Dear Friends
I switched on my computer a couple of days ago and logged onto the internet to look at my emails and there it was, the answer to all my financial problems!! Now you might scoff but it is no small thing to be told that you have inherited great wealth to the tune of $750,000. Yes, look again at the figure and marvel at my good fortune. There it was in black and white the information that someone who obviously knew me, even though I’d never heard of them, had bequeathed me a fortune in their will. No begging letters please!!
I may have been a little hesitant when I noticed that the email had come from Nigeria and asked if I would send a copy of my passport to prove who I was but, well I ask you, think of all that money!!! Did I immediately respond with all my details? I leave you to work out the answer to that question but the whole episode did bring out in me some thoughts and desires that should have best been left buried deep in the recess of my mind.
However well off or not so well off we are most of us have the seeds of temptation sown within us, seeds that every so often filter up to the surface of our minds and need firmly putting in their place. The real problem for some folk is when those thoughts are allowed to develop and flourish unchecked. When we look around at our world where the gap between the ‘have’s’ and the ‘have not’s’ grows ever wider we get some idea on a global scale where our own desire to have more and more can lead.
A few weeks ago I went to a meeting in Capel about ‘Green’ issues. It was clear to me that my, our, desire to have everything we want NOW is going to cause enormous damage to our world, damage that will be suffered not by us but by future generations. Our greed, and yes it is greed, for more and more today will cause untold misery to those who live tomorrow. As custodians of God’s creation we have a duty to look after and protect it and, by and large, as of today we are failing on a pretty spectacular scale.
I was reminded a few days ago, as we celebrated Holy Week and Easter, that Jesus as he was being crucified asked God to forgive those who had him crucified because they did not know what they were doing, (Luke 23 v34). I am far from sure that is the case today. We know what we are doing to God’s world and his people but just seem so often to lack the will or the spiritual strength to do anything about it, relying instead on worldly things to protect us from the very problems we are causing. Perhaps we could all do with less physical goods and more spiritual strength!!
I am delighted to say that you can now connect with your church in Capel via the electronic marvel of the internet. Why not log on and have a look at www.stjohnthebaptistcapel.org.uk . It’s a great website and will give you all sorts of information about the church, details of services and what’s on week by week. Come and explore how you can store up a different kind of wealth that is far, far more satisfying than anything that we can simply put our hand in our pocket and buy.
Yours in Christ
John Baxter