Dear friends,
When I was correcting a Bible course in our office yesterday, I had a very nice surprise: there was a cheque in the middle of the course. I had opened the envelope two weeks ago, but hadn’t seen the cheque. This reminded me of God’s faithfulness in providing funds, through His people, for the purchase of radio time, as well as the expenses of maintaining a ministry office in Châteauguay. In the Bible, we read many promises, including the following: “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
While Karen and I were visiting a supporting church in Ontario in October, we received several books, including Stan Toler’s “Minute Motivators for Men.” Despite the title of the book, his insights will prove helpful to women too. In the first chapter – “Take Charge of Your Attitude,” Toler writes: “There are many things you can’t control. You can’t control the weather, the traffic, the actions of your boss, or the outcome of a sporting event. But there is one thing you can control: your attitude.”
Did you hear about an Ontario family who waited more than nine months to receive a bank draft for $846,000? The story was reported on the Internet yesterday at:
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ups-td-canada-trust-bank–draft-1.4447384. You can imagine the feelings of frustration that the family experienced before the bank decided to issue a new bank draft. Karen and I understand a little of what the family felt, as we had to wait more than a year for a bank draft to be received. Somehow a transfer of funds from one financial institution to another did not go as it should have and we tried to be patient as one bank “passed the buck” in assigning blame to the other bank.
The “blame game” goes back to the Garden of Eden. The first woman gave the forbidden fruit to her husband, Adam, and he chose to join her in defying God’s command. When God called to Adam, he answered by saying that he tried to hide from Him because he was afraid and that he took the fruit from the woman that God gave him (Genesis 3:10-12). Eve then said that the serpent deceived her (Genesis 3:13). It is easy to find someone or something to blame when we do or say something that we shouldn’t, isn’t it? How fitting that on the first Christmas, the angel of the Lord told the shepherds to not be afraid (in contrast to Adam) because he was bringing “good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). This Christmas, let’s worship the Lord and remember that He delivers us from all our fears.
Scripture for the weekend: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “Christmas is all about God’s grace. It’s about what God has done for us that we could never have done for ourselves. Christmas is also about God’s humility. We can’t begin to fathom what took place when the all-glorious, all-powerful, perfect, majestic, sovereign, eternal God of the ages allowed Himself to take on the weaknesses, limitations, and frailties of our humanity.” – J. Christopher Smith (from the November/December 2017 edition of “Israel My Glory” magazine)
By His grace,
Steve