Thank you Mum!

On Sunday I shall say a quiet, heartfelt, 'Thank you' to my late Mum, for it will be my birthday, and an occasion to remember that she brought me into this world and nurtured me for so long. So often we think about what we can get for a present on our birthdays, yet we already have the most precious gift of life given to us. What can better that? Can anything at all?

Well, yes it can, actually, for we can obtain an even more precious gift, and that's the gift of eternal life. This gift comes to us from God Himself, given through the saving grace of His only Son, Jesus Christ, and it's a gift that is there for all of us to claim. There are some special features about this gift:

• It has a purchase price yet you cannot buy it.


• It is truly a gift because it has been purchased for us.


• It's not a prize --- you cannot win it!


• It's not some sort of payment because you have done some good things or live a 'good' life.


• You don't 'earn' it by going to church, --- even if you go three times every Sunday!


• If you had to buy it you would never have the purchase price, no matter how wealthy you were.


• You cannot get it from anyone else except Jesus.

So, how do you get this wonderful gift?

That's easy!

First of all you have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the Cross at Calvary to pay the price of sin for the whole of mankind. Only Jesus, who was without sin Himself, was good enough to pay the price that God demanded.

Secondly, you must repent of all the sin in your own life. This means all sin! Only man tries to differentiate between 'big' sin and 'little' sin!

Thirdly, you must confess Jesus as your Saviour and acknowledge Him as the Lord of your life. This means that, recognising that He is responsible for your salvation, you die to yourself and live to Him. In plain language: You must let Jesus control your life!

Oh yes, about my birthday! According to my birth certificate I shall be 65, and by the way that I feel, that has to be 65 years YOUNG! The photo above shows how young I look. OK! OK! It's not exactly an 'up-to-date' photo, but so what!!! At least it is (or rather was) me! There's less hair on top (much less!), and more on the face. There's probably a few lines that my eyesight hides from me. BUT, there's still the same sense of humour, still the same love for the Lord, still the same commitment to God. If anything has changed it's only that these things have increased over the years, and that has to be a good thing!

Praise the Lord for the richness of my life in Him!