Thursday 30 June 2016

A Passing Whiff

A Passing Whiff

“Apart from God every activity is merely a passing whiff of insignificance.” Alfred North Whitehead.
The writer of Ecclesiastes writing of this life said,
“What has been will be again,
 what has been done will be done again; 
there is nothing new under the sun”
Ecclesiastes 1:9
“I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; 
all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
Ecclesiastes 1:14.
One thing the atheist and Christians I think can agree on is life as we know it in the light of eternity is short. Most people will live and die within a few hundred kilometres of where they were born. Most will not be remembered to anyone other than their families within a generation.
On my computer is a picture of my paternal grandmother. I never met her she died when my father was seven long before I was born. All I know is her name that from what my father and his siblings said she was gentle and loving. I also know that she won a bible contest. I had for some time the Bible she won. But that’s all I know of her.
Who her friends were, what she liked, what she didn’t like, are all lost to history. Such is it with people.
One thing I’ve found in my life however is the truth Ecclesiastes states, “what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
Someone once told me the things people do are the same from generation to generation it’s just that in our day and age those things have become high tech.
The acts of man do remain the same. War may not be fought with swords and spears but war is fought. People still steal, cheat, lie, and do all kinds of negative things.
People still love, get married, do wonderful acts of kindness, are heroic and do many good things. But within a hundred years of our death for must of what we like or did will not be remembered.
I once asked a group of Canadians who Thomas D’arcy McGee was. They couldn’t tell me. Mcgee was a father of Confederation who helped form Canada as a nation. In 1868 became the first politician to be assassinated in Canada. He helped found Canada yet many Canadians if not most know nothing of him.
That’s the way it will be for all of us one day.
Whether people remember us or not is unimportant however in the light of eternity. It is whether or not that we know God that will count.
I as a Christian believe people need a personal relationship with God. We can have that relationship by accepting Christ as our Saviour.
John’s gospel records this,
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  
I and the Father are one.” 
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” John 10:24-32.
Jesus told people plainly who he was the Son of God. One with God. Many in his day as now do not believe that. That was their choice. It is a choice you must make.
God will not force himself on you.
Jesus speaking to Martha asked a question we all must answer when he asked,
“Jesus said to her, “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. Do you believe this?”
“Yes Lord” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ the Son of God, who was to come into the world,” John 11:25,-27.
Before you answer that question for certain, I would ask that you make an informed decision. Don't rely on what I have said, or some else has said, read the New Testament for yourself and see what it says about God, and Jesus, then decide.
Please think about it.

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