So here I am in retirement,
recalling the repetitive call to others never to dislodge verses from their
context! Dare I now do so myself? I get the drift, and trust all readers to do
their homework on each verse below and to diligently re-read them in their
setting in the Bible!
Which
verses would you take to the island?
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
It wasn’t the first verse
I ever learned off by heart. Mombasa Gospel Tabernacle, where we belonged in
1957, ensured that we, as children, all followed the Navigator’s Bible
memorisation programme. Having learned it, I recognised it when it was being
preached by George Lyon. The truth dawned on me that I needed to confess my own
sin and enjoy personal forgiveness from God. 1 John 1:9 still forms part of the
assurance I need, that God looks kindly on me through Christ. Age serves us
well in showing us how bad our sin really is, and it is sweet to be reminded that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, keeps on cleansing us from all sin.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this
all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7
The years between
conversion and entering the Irish Baptist College seemed like an age – leaving Kenya, settling in
Saltcoats, Ayrshire, moving to Beith, finishing school, going to Glasgow University,
joining an IVF summer mission, failing exams, becoming a teacher, and then
sensing God’s call to Bible College – it seemed to last for ever. In reality
that was just eight years. I began to train in Belfast as the “troubles” began
in the Province; confident that the Lord wanted me there, but totally unsure
what lay ahead. Three years later and this was the text preached by Alec Judd
at our graduation service. The truths never left my mind through forty-two
years of ministry – a fragile clay pot even at my very best moment. It’s a great
text to keep pride at bay in a world that prizes fame, success, and illusions
of grandeur; a great text to comfort when physically, mentally or spiritually
the task seemed too big, and I too inadequate; a good text to filter my view of
other Christians when I saw their weaknesses and puzzled over their failures; a
lens through which to look at believers with disability or serious failure; and
it is extremely good medicine as old age beckons!
Who
would you like to find on the island for company?
This is risky
ground now! I’ve preached all those years that God keeps us on earth, partly to
refine us, but even more, so that He can use us to engage with unbelievers. I’ve
scolded myself and others who have hardly got a real close friend who is
unsaved! I really need the ones I have to keep me in touch with the mindset
they have, the doubts they struggle with and the heartaches they feel. I need
the challenge to be real and authentic that comes from heart-to-heart conversations
with those who don’t understand our heart for God. So I’m limiting myself to
take with me someone whose unbelief has been high profile, let’s say Charles
Darwin or Richard Dawkins …conversations should be good!
Which
song would you like to take to the island?
I might be pushing seventy years old, but I love so many of the
newer songs that have been brought to us as the Church. Among them: My worth is not in what I own. My warped
sense of humour reckons that those words would be perfect on a desert island!
My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love
At the cross
My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose, in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed
At the cross
I
rejoice in my Redeemer
Greatest
Treasure,
Wellspring
of my soul
I
will trust in Him, no other.
My
soul is satisfied in Him alone.
As summer flowers we fade and die
Fame, youth and beauty hurry by
But life eternal calls to us
At the cross
I will not boast in wealth or might
Or human wisdom’s fleeting light
But I will boast in knowing Christ
At the cross
Two wonders here that I confess
My worth and my unworthiness
My value fixed - my ransom paid
At the cross
