09 Oh No!

Well happy new year to you all.

that phrase in itself has a funny mentality doesn't it? the common implication is "well this year was crap lets hope next year is better" then once that "next year" is over we say the same thing. I don't particularly make new years resolutions because I believe that we are all changing so much every day and that we need to make resolutions as often as we find something to resolve.

However as Christmas came round and I bought small gifts of appreciation for some, and many cards for many. As I came to write something nice and loving in the cards I realised that out of the many people I loved I still held grudges against some of them and in all honesty it scared me because I am a loving person and do all I can to show that love to others. So when I can't find words to uplift someone its a scary thought. So my simple (if only it was) resolution is to work on my forgiveness, of myself and of others, and in terms of not hurting others so as to cut down on others forgiving me.

As I watch the news tonight I firstly think "ah so this is why I don't watch the news" because in all honesty it a load of crap, there are far too many discrepancies in details to deem anything they say as reliable. The majority of the time it is all fabricated by the reporter and the company of which the station is run in. And my second thought as I watched a 10 minute long report on the apparent loss of who they described as a "league superstar" is why? not only why do they play favourites with someone who is good at sports in comparism to someone who serves in community service, but also why is he so remembered? The answer to the former is pretty obvious and it could lead me on a whole other rant on how our society is messed up. its plain materialism and commercialism again. Adorning someone because they look good or play a sport well, and apparently that's all you have to do today to be remembered and favoured upon society. The answer to the latter question is where my rant begins this evening and funnily enough relates to the first question. This man is remembered because of his sporting achievements nothing more than that. He is not described as a saint or a saviour or even as a solver our societies problems. But he is described as a League Superstar and it makes me seriously think about who Jesus was, what he did, what he taught and why he did it.

I'm sure some of you are now thinking "aw come on don't spoil some nice philosophy with that Christian crap" well fair enough stop reading if you want but Jesus has been to answer for millions of people in our world to which philosophers have never been able to answer. As we mourn the loss of such a great league player where is our mourning for the one man of whom this world is based on. Jesus. it is no coincidence that just as the 7 day creation we have 7 days in our week. It is not by chance that just as god gave us Ten Commandments he gave us ten fingers. It is by no means luck that just as God named Human male and female we still call them by that today. And is by no means sceptical to think that just as time in BC was counting down that Jesus was born as they discovered it was Before Christ, and we live in AD which is the result of his life. Every government and justice system today is based on biblical terms, it is based on the fair retribution of giving people what they deserved, as God will do for us. Of course Because of Jesus' death and ressurection the justice part of life is obscured and we need to take in grace and mercy, two godlike attribtutes that man could never comfortably fit in to our justice system. So it is evident that our world is very much based on Jesus himself. so my question is this; Where is his ten minute news report and how are we personally remembering him today? More so why should we remember him?

Our world truly is so lost in the adornments of our own selfish desires, we feed on knowing what celebrity cheated on who, what teenage superstar is pregnant. What super sports man has died, who made the record for fattest man and so many other self-serving gratitudes that are all the result of one of two things. That is Pride and Greed. I'll save you the massive rant on these things but I will say this, they are purely self-serving attributes to ourselves. So once our bodies pass on, once we ourselves leave this world, where is your money then? Where is your delicious food then? Why can you not take with you your flash car or stereo system. Because they have no worth. I am not trying to be too critical here, don't get me wrong everybody needs a little indulgence once in a while but I want this question to be causing you a headache as you finish reading. "What in my life right now will last?" and by that I mean from a biblical view, there is an old poem that I will finish this blog off with, but now I want to get back to the topic of Jesus.

Here is a man that literally flipped the world upside down, over and out within 3 years! And he chose 12 men to follow him who would, in their lifetimes, continue to completely change the world we live in today. These men and Jesus himself are the very reason we have churches today, they are the reason most countries have the freedom of expression, whether it be expression of belief or simply of opinion, you have that freedom thanks to these men. I myself in typing this acknowledge that I'm no saint and that I need to practice what I preach so to speak because my challenge to us all today, and I do mean "us", is what are we doing with our resources which will make us remembered? And for what reasons will we be remembered? Here we have a man who has died and is remembered for the sports he played. On the other hand we have a man, who is god in the flesh, a man who is remembered today for his love, his mercy, his compassion, his forgiveness, his willingness to serve, his miracles, his morals and more than anything his ultimate sacrifice of laying down his life for those who do not deserve it. The bible speaks simple truth when it talks of the fact that often a bad man will lay down his life for a good man, rarely will a good man die for a good man. And never (except for Jesus) will a good man die for a bad man. The bible talks of that as being love, that laying our lives down for our fellow brothers and sisters is what love truly is. The way in which we serve and love one another defines us as a person and marks what we will be remembered for. This poem here talks of what’s done for Christ, the bible talks of accomadating and serving strangers and that when we do that we are doing that to and for Jesus, he says "I was that stranger" so let us ask ourselves with boldness and a willingness to change
"What in my life will last?"

"Only one life, t'will soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last"