord endureth for ever.” – First Peter 1:25
For quite some time I have asked myself questions like that. I don’t blame you if you don’t understand what the questions are all about, because I don’t even know if I am asking the right questions.
But today I am reading about a book in a book review. The review is in German. It is a book written by Josh McDowell. And the title of the book is:
There are two verses in the Bible I use quite frequently. One of them is First John 3:8, mainly the second part.
But here is the whole verse according to the New International Version:
“He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
WHAT IS SATAN’S WORK?
1. Matthew 13:25,30: “But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the the wheat, and went away.”
He is sowing weeds and wrong doctrine.
2. Luke 22:31: “‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.'”
He is testing the Christians.
3. First Corinthians 5:5: “hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”
His work is to destroy the flesh (lives) of men.
4. Second Corinthians 4:4: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of god.”
He is blinding the minds of men.
5. First Peter 5:8: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
He is seeking whom he may devour.
6. Revelation 12:10: “For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”
He is accusing the brethren.
The second verse I use often you find in the last book of the Bible, in the book of Revelation: In Revelation 12:11 it says:
“They overcome him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
In her ‘Maxim Institute’ column called “Ending Child Poverty”Jane Sillloway Smith in THE NORTHERN AGE, Tuesday, March 27, 2013, says that discussing the material deprivations of Child poverty is too shallow.
She is pointing us too the poverty of:
1. addiction,
2. abuse,
3. lack of work,
4. poor education,
5. loss of hope,
6. broken relationships.
She says that “more than money” is required to address the above mentioned poverty properly.
And here are her own words: “They require dedicated and compassionate neighbors, communities and social service providers – our hearts and our hands as well as our wallets.”
STILL TOO SHALLOW
I think there is still “a shallowness in this current discussion”.
Our greatest poverty is that our relationship with our creator is broken. It needs to be repaired. The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and repaired the relationship. Once our relationship with our creator is repaired through the Lord Jesus Christ we have hope. God is our Father and we are his children.
We can ask him to help us with everything: addiction, abuse, lack of work, poor education, loss of hope and broken relationships.)
