Well, Happy New Year to New Winepress readers and Jay Colwill Blog watchers.
This article, and more regular thoughts get uploaded onto www.jaycolwill.info
(observant readers will notice that I've shortened the 'link' name. My site
can be accessed through the church web site as well.)
This year, the world doesn't feel any more secure than last year. Once again
we are in the middle of an economic recession, once again dead soldiers return
from war zones. Once again, we are concerned about issues of Climate Change
and population migration / immigration. Not very much seems to have changed
from 2009 to 2010 except for the addition of one extra digit. To add further
uncertainty, we have a General Election on the horizon.
I'm glad I studied history as a degree (even though I 'flunked' it at school
and never took it for "A" level.) We need to see the uncertainties of our time
in perspective. Economic cycles and political cycles constantly turn. (I'm
not so sure this is true of Climate Change. This is a new phenomena that we
have never seen before.) Whether change is on a global or a personal scale;
whether it is cyclical or new, it causes us stress. We don't seem to have new
resolutions this year - more like palpitations.
These global uncertainties cause us to question where we find our security;
on whom do we place our trust? If it is in the banks, or the politicians, we
have been badly let down. If it is in the value of our home or the certainty
that the 'good time will roll'; they have ground to a halt. Instead, I believe
that my hope is founded on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus' Name.
(as Edward Mote’s old hymn goes).
Trusting in Jesus' blood is theological 'short-hand' for trusting in Jesus'
power to save. The cross, and the 'blood-sacrifice' that occurred there, was
God's sign that He cared about our problems and that He would take their
burden. This goes to the heart of the matter. When we are feeling anxious and
our heart is racing (and mine does, believe me!) where is our source of
strength? We can choose - to carry our concerns ourselves, or as Mote proclaims:
On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
When the ground beneath your feet gets unsteady in 2010, and your heart starts
to race, may you find the 'Sold Rock'.
Yours, in his service
Jay Colwill
